Watching news coverage of the Winter Olympics made it impossible to not know that “little” Norway absolutely crushed it by winning 18 gold medals and 41 total.
By comparison, the USA garnered 33 total medals with 12 golds, while China won 15 total medals and five golds. The population of the United States is 341 million, while China’s is more than 1.4 billion. “Little” Norway has 5.65 million residents, roughly half the population of North Carolina.
The surprise in the voice of each broadcaster belied the truth that it is a wonder that countries from winter wonderlands such as Norway and Switzerland don’t win every medal.
The surprise must come from the expectation that because of population and annual economic GDP, any nation should dominate when it comes to the Summer or Winter Olympics.
What commentators forget is that not everyone lives in a country such as Norway with easy access to majestic, manicured slopes on which to grow up and practice skiing at high speeds on a daily basis. They either ignore or forget that the Norwegian culture and heritage honor and respect a mastery of living, working and playing in frozen environments. Young people with the interest and ability to ski well do so with an intent and interest not found in, say, Equatorial Guinea located on the west coast of Africa.
As much as some people wish that everyone had equal abilities to produce equal outcomes, sports like those at the Winter Olympics highlight a fundamental human principle that, while we may believe we are all born equal, we are not born with equal ability or options. The American ideal actually reinforces the hope that each of us can have the equal opportunity to make the most of our God-given talents and abilities to make the most of what we want to do, and more importantly, can do in this life.
A Norwegian cross-country skier who can shoot the lights out on a gun range is going to have the competitive advantage over a Guatemalan competitor in the biathlon simply because of the difference in culture and access to frozen, snow-covered biathlon courses.
Michael Porter wrote a great book in 1990, “The Competitive Advantage of Nations,” which goes far beyond the admittedly somewhat superficial nature of athletics when compared to the big issues of economic growth, education and health care. He examined the intrinsic factors of nations such as Germany becoming known for its mechanical and engineering expertise in manufacturing as well as precision printing, and Japan becoming well-known for its photographic and visual arts expertise. Italy has long been known for its ceramic tile industry as well as fine footwear.
Each successful domination of an industry did not happen by chance, just as Norway did not accidentally become a Winter Olympics Leviathan simply because they live in a cold region. There are systematic social and cultural underpinnings and structures in each country that allowed their intrinsic competitive advantages to take root deeply, leading to great success later.
This being an election year in the United States, it is time to take stock of what the competitive advantages are that we enjoy as a nation and as North Carolinians. We need to make our voting decisions accordingly to ensure we enhance these advantages and not squander them and lose them to history.
Several things have contributed to making the United States and North Carolina the envy of nations around the globe and the reason people want to immigrate here legally or illegally.
One main thing is safety and security. Overriding every factor is the concept of freedom, in thought, word and deed, as long as it is governed by the rule of law.
Some people say they only vote on their interpretation of someone’s character, which would be great if every candidate was an angel and incorruptible by human nature. But the more important thing to consider is any candidate’s commitment to support the basic American and North Carolinian values that have historically been the competitive advantage we have innocently inherited and enjoy today. If they can’t convince you of their commitment to all of them, don’t vote for them.
Otherwise, we will be kicking away our competitive advantages socially and economically — and will become like the Jamaican bobsled team of 1988, which really had no competitive advantage to begin with in winter sports.
