Iran at the 2014 Winter Olympics- Sochi

[Nokhodi]

Farzaneh Rezasoltani competed in the Women's 10 kilometer classical cross country skiing event and finished 73rd out of 76 athletes.

[Nokhodi]

Sattar Seid will compete in his event tomorrow (Feb. 14th).

The other Iranian athletes won't compete until the 19th, 21st and 22nd.

[Paradigm]

There are these tiny European countries like Slovenia which have gold medal winners, and then there is Iran with 75+ million people and we can't win a single bronze. Why do you guys think this is the case...? I'd really like to hear your opinions.

[Pedram88]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ or there is Kazakhstan that just won bronze today we finish last everytime

[Irannn]

There are these tiny European countries like Slovenia which have gold medal winners, and then there is Iran with 75+ million people and we can't win a single bronze. Why do you guys think this is the case...? I'd really like to hear your opinions.

because nobody ever gave a shit about winter sports in Iran, most of these sports don't even exist in Iran.

[PSGman#19]

because nobody ever gave a shit about winter sports in Iran, most of these sports don't even exist in Iran.

Nobody gives a shit about winter sport in the world except North america, nothern/Central Europe and Asian tigers (SK, Jap and China). And in a lot of these countries, they have already forgotten the athletes 2 months after the olympics.
That's why I don't really consider winter olympics as Olympics.

However an Iranian Ice Hockey team could be nice

[Nokhodi]

There are these tiny European countries like Slovenia which have gold medal winners, and then there is Iran with 75+ million people and we can't win a single bronze. Why do you guys think this is the case...? I'd really like to hear your opinions.

Because these are not grassroots sports and they cost way too much money to sustain.

Besides no one gives a damn about winter Olympics.

[persian-eagle-13]

to be honest most of the sports they have in winter olympic are pure junk, they are not even sports rather entertainment

[PouriaAkaBarut]

The only excitement in Winter Olympics is the Men's hockey honestly and that's only because I live in a country where hockey is the #1 sport.

[The-Tehrooni]

several reasons:

1) most of Iran as a country is not cold enough to sustain several months long winter activities where as other countries that are successful in the winter olympics have much colder climates than Iran. At best in Iran we get 'cold' weather in the north of the country and by the time nowruz comes, all the snow and the cold weather in those areas is long gone.

2) Winter olympics very much like the summer olympics requires A LOT of investment in coaching and infrastructure. We all know that the Iranian government spends almost nothing on sports, especially sports which have historically been unpopular amongst Iranians, meaning winter/cold sports. Because of Iran's lack of funding, Iran only succeeds in sports that are extremely popular such football and that is only success with regards to Asian standards or sports with deep historical, cultural and grass roots support such as wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo. You cant seriously expect Iran to do anything at the winter olympics when most of the sports require tremendous funding and facilities such as speed skating and luge. The athletes we send to the winter games are just skiers and the only reason we have skiers is that we have mountains in Iran so the government does not need to invest to make a structure for skiing. People just grabs skates and skiis and go to mount Damavand and ski and we decide to send a few decent and casual skiers to the olympics.

3) The winter olympics are not very prestigious when compared to the summer games. Majority of the world does not even compete in these games and this reduces the incentive for Iranian athletes to take up these sports and it certainly reduces the chance that the IR will fund any winter sports.

4) Level of competition in a way is far higher in the winter games than the summer games. A handful of countries completely dominate the winter games, and a lot of the countries basically own the medals at one sport. For example, the dutch own the speed skating medals, the germans win most of the luge medals, the Canadians win the curling, hockey medals and the Americans win a lot of the freestyle medals. The Norwegians and the Russians also win a lot of the other medals. Basically it is incredibly difficult to compete with these established winter olympic countries.

Look at China, they win a shit load of medals in the summer games but only win a handful in the winter games

So basically the reason Iran and lots of other countries cant win medals in the winter olympics is:
1) Climate
2) Lack of investment/coaching
3) Lack of interest in the sports
4) Too much competition

There are these tiny European countries like Slovenia which have gold medal winners, and then there is Iran with 75+ million people and we can't win a single bronze. Why do you guys think this is the case...? I'd really like to hear your opinions.

[Camran khan]

There are these tiny European countries like Slovenia which have gold medal winners, and then there is Iran with 75+ million people and we can't win a single bronze. Why do you guys think this is the case...? I'd really like to hear your opinions.

Because these sports are irrelevant in Iran, seriously all sports in the winter olympics is sh!t, who gives a fvck about them except for a few scandinavian countries, Canada, Russia and the US

[irani8perspolis]

some olympic results:
Seyed Sattar finished 79th out of 92 skiers in the mens 15km cross country classic, he finished 8.45 minutes behind the leader.
Farzaneh Rezasoltani finished 73 out of 76 skiers in the ladies 10km cross country classic, she finished 14.13 minutes behind the leader.

[Go_Daei]

that lebenese skier chick deserves gold... umm the one with topless pix.

[PSGman#19]

several reasons:

1) most of Iran as a country is not cold enough to sustain several months long winter activities where as other countries that are successful in the winter olympics have much colder climates than Iran. At best in Iran we get 'cold' weather in the north of the country and by the time nowruz comes, all the snow and the cold weather in those areas is long gone.

2) Winter olympics very much like the summer olympics requires A LOT of investment in coaching and infrastructure. We all know that the Iranian government spends almost nothing on sports, especially sports which have historically been unpopular amongst Iranians, meaning winter/cold sports. Because of Iran's lack of funding, Iran only succeeds in sports that are extremely popular such football and that is only success with regards to Asian standards or sports with deep historical, cultural and grass roots support such as wrestling, weightlifting, taekwondo. You cant seriously expect Iran to do anything at the winter olympics when most of the sports require tremendous funding and facilities such as speed skating and luge. The athletes we send to the winter games are just skiers and the only reason we have skiers is that we have mountains in Iran so the government does not need to invest to make a structure for skiing. People just grabs skates and skiis and go to mount Damavand and ski and we decide to send a few decent and casual skiers to the olympics.

3) The winter olympics are not very prestigious when compared to the summer games. Majority of the world does not even compete in these games and this reduces the incentive for Iranian athletes to take up these sports and it certainly reduces the chance that the IR will fund any winter sports.

4) Level of competition in a way is far higher in the winter games than the summer games. A handful of countries completely dominate the winter games, and a lot of the countries basically own the medals at one sport. For example, the dutch own the speed skating medals, the germans win most of the luge medals, the Canadians win the curling, hockey medals and the Americans win a lot of the freestyle medals. The Norwegians and the Russians also win a lot of the other medals. Basically it is incredibly difficult to compete with these established winter olympic countries.

Look at China, they win a shit load of medals in the summer games but only win a handful in the winter games

So basically the reason Iran and lots of other countries cant win medals in the winter olympics is:
1) Climate
2) Lack of investment/coaching
3) Lack of interest in the sports
4) Too much competition

I agree with but iranian volleyball, basketball and handball federation need kudos.

If iran could develop tennis it would be perfect. Even Kazakhstan uzbek latvia or serbia menage to do it

[Paradigm]

Netherlands has been in the top 5 of the medal counts since the start. Germany and Italy doing well as usual... Japan and China have a few very strong contenders. It is the African, Latin American and Asian countries which are missing out. I think participation in the winter games shows a higher class... For instance I have been following the Jamaican bobsled team and they are getting an amazing amount of international attention.