South Africa isn’t known for memorable performances in the Winter Olympics. You likely won’t see Wayde van Niekerk take up curling in years to come either. But apparently, the country isn’t opposed to winter sports entirely.
According to Google Search data, which tallied the most popular sport by the number of YouTube videos viewed within the past 12 months, South Africa’s favourite winter olympic sport is bobsleigh.
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SA does have one representative in the Winter Olympics 2018, but Connor Wilson will be competing in the slalom skiing events, and definitely won’t be doing that while controlling an aerodynamic tube hurtling down a much larger ice-covered tube.
Nevertheless, bobsleigh is also a big watch in Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Portugal. Oh, and obviously, Jamaica! (Note: all particularly warm-weather countries).
Nigeria also has an all-women bobsleigh team competing at the Olympics, fueling the country’s interest in the sport.
Google noted some other interesting trends.
South Africa has one representative at the Winter Olympics 2018, but he will not be involved in bobsleigh events
Greenland, Italy, Norway and Germany were most interested in skiing. Australia, Iceland and the UK were brushing up on their (couch) snowboarding skills. While across the Sahara and Asian subcontinent, curling was the most popular sport.
And as for the outliers, Japan particularly loves figure skating, New Zealand has a thing for luge, and Kenya’s most popular winter sport is speed skating. Kenya does have a competitor at the Winter Olympics 2018, but she will be involved in the alpine skiing events.
For a more comprehensive look at countries’ trends, have a look at the map below.
Feature image: Groman123 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0, resized)
