Ensuring kids get a positive exposure to sport is crucial to them being successful in sport later in life, according to the Norwegian Children's Rights in Sport model.
It was great for us sports lovers to feast on the Winter Olympics television coverage recently, and of course fantastic to see our young Kiwis doing so well on the world stage.
And while we were obviously up there on the medal table, even we don't get close to matching
Norway in that regard – they once again topped the medal table with 37 medals, following up from topping the table at the 2018 Winter Olympics with 39 medals.
So for a country with almost the same population as New Zealand's, what's their secret?
Well, for a start Norway is rich – it is the seventh-wealthiest country in the world, and with lots of money necessary to succeed in winter sports that require expensive gear, cutting-edge technology, and expert training, which is critical.
Norway is also cold (which is kind of a necessity for winter sports) and has a strong culture of skiing – an amazing 70 per cent of Norwegians own cross-country skis. But most European countries are cold, so it cannot be solely that, because they also punch above their weight in non-winter sports – as an example, they have golfers and tennis players inside the top 10 in the world.
Perhaps what does set Norway apart is its ability to create enthusiastic and keen athletes from a young age. Instead of locking children into high-stakes competitions as youngsters, Norway invites them to dabble in a variety of sports with only one goal: have fun.
