Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Why Norwegians ski well
New York Times columnist David Brooks is daft in The Hard and the Soft.
The United States, a nation of 300 million, won nine gold medals this year in the Winter Olympics. Norway, a nation of 4.7 million, also won nine. This was no anomaly. Over the years, Norwegians have won more gold medals in Winter Games, and more Winter Olympics medals over all, than people from any other nation.He then tells the incredible, stirring story of Baalsrud's escape from the Nazis, aided through a horrifying journey by other Norwegians. You should read it. It has nothing to do with why Norway is great at winter sports except to remind us that it's a cold, snowy, mountainous nation where they quite naturally made sports of their common modes of travel. Like Moroccan camel racing or NASCAR. They also hated the Nazis . So did courageous citizens of other occupied countries.
There must be many reasons for Norway’s excellence, but some of them are probably embedded in the story of Jan Baalsrud.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
My grandmother was born in Oslo, Norway, and when we were kids, we actually had to learn to speak Norwegian (which I only now remember just a handful of phrases, although my aunt still remembers quite a bit, except since she's living in China, she's become more adept at speaking Chinese!)
When all the rest of you had to endure the "I walked five miles to school" routine from our parents, WE had to hear how my grandmother had to ski (cross-country style) to her school when growing up, and she always emphasized the "snow" part. Hence, as can be deduced, we walked to school, and my high school was (until I moved to Burbank) about 5 miles away, damn it! It would take me close to an hour to walk home. Of course, back then, hitch hicking was not so scary, so I sometimes thumbed it back home. And, on occasion, my mom, if she was late for work, would drive us to school since it was on her way.
My grandmother lost her accent (she came her at 17 years of age, and eventually became a registered nurse), but her sister, my "taunta augut" as we called her, had that thick sing song accent! My mother's sister's name is Joan (my aunt) but tuanta augut always called her "yooan!"
When all the rest of you had to endure the "I walked five miles to school" routine from our parents, WE had to hear how my grandmother had to ski (cross-country style) to her school when growing up, and she always emphasized the "snow" part. Hence, as can be deduced, we walked to school, and my high school was (until I moved to Burbank) about 5 miles away, damn it! It would take me close to an hour to walk home. Of course, back then, hitch hicking was not so scary, so I sometimes thumbed it back home. And, on occasion, my mom, if she was late for work, would drive us to school since it was on her way.
My grandmother lost her accent (she came her at 17 years of age, and eventually became a registered nurse), but her sister, my "taunta augut" as we called her, had that thick sing song accent! My mother's sister's name is Joan (my aunt) but tuanta augut always called her "yooan!"
Not sure any Norwegyans are on any hockey teams. Do they have an Olympic team? Can't say I can name any Norwegian NHL players.
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