Having lived and worked there for a time, work/life balance differs a lot. Traveling for hours by non airco bus and walking to stations to get to work with long hours and travel back doesn’t really leave a lot of time for family let alone sports. Weekend cricket with the family is left usually. NL is high on the medal board with a low population nr, but a lot of free time. Which could be a correlation.
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I believe NL has very good sport infrastructure plus the NL federation does not sponsor any athlete without a chance to win a medal. Very practical approach I should say.
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All my kids practice sports. For me that’s a bit difficult, since I prefer arts (music, musea). I do notice though that sport is good and my kids are all happy practicing it. We’re not an exception: you’ll see many people on Saturday be it football, Korfbal, hockey, swimming. On Sunday people tend to go for bike rides, hiking or off the road biking.
There is a very broad support for sport.
There is a national centre which hosts the professional sportsmen: National Sports Centre Papendal - Wikipedia
That’s indeed not for everyone, but you have to be selected based on probability of success. Sometimes there are sad stories in the news when a sporter wants to be supported, but the committee refuses since the probability for success is too low.
I believe that a few million invested in sport gives a massive return on investment.
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I was surprised that JM Jarre was not included in either the opening or closing ceremony, possibly the biggest French artist. Did he have any input behind the scenes given his extensive experience putting on epic concerts in urban locations?
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Sorry I went awol most known why. But thank you for behaving yourselves. 
I thought we did well finishing 4th, it helps that Aussie just love sport. As usual NZ punched well above its weight. You guys must be a little disappointed I thought the UK was not at their best.
As for Raygun, it was rather funny but I’m glad you guys didn’t pile on her. She’s coped so much venom from those faceless keyboard warriors. Assholes who have never done anything except highlight what a gutter the internet can be.
Hopefully we’ll have some interest in the Paralympics.
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Paris was one of the all time great Olympics.
Up there with London, Sydney and Barcelona. An embarrassment of Parisian scenic riches quite apart from the sublime sporting moments. Raygun and Turkish dad pistol shooter were icing on the cake.
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Well, today’s the day.
G
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Lets see who gets annoyed about this opening ceremony…
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