Why are some countries just so much better at certain sports than others?

Question

Why are some countries just so much better at certain sports than others?

Answer 1

Look at USA. they are so much better at swim than any other sports.

Answer 2

Genetics would be a big factor. Like if they typically have longer legs and stamina, they would be good at running as an example.

Answer 3

Genetics, population size, and access to training.

Genetics: Some people are naturally better at certain sports. A lot of sports favor very tall people, including swimming, volleyball, and basketball. Natural flexibility helps in the more artistic sports like gymnastics and diving. The countries with the most medals (America, Russia, China) have many ethnicities with many different body types, so they can find people who have the potential to win in any sport.

Population size: Let's say, hypothetically, that one in a million people are elite gymnasts. In America, that means there would be around 300 to pick from for the Olympic team. In China, over 1000. In small countries with less than a million people, the chances are overwhelmingly against finding a single elite gymnast.

Access to training: In the United States, someone who is a promising athlete, even if they don't have a lot of money, can get a scholarship to college for most sports, where they will get very good training. On the other hand, look at countries like India, where even though the population is huge, there isn't all that much sports training available. On the other hand, there are some sports that are not very popular in America, and access to training is limited. Americans are generally not very good at race walking, because training for that sport is a full time job but there are no college scholarships or government subsidies for that sport. Some European countries pay salaries to the top race walkers, so that they can afford to train to be the best.

Answer 4

Lets look at Canada. Awesome in the winter sports, usually pretty crappy at the summer sports. Lets look at Canada's weather, in the majority of places, summer for 3 maybe 4 months of the year, winter for the other 8,9 months of the year. Unless there are olympic sized stadiums and equipment, in driving distance to every Olympic hopeful, theres not much chance for them to practice.  

Answer 5

Money, Talent, and Team size.

Answer 6

British cycling is so dominant because they set up a national cycling centre of excellence with the specific intention of creating champions. At the time (mid 90s) they thought it was a white elephant but no one thinks that now.