The Norwegian welfare state promotes the importance of physical activity among its citizens. Numerous public facilities and sport clubs provide for the high rate of sports participation which is well above the European average.
■Since cold weather dominates Norway for a large part of the year it is not surprising that winter sports are very popular. The most prominent among them is skiing. Team sports, such as handball and football are also widely practiced.
■The sports system of the country is often cited as a prime example. Norway has managed to simultaneously develop a successful elite sports and a physical activities program designed for every citizen.
■In spite of the limited resources available, Norwegian athletes regularly achieve excellent results at Olympic Games, while the development of „sport for all” policies are also in the focus of every sports stakeholder. This healthy balance is quite rare in today’s international sports scene as the majority of nations give priority to the pursue of Olympic medals.
■Whereas community sport has always been important for the government, the catalyst for progress for elite sport has been the establishment of a dedicated organization (Olympiatoppen) in the late 1980s, which was later integrated into the NIF. Recent changes significantly affected the funding structure of sport