Supporting Small and Exotic Nations at the Summer Olympic Games 2016

[heywoodu 16,435]

 

 

For many years during every Olympics we have a special thread on the main Dutch forum. In this thread, people choose one small or exotic nation and introduce them to the rest, support them during the Olympics and keep people updated on how they're doing. This way the small nations don't go through the Olympics without any kind of attention and we learn more about the lesser-known nations and athletes

 

It's a bit hard to give exact criteria of which nations are eligible, obviously powerhouses like the USA, China, Russia etc are not. For starters, let's make these criteria:

 

- Countries with more than 50 athletes in Rio are not eligible

- Countries that reached the top-30 of the 2008 or 2012 Olympics are not eligible

- Countries with a big medal favourite are "reserves", when all or most other countries are taken (for example Grenada with Kirani James or Fiji with their rugby team, if they even stay under 50 athletes which doesn't seem likely anyway)

 

Many nations that have a bit more than 50 athletes or that have one or two medal candidates are up for debate of course. Imagine a user from Grenada here, he or she would be more than welcome to take Grenada even though they have a big medal favourite. Same thing goes if you have specific personal reasons for a certain country (apart from the obvious countries, those are just off-limits for this).

 

 

Feel free to share your opinion on this or, in case you already like it, simply choose a nation  

 

 

Nation List

•  Andorra - Jur (1st choice)
•  Angola - JoshMartini007 (1st choice) 
•  Bahamas - tuniscof (2nd choice)
•  Bangladesh - Benolympique (1st choice)
•  Belize - mrv86 (1st choice)
•  Bhutan - heywoodu
•  Burundi - KhanBeaver
•  Comores - bestmen (1st choice)
•  Cook Islands - Wanderer (1st choice)
•  Costa Rica - Agger
•  Cote d'Ivoire - OlympicIRL (1st choice)
•  DR Congo - amen09 (2nd choice)
•  Ecuador - hckosice (1st choice)
•  Eritrea - rybak (2nd choice)
•  Gabon - IoNuTzZ (3rd choice)
•  Guam - Jur (2nd choice)
•  Guatemala - amen09 (3rd choice)
•  Guinea-Bissau - vinipereira
•  Honduras - Henry_Leon (2nd choice) 
•  Iceland - OIympicIRL (3rd choice)
•  Kiribati - africaboy (2nd choice)
•  Kosovo - tuniscof (1st choice)
•  Laos - Griff88 (1st choice)
•  Lebanon - carivan 
•  Liechtenstein - dcro (3rd choice) 
•  Luxembourg - IoNuTzZ (1st choice)
•  Maldives - bestmen (2nd choice)
•  Mauritania - Gianlu33
•  Mauritius - OlympicIRL (2nd choice)
•  Micronesia - ahjfcshfghb 
•  Nauru - Crolympic
•  Nepal - Wanderer (3rd choice) 
•  Nicaragua - hckosice (2nd choice)
•  Oman - mrv86 (3rd choice)
•  Palau - dcro (1st choice)
•  Palestine - Malik (1st choice)
•  Panama - Henry_Leon (1st choice)
•  Papoa New Guinea - tuniscof (3rd choice)
•  Paraguay - Pabloffo 
•  Rwanda - uk12points
•  Saint Kitts and Nevis - IoNuTzZ (2nd choice)
•  Saint Lucia - ofan
•  Samoa - africaboy (1st choice)
•  San Marino - Pavlo (1st choice)
•  Sao Tome and Principe - mrv86 (2nd choice)
•  Senegal - amen09 (1st choice)
•  Seychelles - Wanderer (2nd choice)
•  Somalia - rybak (3rd choice) 
•  Timor-Leste - Griff88 (2nd choice)
•  Tonga - Jur (3rd choice) 
•  Turkmenistan - LDOG
•  Tuvalu - rybak (1st choice)
•  Zimbabwe - dcro (2nd choice)

 

- Countries that have "1st choice" behind the username are not available anymore, just like countries that only have the username without "xx choice". Countries with "2nd choice" or "3rd choice" are still available to pick up as your first choice. 

Edited July 21, 2016 by heywoodu

[heywoodu 16,435]

Personally on the Dutch forum I've chosen Bhutan, assuming they'll get at least one wildcard in the archery. I'll do the same here

 

For all future Winter Olympics, I'm hereby already claiming Brazil  

Edited April 19, 2016 by heywoodu

[Wanderer 1,738]

Lovely topic!

'll come up with one nation soon

 

It is difficult to choose one... 

[JoshMartini007 2,821]

I'm planning to do something similar with my blog once teams start to become finalized.

 

I've always had a soft spot for Pacific nations, though I like to keep up with all small nations.

 

Are we allowed to do multiple nations (assuming we do one at a time)?

Edited April 19, 2016 by JoshMartini007

[heywoodu 16,435]

2 minutes ago, JoshMartini007 said:

I'm planning to do something similar with my blog once teams start to become finalized.

 

I've always had a soft spot for Pacific nations, though I like to keep up with all small nations.

 

Are we allowed to do multiple nations (assuming we do one at a time)?

 

First I'd say everyone chooses 1 nation, but given the fact we don't have that many active users, it might be possible to choose 2 or 3. How about choosing a "1st priority" (and so on) when you choose multiple nations, so if someone else comes and really wants a nation you have, they can take it?

 

Example, you post:

 

1. Tuvalu

2. Cook Islands

3. Vanuatu

 

Shortly after, someone desperately wants to do Cook Islands (let's say for personal reasons), so this person is still allowed to take it

 

Basically I think we shouldn't be too strict - after all it's just for fun and it's not like we have 150 active users - and on the other hand we also shouldn't have 5+ nations for one user. Of course when the Olympics are coming close and nations are still up for grabs, feel free to pick them up  

[Agger 1,840]

What a lovely idea. 

I think I will keep on the track from the FIFA World Cup 2 years ago and select Costa Rica! 

[dcro 10,210]

It's hard for me to choose as I am usually supporter of all of them.

Edited April 19, 2016 by dcro

[uk12points 434]

I am always a huge supporter of any underdog and I will support all small nations in Rio (unless they are against a British athlete!) but if I have to pick one it'll be...

Rwanda

[Agger 1,840]

1 hour ago, heywoodu said:

Personally on the Dutch forum I've chosen Bhutan, assuming they'll get at least one wildcard in the archery. I'll do the same here

 

For all future Winter Olympics, I'm hereby already claiming Brazil  

 

Would Denmark be allowed for the Winter Olympics? 

[heywoodu 16,435]

3 minutes ago, Agger said:

 

Would Denmark be allowed for the Winter Olympics? 

It might not be "exotic" enough but given your nationality there might be an exception