Small countries that punch above their weight

[gshughes]

After their recent win in the America's Cup and the continuing excellence of the All Blacks, the argument can be made that in international sport New Zealand punch above the weight of their small population. On another thread someone wondered what other countries were similar or better. I'm Scottish, so put together a list off the top of my head of Scottish world class performers and it is a long one (and probably loads I have missed), possibly better than New Zealand. Does anyone have any similar lists for other small countries? The Netherlands is one that springs to mind. Australia have lots of sporting stars but a relatively large population at 23 million:

Ecurie Ecosse (1956 and 1957 Le Mans Winners)
Jackie Stewart (three times F1 Drivers Champion)
Jim Clark (twice F1 Drivers Champion)
The Lisbon Lions (Celtic European Cup Winners 1967)
David Wilkie
Alan Wells
Liz McColgan
Kenny Dalgleish
Graham Souness
Sandy Lyle
John Cleland
Colin McRae
Louise Aitken-Walker
Dario Franchitti
David Coulthard
Steve Hislop
Paul di Resta
Graeme Obree
Robert Millar
David Millar
Chris Hoy
Mark Beaumont
Callum Skinner
Kathryn Grainger
Stephen Hendry (is snooker a sport?)
Jocky Wilson (ditto darts!)
The Rugby Union Team (currently 5th in the IRB World Rankings, would include such as Gavin Hastings, John Jeffery and a few others who would have got into world teams of their era, arguably Stewart Hogg in a few years if he can improve his defence)
Andy Murray
Jamie Murray

Edited by gshughes on Friday 22 September 06:38

[Type R Tom]

Not got the current Rangers team in that list

I think the fact I had to google some of them means they aren't "that" big.

[gshughes]

Type R Tom said:

Not got the current Rangers team in that list

I think the fact I had to google some of them means they aren't "that" big.

Touche! I haven't ever really thought of Rangers as being a big club in the scheme of things, I think their biggest achievement is beating Marseille to get to the semi final of the Champions League in about 1993, but I could be wring about that. Who did you have to google out of interest?

[Randy Winkman]

I must admit, I'm thinking mainly of football, but that is just about the world's biggest sport played at a decent standard in a huge number of countries. Anyway, in football, Sweden (9m) and Ireland (less than 5m) do really well.

[egomeister]

Randy Winkman said:

I must admit, I'm thinking mainly of football, but that is just about the world's biggest sport played at a decent standard in a huge number of countries. Anyway, in football, Sweden (9m) and Ireland (less than 5m) do really well.

Uruguay has a fantastic record for a country of not much more than 3m people.

[Du1point8]

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

[Pothole]

gshughes said:

After their recent win in the America's Cup and the continuing excellence of the All Blacks, the argument can be made that in international sport New Zealand punch above the weight of their small population. On another thread someone wondered what other countries were similar or better. I'm Scottish, so put together a list off the top of my head of Scottish world class performers and it is a long one (and probably loads I have missed), possibly better than New Zealand. Does anyone have any similar lists for other small countries? The Netherlands is one that springs to mind. Australia have lots of sporting stars but a relatively large population at 23 million:

Ecurie Ecosse (1956 and 1957 Le Mans Winners)
Jackie Stewart (three times F1 Drivers Champion)
Jim Clark (twice F1 Drivers Champion)
The Lisbon Lions (Celtic European Cup Winners 1967)
David Wilkie
Alan Wells
Liz McColgan
Kenny Dalgleish
Graham Souness
Sandy Lyle
Colin McRae
Louise Aitken-Walker
Dario Franchitti
David Coulthard
Steve Hislop
Paul di Resta
Graeme Obree
Robert Millar
David Millar
Chris Hoy
Mark Beaumont
Callum Skinner
Kathryn Grainger
Stephen Hendry (is snooker a sport?)
Jocky Wilson (ditto darts!)
The Rugby Union Team (currently 5th in the IRB World Rankings, would include such as Gavin Hastings, John Jeffery and a few others who would have got into world teams of their era, arguably Stewart Hogg in a few years if he can improve his defence)
Andy Murray
Jamie Murray

No Alan Hansen or Bill Shankly? What's wrong with you, man? Gavin Hastings' tears surly preclude him from such a list!

Honourable mention to Gary McAllister if we're talking about Kopite Scotsmen, too.

[Pothole]

Jamaica did well at the London 2012 olympics, largely due to Usain Bolt, of course, but finishing 3rd in the athletics medals table behind the USA and Russia with a population of less than 3 million makes them a phenomenon!

[gshughes]

Pothole said:

No Alan Hansen or Bill Shankly? What's wrong with you, man? Gavin Hastings' tears surly preclude him from such a list!

