Estonia, Ethiopia, and Other Small Countries
I love watching the athletes from the smaller countries. We expect to see the United States, Russia, Great Britain, Canada, and the other big countries get medals, but it’s not as often that you get to see somebody medal from one of the smaller countries. Like when Lithuania almost beat the United States in basketball (they went on to get the bronze medal) in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
It’s not always about who wins. Sometimes it just matters who has the most heart. Who overcame the obstacles. I think that’s one of the reasons we were interested in the Nancy Kerrigan story. People from small countries don’t have a huge financial backing, like some of the higher-end athletes from the wealthier countries get (yes, I realize that most of them make extreme sacrifices too, but you do get more with nice sponsorships).
April 6th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
It’s always nice to see a cinderella story play out in reality.
April 7th, 2011 at 7:33 am
There is a wonderful familial feel to it when they do well, isn’t it. A huge country with a lot of areas in which they excel has their passions divided, but a stellar athlete (or team) from a small country has their whole country (and many other small countries) all rooting for them. I like that.
April 9th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I agree. It’s entirely different rooting for American athletes with sponsors, high-tech equipment, and a high-protein, low-fat diet, then consider the Ethiopian runner who’s been training in a hut, lifting rocks, and barely scraping together enough to eat every day. The American is training for fame and fortune. For some countries, achieving Olympic success is the athlete’s way out of poverty.