Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Would you say the World Cup is bigger than he Olympics?
Definitely. The WC sends the whole country in a frenzy but the Olympics are very big as well (both Summer and Winter). In the Winter Olympics, we have speed skating which is a big national sport here (we got 24 medals in this sport last Olympics) and people watch these games as if it were a WC final. For example, almost 5 million people watched the men's speedskating 5 km final. In the Summer Olympics, we have many different sports we compete in (hockey, swimming, equestrian, gymnastics, sailing, rowing, judo, cycling, etc.) so there's something for everyone. I know lots of people who stay up all night to watch those games. I can promise you that any self-respecting Dutchman can describe to you in detail what Epke Zonderland did last Olympics*. I remember when the Olympics were in Australia so the games were broadcast in the morning/afternoon here (I was still in primary school back then) and my teacher would stop everything to watch the games with us.
* For all you non-Dutchman, this is what he did
Absolutely legendary stuff. But football is by far the most dominant sport here, no other sport comes close.
Like in 98' I assume.. More than one million people just on the Champs-Elysees.. Tons of burned cars. And newspapers talking about this during days.
That French team was absolutely legendary. I've supported France ever since.
WC 1998 is my favourite WC too. It is the first WC I can vividly remember and the NT team we had then was the best we ever had (yes, better than 74/78). We should have won the Cup then. To lose the SF to Brazil on penalties was so devastating
In China, if you are a man and not interested in soccer, you will be miserable during the World Cup period. Everyone will be talking about the teams, players and so on, all the time.
It would lift the profile of the sport a lot more in Australia, just qualifying for the world cup seems to have achieved that to some degree. I am sure their would be lots of celebrating if Australia did any good, however I doubt celebrations would be anything like what they would be in Europe or South America if their team won.
Soccer is perhaps competing with Rugby Union for the title of Australia's fourth biggest team sport these days.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
