Viewers of the Winter and Summer Olympics may want to understand why certain countries dominate the medals count. For example, as of February 14, Germany was first in the Winter Olympics in gold medals, followed by Switzerland, Canada and the Netherlands. For the last Summer Olympics, in 2012, the top gold medal winners were the United States, China, Great Britain and Russia.
The library's Culturegrams database is a good source for learning about the recreation pursuits of countries. To reach the database, go to www.slcl.org, then select the Research tab, then select databases a-z on the left side, then C, then Culturegrams. Once in the database, choose the world edition, then type in the name of the country. In the country's profile is a link for recreation. This informative database tells us that the most common sports in Germany are hiking, skiing, swimming, cycling, tennis and soccer. In Switzerland, the popular sports are ice hockey, soccer, skiing, biking, and tennis. For China, the top sports are soccer, table tennis, swimming and badminton. Those who live in the Netherlands enjoy soccer, tennis, hockey, ice skating and cycling.
One of the best features of this database is that it gives users a sense of what it is like to live in a country. At the top of each country's profile is a section called "Did you know?"
For the Netherlands, a fun fact is that Christmas gifts are exchanged on December 6, St. Nicholas Day. Canada stretches across six time zones.
For the curious, as well as students and their teachers, Culturegrams is an invaluable supplement to the Olympics.
--Harry C., Reference
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