Yesterday, in Why the US Sucks at Olympic Lifting Part 20, I looked at US cycling, a sport that was always fairly small yet managed to produce at least at the Olympic level. And which has simply blown up in the last 10 years due to the accomplishments of Lance Armstrong. This is the home stretch, OL’ing on Monday. Promise.
Continuing on with that, I want to look at another exception to everything that’s gone before, the sole winter sport I’m going to examine. A sport which seems to have absolutely everything going against it: it’s niche, inaccessible, has few members, no incentives. Basically it lacks everything that is usually required for success. Yet has managed to thrive consistently. And, of course, to adequately discuss this it will take today and tomorrow. Then, Monday, OL’ing. Finally.
Like cycling it is another sport pursued primarily by middle and upper class whites tying in both with swimming from Monday and cycling from the last two days.… Keep Reading