Honourable mention to Gary McAllister if we're talking about Kopite Scotsmen, too.

Bill Shankly is a manager rather than a sportsman, but I take your point. I guess that means that I need to (reluctantly) include Fergie as well! Alan Hansen was a bit below my radar for some reason, and if we are including GMcA, I think we should include John Collins too, as he scored against Brazil in a World Cup and had a successful stint at Monaco. Paul Lambert played for Bayern Munich for a while too, I seem to recall - the list could go on!

[Yiliterate]

Du1point8 said:

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

Iceland: 8 x World's Strongest Man titles, 7 x Runner-up, 4 x Third place...population 330k!!!

[Donbot]

Du1point8 said:

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

I hear that they are also pretty good at driving off road.

[freddytin]

Donbot said:

Du1point8 said:

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

I hear that they are also pretty good at driving off road.

And on road ...F1

[glazbagun]

freddytin said:

Donbot said:

Du1point8 said:

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

I hear that they are also pretty good at driving off road.

And on road ...F1

First thing that popped into my head!

Mikka Hakkinen 2 x F1 WDC
Kimi raikkonen 1 x F1 WDC & 20 race wins
Juha Kankkunen 4 x WRC champion for three different manufacturers!
Tommi Makinen 4 x WRC winner.


Regarding Scotland, there's also Curling (if that's a sport) which Scotland has historically been pretty good at, though the pesky Canadian offshoots have overtaken us in total championship wins, but neither has a massive population.

Ethiopia and Kenya both kickass at the 10K historically.

I guess there are some sports which countries develop into a centre of excellence for. The Hungarians monstered Fencing until the Germans invaded.

[Size Nine Elm]

gshughes said:

Touche! I haven't ever really thought of Rangers as being a big club in the scheme of things, I think their biggest achievement is beating Marseille to get to the semi final of the Champions League in about 1993, but I could be wring about that. Who did you have to google out of interest?

Rangers did win the European Cup Winners Cup in 1972. They only beat Dynamo Moscow in the final, managed to avoid that tricky Luxembourg fixture that time round.

[Highway Star]

glazbagun said:

First thing that popped into my head!

Mikka Hakkinen 2 x F1 WDC
Kimi raikkonen 1 x F1 WDC & 20 race wins
Juha Kankkunen 4 x WRC champion for three different manufacturers!
Tommi Makinen 4 x WRC winner.


Regarding Scotland, there's also Curling (if that's a sport) which Scotland has historically been pretty good at, though the pesky Canadian offshoots have overtaken us in total championship wins, but neither has a massive population.

Ethiopia and Kenya both kickass at the 10K historically.

I guess there are some sports which countries develop into a centre of excellence for. The Hungarians monstered Fencing until the Germans invaded.

But Kenya's population is touching 48 million and Ethiopia over 100 million (I didn't realise it was that big).

Agree about the Hungarians and fencing though. They also always punch above their weight in swimming and water polo.

[Gargamel]

Not enough footballers in that list. Archie Gemmill (won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest) along with a couple of others Scots. Also, Gordon Strachan probably the most complete football from Scotland.

I would say Australia for its population wins a lot of stuff. Across a wide range, Rugby, Swimming, Cricket, Triathlon and very food ladies sport too.

[anonymous-user]

Pothole said:

Jamaica did well at the London 2012 olympics, largely due to Usain Bolt, of course, but finishing 3rd in the athletics medals table behind the USA and Russia with a population of less than 3 million makes them a phenomenon!

Yeah but Jamaican sprinting is rotten with doping,

[GravelBen]

freddytin said:

Donbot said:

Du1point8 said:

Are we going specialist sports?

Finland

icehockey
ski jumping
most things cold related.

4.5-5 million people.

I hear that they are also pretty good at driving off road.

And on road ...F1

I think you have those backwards... F1 is off road (on purpose built tracks), rallying is on roads (which have been temporarily closed to public traffic).

[tight5]

Yiliterate said:

Iceland: 8 x World's Strongest Man titles, 7 x Runner-up, 4 x Third place...population 330k!!!

[gshughes]

Gargamel said:

Not enough footballers in that list. Archie Gemmill (won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest) along with a couple of others Scots. Also, Gordon Strachan probably the most complete football from Scotland.

I would say Australia for its population wins a lot of stuff. Across a wide range, Rugby, Swimming, Cricket, Triathlon and very food ladies sport too.

Very good point, Archie Gemmill deserves to go in, purely for THAT goal against Holland. I was pondering Gordon Strachan, but in the end I left him out. As regards Australia, I raised this in the initial post. Yes they are very good at sport, but they have a population of 23 million, so not really a small country.