Sport in Norway

The Dynamics of Norwegian Sport

Holden Washington Adams

East Carolina University

General Profile of Norway

When one examines the geographical location of Norway, they will notice that it is a Scandinavian country located in Northern Europe. Norway lies next to the North Atlantic Ocean, and to the west of Sweden (World Factbook, 2013-2014). In comparison to the rest of the world, Norway ranks sixty-eighth in total square miles. Norway's square mile total comes to 323,802, whereas Russia, in the number one spot, comes to an astounding 17,098,242 total square miles (World Factbook, 2013-2014). As one can see, it is a relatively small country when compared to some of its larger, neighboring European countries. When observing sport in Norway, it is possible to find that most of the sports participated in are indoors.

This is due to the very harsh winters of Norway, as well as the rainy, cool summers (World Factbook, 2013-2014). The climate does not facilitate the development of elite athletes in sports that tend to be played outdoors. An interesting fact about Norway's geography is that it has a very rigid and long coastline (World Factbook, 2013-2014). The land within Norway tends to be covered with mountains, approximately sixty-seven percent of the land is mountainous (World Factbook, 2013-2014). This leads to a lot of the sporting participation to take place in densely populated valleys between the mountains.

Norway is the one hundred and nineteenth country in population totals. Norway's land holds approximately 5.08 million people (World Factbook, 2013-2014). In correlation with its size, Norway tends not to be as populated as other countries with relative size. For instance, Cote...