The countries who don't participate in the Olympics

16 years ago

I realize how little I know about the Olympics.......I was just thinking that the British Isles don't seem to be well represented, and then I thought perhaps that has something to do with the climate. But then I wondered if they participate in the summer Olympics. And what about countries like India, and Mideastern countries? And Greece, for heaven's sake, where it all started?

Do we see more world participation in the summer Olympics? Or were they all in Vancouver and I just didn't see them? (With my lousy TV reception, I saw almost nothing, so that's entirely possible.)

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Comments (12)

Cherryfizz
16 years ago
Great Britain athletes participated in skiing events and skating. Mexico had an athlete, even some Middle Eastern countries. Sure there may be less athletes, but people who live elsewhere can become athletes for their home nations or represent where their parents were born. I think Dubai had an athlete who trained on their manmade indoor ski hills. Bahamas or Bermuda I can't remember which one has a bobsledder. Sure weather has a lot to do with how many athletes come from certain counties but that is changing because they have the means where they can train in any country.

Great Britain participates in the summer olympics as well and also in the Commonwealth games.

Anne
sheilajoyce_gw
16 years ago
Some countries really provide great financial support for their athletes, such as Russia. Then other countries have such a good per capita standard of living that the athletes can be self supporting or with some private donations, such as the USA. There are so many countries where involvement is just financially prohibitive.
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wildchild
16 years ago
With my lousy TV reception, I saw almost nothing

With the horrible NBC coverage we all saw almost nothing.
Even though I live in the same time zone all the so called "live" events were on time delay. We got more filler and commercial coverage and the least actual sport coverage I've ever seen in a world wide event such as this. I understand Canada and even most of Europe got round the clock coverage. NBC gave the USA "prime time". Poorly done. They should be ashamed.

Even some of the smallest, least known countries send their best to the Olympics. We just don't get to see them except maybe if you watch closely at the opening ceremony or have they have a sad "human interest" story that the network managed to dig up. Again the coverage in the states is awful. Every single athlete who makes it to the Olympics is world class. Imagine if someone you knew worked hard to get to the level of these athletes and then when you went to watch him/her only the top 4 competitors are shown? The person you know or are connected to was never even shown because he/she took 5th out of maybe 36. But that didn't count. The broadcasters only show us the winners and the runner-up so their talking heads will have more to yap about. That is how it was done.

I'm disgusted with this year's coverage. Can you tell?
gemini40
16 years ago
How about India..such a large population and no olympic athletes..
I really don't think that the people lucky enough to make it to the Olympics care if their event makes it to television.They are there to win a medal for their superior athletic performances.
The Olympic coverage this year was fabulous.Loved every min. of it.
monica_pa Grieves
16 years ago
Well, I would guess that Samoa and Fiji just don't have an interest in winter sports.
gemini40
16 years ago
jamaica had an interest didn't they...bobsledding as a matter of fact.
sjerin
16 years ago
India had three athletes in the winter Olympics; at least one is a luger.
susanjf_gw
16 years ago
wildchild i have agree with you..in the past we detroiters were lucky to have cbc coverage from windsor ca, far superior coverage in past years...however for some reason they wern't covering this year (one canada pal said $$) anyway. i sure missed them!
joyfulguy
16 years ago
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation got outbid by the private broadcaster.

ole joyful
dilly_dally
16 years ago
One reason for a lack of participation by some countries is adherence to dress code. This year was the first year a woman from Iran competed in the winter Olympics.

I've read read previously that women were only allowed to compete in the horseback riding events since they could maintain modesty while competing. It looks like skiing is now OK too. There are rules about modesty for men also preventing them from competing in some of the sports.

Trivia: Did you know that in the ancient Olympic games the contestants were required to compete nude? That had to be nerve wracking - a guy trying to run a race in the nude with thousands of spectators watching his every move.

Years ago I was surprised to learn that people ski in Iran. A Persian friend always talked about skiing with the family in Iran and had photos to show! I was surprised.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/feb/24/iran.skiing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/692411.stm

First Iranian Women Winter Olympic contestant Marjan Kalhor:

http://muslims.net/news/newsfull.php?newid=337265

Here is a link that might be useful: First Winter Olympic Iranian Woman
cindyb_va
16 years ago
Gemini, the Jamaica bobsled team is still active, but they did not qualify to attend the games this year (not enough points, or top finishes, or something of that nature).

We were very disappointed not to see them, they seem to embody the true spirit of the games.
azzalea
16 years ago
I'm a little surprised at the some of the comments re: the Olympic coverage. It was on most of the day around here, on several channels--NBC, CNBC, USA, Universal sports, MSNBC. Not constantly on any one channel, but usually there was something olympic related on one or another of those channels, if you took the time to check them all. Often, it was hard to pick which channel to watch, because there were Olympic events on several of them. Shame if some of you didn't have the same coverage. I spent the last 2 weeks watching very little BUT the Olympics and I still didn't see all there was available. As a matter of fact, I was going through curling withdrawal today, because I got very used to my 12 noon curling fix on USA every day--LOL

The countries who don't participate in the Olympics

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Cherryfizz

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