Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]With indoor sports like gymnastics it is different, but outdoor sports are still dominated by countries with the right geography. The winners in the World Cup skiing events typically come from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, with the occasional Swede, Norwegian, American or Canadian thrown in--all countries with mountains. You do not see many skiers on the circuit from, say, the Netherlands or Denmark. Nathan B. D. Colen wrote: > Hmmmmm...I think that might have been an explanation 50 years ago, but I > would suspect now it has more to do with the resources required to put > together a team in a given sport. Note that Alpine countries don't > necessarily clean up in skiing any more. And besides, if it's about > natural resources, what natural resource accounts for countries of the > old Soviet Bloc doing so well in gymnastics over the decades? Is it that > one had to so carefully walk such a fine line to stay out of political > trouble? Or do triple summersaults to keep ahead of the secret police? > :-) > > -----Original Message----- > From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org > [mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of > Nathan Wajsman > Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 12:47 PM > To: Leica Users Group > Subject: Re: [Leica] OT (Totally): Netherlands and swimming and the > Olympics > > > Adam Bridge wrote: > >>I'm thrilled to see the Netherlands continuing to gain ground as a >>world swimming power. >> >>Perhaps someone on this list can tell me how this came about? It's a >>joy to watch the skill and technique and the excellent conditioning. > > > Adam, > > Living here in NL, the best answer I can offer is that this place has > water everywhere...so I would expect the Dutch to be good at swimming, > just as people in Alpine countries are good at skiing. > > Nathan > -- Nathan Wajsman Almere, The Netherlands General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com