Nat Locke: Viking DNA aside, this is why Norwegians are so good at sport

The question the whole world has been asking these last couple of weeks is “Why is Norway so good at sport?” and to be fair, when I say the whole world, I mostly mean Americans on TikTok.

And sure, Australia has also been mystifying the rest of the world by being good at snow sports when we don’t actually have a whole lot of snow.

But that aside, the Norwegians are unbelievable. They haven’t just had a good run during these games. But also, they have won the highest number of gold medals in all the Winter Olympics ever. And the US is a distant second.

Just a reminder: the population of Norway is a smidge over 5.6 million. The US, meanwhile, has 342 million. Yes, I’ve been googling facts.

Of course, they’re good at winter sports, I hear you exclaim. There’s snow everywhere. Yes, that’s true. But there’s also quite a lot in China and Switzerland, and if my current Instagram feed is anything to go by, Japan. Hello to all my friends currently in Hakuba.

Norway has also won a decent swag of summer Olympic gold medals too. Which gives me another excuse to tell the story of how I once shared a sauna with a guy who won two of those gold medals. He and his wife were both former Olympic kayakers and, on their weekends, they liked to drive up to a fjord and go kayaking. And take the occasional sauna with strangers who notice their Olympic ring tattoos, then interrogate them for the next 40 minutes. Ah, memories.

So the question remains, why ARE the Norwegians so good at sport? Well, having shared a sauna with them, I can confidently say that they are incredibly athletic specimens. Everyone is tall and robust and inexplicably outdoorsy.

Viking DNA aside, there is also a cultural approach to sport that seems to be working for them.

Now, as a gen Xer who never once had the pleasure of receiving a participation trophy, I must say I’m reluctant to tell you what my extensive research revealed. But here we go.

Norwegians believe in playing sport for fun. Especially as kids.

They call it the “Joy of Sport” and as such, there’s no score-keeping at all until kids are at least 13. The focus is on having a good time, learning new skills and running around with your mates. If there are trophies, everyone gets one. There are no rankings either. Who is their best twelve-year-old backstroker? They don’t know. It’s just not important to them, culturally.

But wait, there’s more. Where we might spot that our kid has a zinging forehand and focus on tennis lessons from the age of eight, or — in the dream scenario — they show aptitude as the next Minjee Lee at the age of five, so every waking minute from that moment on is spent at the driving range, the Norwegians don’t do that. They’re encouraged to try as many sports as they want, with the focus on giving everything a go. It also reduces the onset of burnout and injury. Often they won’t even specialise in a sport that they’re good at until they are in their late teens.

Another thing they do is make sure that kids’ sport is affordable to everyone so that financial hardship is not a barrier to participation.

They’re on to something, by the way. As well as a swag of gold medals, they can also boast a participation in youth sport of 93 per cent. That’s high.

When I visited Norway, I noticed that they have a deep love of the outdoors. They hike. They ski. They cycle. And they go kayaking for fun even if they’ve been a competitive kayaker for the last 20 years. Because at its core, they’re doing it for the sheer enjoyment of it.

I’ve spoken to some of our former Olympic champions over the years and many of them turn their backs on their sport altogether. Once they retire, they’re not swimming laps at the local pool, for example.

Of course, many other countries are looking at us and wondering what our secret is. Why are we so good at mogul skiing? I wonder this myself. Why can anyone here snowboard? In what world should an Australian be in a bobsled final? All valid questions.

But maybe, if we were to adopt some of the Norwegian approach, we might be even better at stuff. I mean, maybe I’m a champion clay target shooter, I just don’t know it yet. Or frisbee golfer. Or lacrosse player. Or cross-country skier. I don’t know because I haven’t tried.

But I tell you what. If I do give any of them a crack, you’d better believe I want a participation trophy.