Things were easier before. Also these discussions. Then we could, for example, discuss whether five setters Christian Ruud against legend Boris Becker at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 was a bigger moment than when Vegard Ulvang that same year took our first three-mile gold for centuries. Or in 2007 discussed what was the biggest of Suzann Pettersen’s first win on the LPGA tour or the two World Cup gold medals that Ole Einar Bjørndalen took in biathlon.

Our disagreements here at home about what can be considered a world sport feels almost as old as sport itself. After a really crazy weekend for young Norwegian athletes, we can pause the debate for a bit

Or more than anything else, we may need to prepare to redefine it a bit.

The word sports world is probably something very Norwegian, at least in the sense we use it. Which is a bit condescending, bordering on the colonialist sense, where we are mainly trying to put it I understand something you can’t take over you.

This means that any 27th place in a golf tournament far away and in the middle of the night is something far bigger than the purported victory of one of our many winter heroes at a ski stadium in a village somewhere in Europe.

This means that we have a lot of discussions about who our biggest sports heroes are. Whether the aforementioned achievements of Suzann Pettersen or Petter Solberg or Andreas Thorkildsen or Cecilia Brækhus or Alexander Kristoff can surpass what we experienced during the winter, which is very special to us. Or our discussion never gets to a plausible ending: how big is Magnus Carlsen compared to everyone else, regardless of the season.

Generation V

There has been a lot of talk in recent months and years about a new generation of our sports heroes, whom we should here call Generation V, world stars. But the praise they have received has been mostly fragmented, in the sense that the growing world stars are mostly praised separately.

This past weekend, they came into focus in an interesting way at the same time. So much so that we can all remember one or three of all the beauties that we Norwegians experience in a few days.

• Casper Ruud (21) had set the ball against world number one Novak Djokovic in the historic semi-final of the ATP tournament in Rome and is now in the top 30 of the world rankings.
• Golfer Viktor Hovland (23) searched for a long time to finish in the top 6 at a major US Open, but ended up in a still impressive 13th place.
• Running phenom Jakob Ingebrigtsen not only turns 20 this weekend, he also won the King’s Cup for the first time during the National Championships in Bergen. There’s also new great talent Henriette Jæger (17) with two golds.
• Then on Sunday night, Martin degaard (21) played for the first time from scratch in La Liga for his Real Madrid, without impressing as national teammate Erling Braut Haaland (20) did once again the day before for his Borussia Dortmund. in Germany.

Football, athletics, golf and tennis. Or in this case swimming and beach volleyball. It is a sport that gives us a feeling of international grandeur and at least recognition. We’re not very used to it at home. Hence the discussion – a discussion of achievements that can be included in a sport that maintains the term «Sports of the world»love to compete with the sports we are most interested in right here at home.

For how do we rank a semi-final place in a tennis tournament that is not one of the biggest four or 6th place in a golf tournament, few of us really know, for example, the World Cup winner in cross-country skiing? Or the winner goes down in Kitzbuhel. Or World Cup gold on roller skates. Or seven medals in one World Cup in biathlon, which Marte Olsbu Røiseland impressively won earlier this year.

As mentioned, this discussion has created a disproportionate feeling within us. And almost only here. Denmark has neither winter sport nor the concept, while in Sweden the discussion around the concept has been largely limited to what status one can actually give floorball. Swedes aren’t interested, until they’re too used to showing off, yes, the world of sport.

. but some are more world sports than others

One of the things we don’t talk about very much is what it actually takes to be defined as “world sport”. Until now, argument has been used mostly in the sense of “Bigger than the other party in the discussion understand”.

This means that cross-country skiing loses to alpine loses to ice hockey loses to swimming loses to athletics loses to golf loses to tennis and in the end everyone loses to football.

The criteria for the world’s greatest sport are not defined anywhere.

One can talk about distribution in a number of countrieslike table tennis does.

Or someone can talk about number of practitionerswhich makes cricket and field hockey bigger than we can imagine.

And then you can make arrangements put together by interestavailability, the media coverage, number of practitionersnumber of countries and continents.

This is how the website appears Sports shows, for example, up to 15 different criteria they are the basis for judging the joint ranking of sports globally.

If we summarize some of the criteria that are most often stated, then it requires a world sport that is partly one of the greatest sports, and partly practiced and least available to some extent in most of the world.

That then includes tennis, golf, basketball, athletics, cricket, and gymnastics – but not necessarily archery and baseball. Although very large where it first popular.

What everyone agrees on is that football is the greatest. And no winter sports are nearly catching up.

The closest is ice hockey. With its immense popularity in Russia and Eastern Europe combined with the rest of the Americas and a growing interest in Asia, it’s starting to become quite the spread. But from there to call it a world sport, there’s still very little left. If we’re going to talk about how big Mats Zuccarello is, we’d rather say how big hockey is than any other winter sport.

This type of discussion recognizes no seasonal loyalties, only a vaguely defined order of retrieval.

Therefore, they will continue to wave between seasons – and internally as well. About all-round gold for Sverre Lunde Pedersen beat another for Therese Johaug. Or if the jump is bigger than a biathlon.

New star, new discussion

However, now, a new era has also begun here in Norway. Where we will start discussing world sports with each other. What is the biggest of the top 4 in tennis tournaments at the second highest level of prestige and the top 15 in golf tournaments at the highest level?

Or how should we now rank Hegerberg and Haaland’s individual goals against France and Germany or Degaard’s performance in the Spanish capital against swimming for a long-range World Cup medal?

Our new rising stars provide us with a new arsenal of possible discussions if they continue to develop their immense potential.

For future discussion.

Also where have they been all along – where national sport meets the big world.

If someone asks why we should consider this, it’s because we want to. This is because it indirectly interferes with all sports, namely ranking, winning and simply being the best.

Between sports or internal in it.

As the more or less deliberate discussion arose around our young athletic star during the World Championships in Athletics in London in 2017:

What is the biggest medal in the 1500 meter run against gold in hurdling practice?

Like this weekend got a local extension, after judges at NM in Bergen awarded the King’s Cup to Jakob Ingebrigtsen instead of Karsten Warholm, who many expected to get, based on normal criteria. But the jury took its own analysis. As we all will continue to do.

Protect the heroes of winter

Especially now that winter is near. And we again want to protect the greatness of our heroes.

Because can you use it against Therese Johaug, Marte Olsbu Røiseland, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo or Johannes Thingnes B that their sport isn’t big enough around the world, when they won almost everything they could possibly win in the sport they actually do?

As they will now be evaluated against a new generation of sparkling stars that include Ruud, Haaland, degaard, Hovland, Ingebrigtsen and soon Jæger.

And then you immediately miss names like Mol, Srum, Henrik Christiansen and Karsten Warholm mentioned above.

But in this context, they are considered veterans, at the age of 23 and 24, Sørum and Warholm are even 24.5. Days and a half years still count, you know, in the age group we’re talking about here.