Norway has long been known as one of the best winter sports countries in the world.

But the fact that our elongated country is also on the list of places where summer and winter sports are represented is surprising.

– I have been following Norway’s top sport for a long time, and have always claimed that Norway is a sporting superpower. It would be nice to have this confirmed by a neutral body, Inge Andersen, secretary general of the Norwegian Sports Confederation, told NRK.no.

Definitely the best among the little ones

All the countries at the top after Norway on the list have at least seven times as many people.

In other words, Idretts-Norge is a flyweight boxer who has the muscles to beat heavyweights.

– Actually I’m not too surprised our ranking is so high. It’s great to receive recognition from abroad, Andersen said, adding:

– An important reason why Norway is so high is because we have a very healthy and good Norwegian sports model that has proven to be very viable. After all, we are competing with the world’s superpowers, Andersen said.

America is the best

America was named the country with the best sport in the world, followed by China and Germany. Russia, Canada, France and the UK also rank above Norway.

Selection is carried out by considering results since January 1 2010 in championships, world cups and other major events.

There are 60 categories of summer Olympic sports, 25 categories of winter Olympic sports, and 10 categories of non-Olympic sports (such as motor sports).

Norway usually tops the rankings of the best sporting countries in relation to population, but in this ranking everyone from mosquitoes to elephants competes in the same class. With 608 points from winter sports (4th place) and 107 from summer sports
Norway got 715 points, which means it ranks 8th.

– A very important task for us, sports managers, is to manage the level we have today, and develop it further, says Andersen.

Bjørgen beats Denmark alone

Canada (34.7 million people) in 5th place and Australia (22.8 million) in 9th place are relatively small countries that make up the top ten.

Norway, which recently had a population of more than 5 million, is the world’s 118th largest country by population.

The best country with a smaller population than Norway is New Zealand in 24th place. Sweden is number 15, Finland is number 25, and Denmark is number 34.

Marit Bjørgen himself has collected 145 points in Sport Bild’s calculations.

Thus, it will become the 28th best sporting country in the world. Petter Northug has secured 115 points and should be in 33rd position.

Both Bjørgen and Northug have collected more points than all Danish athletes.

The best sports countries in the world:

1) US 1844.8 points (approximately 313 million people)
2) China 1642 (1347 million)
3) Germany 1508 (81 million)
4) Russia 1446.5 (143 million)
5) Canada 1026 (34 million)
6) France 897 (65 million)
7) United Kingdom 863.3 (62 million)
8) Norway 715 (5 million)
9) Australia 650 (22 million)
10) South Korea 643.9 (48 million)
11) Italy 600 (60 million)
12) Netherlands 567 (16 million)
13) Japan 533 (127 million), 14) Austria 498 (8 million)
15) Sweden 436 (9 million)
16) Spain 386 (46 million)
17) Switzerland 386 (7 million)
18) Brazil 357 (192 million)
19) Belarus 282.5 (9 million)
20) Ukraine 281 (45 million).

Selected: 24) New Zealand 197 (4.4 million), 25) Finland 192 (5.4 million), 34) Denmark 108.5 (5.5 million).

92 countries have received points.