Supporting Small and Exotic Nations at the 2018 Winter Olympics

[heywoodu 15,332]

[heywoodu 15,332]

As many of you know, we've had this thread during the 2016 Olympics and it turned out to be rather interesting. The rules are basically the same now, although of course in the winter you'll see a bit different nations being eligible to be chosen. For those who are new to this, a little intro.

 

What's this all about?

As the thread name suggests, here we're going to support small and exotic nations at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Basically, you choose a nation, and then you'll keep us updated about how they're doing, you'll introduce the athlete(s) to us, all in a way of your own choosing. Some might look for personal contact with them so add a nice extra touch, others might search down obscure websites to find some information about the hobbies of that one Bhutanese skier and others might be satisfied just letting us know what their results are.

 

Why do we do this?

Because it's fun! And let's face it, the likes of the big Norwegian, American, Dutch, German and Canadian teams don't really need any extra support, do they? They've got millions of people watching their events and debating amongst themselves whether it will be gold, silver, bronze or nothing, what's the fun in adding to that? The small and exotic nations on the other hand barely even get attention in their own country - maybe a little during the Olympics - and they end up anonymously somewhere at the bottom of the rankings. Sure, for many of them the main goal was to qualify for the Olympics, so they'll be happy to be there, but wouldn't it be nice for them to have some extra support and nice for us to learn a bit more about athletes you'd otherwise never hear anything about? 

 

What are the rules?

That's a little bit hard to say, I don't think there's one specific set of rules. Let's start of by saying a country can't have more than 25 athletes at the Olympics, that's just too big for a small nation at the Winter Olympics. I'm sure discussion will start at some point and there'll be people not agreeing with others and stuff like that, but I think most of the countries are pretty obvious. For example: yeah, Australia is a mostly warm country, but it's got a big Winter Olympic team plus it's a country that would not be strange at all to have a place on the medal table. Not an option. I've got some doubts about countries that are rather small, but do have a serious medal contender, think of Tina Weirather's Liechtenstein or Peter Michael's New Zealand. I guess if someone really, really wants it, it's alright, but a true fan would probably prefer a country without a big name like those. 

 

PS: During the Rio Olympics we let everyone choose more than one country, but since this is the Winter Olympics and the number of available countries is much smaller, let's just start off by choosing one, alright? If we end up in a situation where everyone who likes to participate has chosen, and there are still countries left, we could then go for a round two, but for starters: one country each.

 

 

Nation's List

•  Brazil - @heywoodu
• Cyprus - @rybak
•  Georgia - @dcro
• Jamaica - @Nate River
• Lebanon - @Pavlo
• Mexico - @mrv86
•  Monaco -  @Vojthas
•  Morocco - @thepharoah
•  San Marino - @Dunadan
•  Thailand - @Gianlu33

 

[heywoodu 15,332]

Obviously I'm not going to let Brazil be stolen away from me, so I've added myself to the list already  (I think the reasons are obvious and you're rather blind if you didn't expect me to take Brazil)

[Gianlu33 4,715]

I pick Thailand, i love their crow in Rio2016. Btw, almost all thailandese team speak italian so it will be more easy for me have some contacts whit their.

[heywoodu 15,332]

  On 12/27/2017 at 12:43 PM, Gianlu33 said:

I pick Thailand, i love their crow in Rio2016. Btw, almost all thailandese team speak italian so it will be more easy for me have some contacts whit their.

 

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That guy with the flag-hat was at this year's weightlifting world champs again, one of the best sports fans ever  

[thepharoah 2,405]

 i support Morocco , it's also easier to get informed about their preparations  , but overall i support any new nation that can win a medal for the 1st time in WOG 

[Agger 1,664]

Does Denmark have too serious medal contenders?

[NearPup 3,156]

May I claim Jamaica?

[heywoodu 15,332]

  On 12/27/2017 at 5:48 PM, Nate River said:

May I claim Jamaica?

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Yes 

 

[heywoodu 15,332]

  On 12/27/2017 at 2:28 PM, Agger said:

Does Denmark have too serious medal contenders?

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I doubt it  

 

Although one might wonder if Denmark is what you think of when talking about small/exotic nations