Skiing, Skiing, and Skiing

About all that is on TV on weekends is skiing- downhill, jumping, cross-country, and biathlon. Skiing is on three broadcast networks. Of course, a small, northern country like Norway takes their winter sports very seriously- and they should. Compared to such giants as the US and Germany, Norway takes more than their share of Olympic medals:

2002 Winter Olympics medal count
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway	13*	5	7	25
2	Germany	12	16	8	36
3	United States	10	13	11	34
4	Canada	7	3	7	17
5	Russia	5	4	4	13
6	France	4	5	2	11
7	Italy	4	4	5	13
8	Finland	4	2	1	7
9	Netherlands	3	5	0	8
10	Austria	3	4	10	17

There is some biathlon from Germany on at the moment. It is interesting watching the spectators. Whenever a German shoots, they are silent, followed by a single punctuated cheer after each of the five targets is hit. After the final shot, they erupt with a blizzard of noisemakers- all while everyone else is still shooting.

These cross-country ski events look particularly brutal from a cardio perspective. It is very different than the athletic values inherent in American football, which is presumably dominating the airwaves back home. What is interesting is the people here seem to be built more like skiers than football players, so perhaps they are on to something here.