15 reasons Summer Olympics are better than Winter Olympics
By Brad Weiss
11. Everyone participates
There is a huge disparity between the amount of countries that participate in the two Olympics, with the Summer Games drawing competitors from far more places than the Winter Games. During the last Winter Olympics in Sochi, only 90 countries were represented, including a bunch who were making their debut.
During the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Zimbabwe, Virgin-Islands, Toga, Tongo, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Phillipines, Paraguay, Malta and British Virgin Islands all appeared in their first Winter Games, although they mostly one had one qualifier.
One of the main reasons for this is the fact that the sports represented in the Winter Games are just not as popular in the Southern hemisphere. Those countries are hot-weather areas, and the people cannot relate to snowboarding or skiing. Competitors from these countries have a hard time qualifying, as some events require certain times in order to send athletes to the Games.
The Summer Olympics in Rio will draw competitors from 207 nations, which was up from the 2012 edition. In London, there were 204 countries represented, so the number continues to grow.
Having more countries in the Olympics is better for competition, as well as popularity for the Games. The popularity of the Summer Olympics is at an all-time high, and despite the drama leading up the Rio Games, the 2016 Olympics are sure to set more records once again.
Next: 10. Some countries cannot train for Winter Olympics