Countries that underachieve vs countries that overachieve in sports relative to their size

[TheMaestro]

Possibly because it was the one thing where they could genuinely rival the West, even if at times through cheating and dubious methods?

Cheating? Communist sports schools are much more tougher than western ones. What are you talking about, there is no fucking around, like participation medals westerners give now to kids. Their whole life since the kids was all about the sport no distractions.

[Tooting Carmen]

Cheating? Communist sports schools are much more tougher than western ones. What are you talking about, there is no fucking around, like participation medals westerners give now to kids. Their whole life since the kids was all about the sport no distractions.

I mean the widespread and state-sanctioned usage of PEDs.

[Tooting Carmen]

Even in cricket, the Indian and Pakistani teams have won fewer Tests than those of Australia, England, the West Indies and South Africa, while the Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi teams have also won fewer Tests than the New Zealand team:

[Scarface F]

At one British University they ranked top 10 most talented sport nations based on weighted success in diversified elite athletics, and population size.

Ranking:

1. Iceland
2. Lithuania
3. Latvia
4. Slovenia
5. Estonia
6. Croatia
7. New Zealand
8. Norway
9. Denmark
10. Sweden

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...100?src=exp-la

[Zeno]

I'd say that Greece overachieves in basketball and martial arts. Also to an extent, weightlifting.

[catgeorge]

Havent achieved anything if havent won championships

[sacha]

Latvia for sure is an overachiever, at least for basketball

[Kess]

Australia massively does well for it's population.

Considering that about 20 percent of Australians are descendants of convicts, I fully agree.

Not only in sports but also in anything.

[Kess]

Balkan countries overachievers in basketball.

Most of the famous basketball players in Turkey are of Balkan descent, such as Hidayet Türkoğlu.

[Kess]

Maybe England underachieve, only one world cup. All the other nations in Europe of similar size are better.

Imagine being the inventor of football and getting your ass kicked by Iceland.

I'm talking about Euro 2016.