It was great for us sports-lovers to feast on the Winter Olympics television coverage recently, and of course fantastic to see our young Kiwis doing so well on the world stage. 

And while we were obviously up there on the medal table, even we don’t get close to matching Norway in that regard – they once again topped the medal table with 37 medals, following up from topping the table at the 2018 Winter Olympics with 39 medals. 

So for a country with almost exactly the same population as NZ’s, what’s their secret? 

Well, for a start Norway is rich – it is the seventh wealthiest country in the world, and with lots of money necessary to succeed in winter sports that require expensive gear, cutting-edge technology, and expert training, that is critical. 

Norway is also cold (which is kind of a necessity for winter sports!) and has a strong culture of skiing – an amazing 70% of Norwegians own cross-country skis. But most European countries are cold, so it cannot be solely that, as they also punch above their weight in non-winter sports – as an example, they have golfers and tennis players inside the top ten in the world. 

Perhaps what does set Norway apart is its ability to create enthusiastic and keen athletes from a young age. Instead of locking children into high-stakes competitions as youngsters, Norway invites them to dabble in a variety of sports with only one goal: have fun. The government takes this so seriously that it crafted a document called ‘Children’s Rights in Sport’ which states that “children should receive a positive experience every time they participate in sport”. 

As an example they guarantee and encourage every child in the country access to high-quality opportunities in athletics (one of the so-called ‘foundation sports’ that is necessary at a young age), with a focus on participation and socialization rather than hard-core competition. So at more than 12,000 athletics clubs across Norway, championships are not held until kids hit the age of 13. 

A priority of the country is to build a culture of health and regular exercise, and its competitive prowess flows from that. Youngsters who do not exhibit special talent stay involved, and some of them bloom as teenagers, long after children in more competition-driven countries might have moved on to other things. 

Consequently as kids get older there is a huge active talent pool to move up to elite sport training. They have a history of many elite athletes not being identified as elite until late in their teens. 

It obviously works and it is something Sport NZ has been working on for a number of years through their Balance is Better initiative. Sport Northland has been working with the big 10 team sports in Northland to gradually introduce elements of Balance is Better to the way their codes are delivered to our tamariki and rangatahi. 

It will take time to get to the level that Norway has reached, but we are gradually seeing a change to the way sport is delivered for young people to ensure that fun is the key to encouraging more of them to stay is sport for longer – this will eventually result in a bigger talent pool available for entry into the NZ high performance system, and even more success on the world stage.