Quote:
Originally Posted by Kipru
Small mistake there, we do have several facilities. The world cup is jumped on a 4 different Finnish hills, we also have several smaller venues for training.
http://berkutschi.com/en/front/hills/list
I guess the main reason for you guys sucking is that you haven't had any successful athlete in those sports for years, so kids rather want to be like Sidney Crosby than Stefan Read. |
Finland has a very long tradition in ski jumping that was built over decades, of course. It comes down to coaching and the young athletes available to coaches. Tradition means that people know how to build winners in that particular sport and that there are young people who are interested in taking part in it.
So if you want success in some new sport, often the first step is to hire a coach from a successful country to a long-term contract. It takes years.
Focusing on the athletes' mentality is an easy way out. I seriously doubt there are national differences in that regard. It also puts the athletes in a schizophrenic situation where they both choke under too much pressure and expect too little from themselves at the same time.