Talk:Tropical nations at the Winter Olympics

Discussion

Australia only has a tropical climate in the north. In the centre it is arid, and in the south it is temperate. Rintrah 01:35, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I took it out. The article should be better now. Admittedly much of Mexico is north of the Tropics, as is a good deal of India, but I think counting them as tropical is reasonable. If I had gotten totally strict I couldn't have even put in Brazil and that seems silly to me.--T. Anthony 05:50, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

There is snow in India. In fact the world's highest mountains; the Himalayas are located in India. Meursault2004 17:35, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

And there's snow (or was) on Kilimanjiro. That doesn't stop India being a tropical nation, because tropical refers to latitude, not altitude.--MacRusgail 19:26, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, India is mostly subtropical (which actually is a sub-category of temperate climates), but it can be classified as both a tropical or a non-tropical nation. I am invariant under co-ordinate transformations 00:44, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

True, true... the main aim of the article is really its novelty value, i.e. "the Winter Olympics is all about snowsports, but some countries have competed which aren't reknowned for their cold climate." --MacRusgail 11:03, 5 November 2007 (UTC) p.s. That's one of the coolest User names I've seen! LOL!

Thanks MacRusgail. And you are right, the parts of India which receive snowfall are sparsely populated (compared to the rest of the country). Most of the population either lives in the plains which have cool winters or in the peninsula which has warm winters or no winters at all. When I think cold, I definitely dont think India at first!! Cheers. I am invariant under co-ordinate transformations 16:38, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

It's odd, although a good chunk of India is Himalayan, that's not how foreigners generally think of the country (at least not here). Is the snowsports industry there much developed yet? Is there an area of the Himalayas yet set up for tourist skiing? --MacRusgail 17:53, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Actually there are quite a few skiing 'resorts' in India, Auli, Narkanda and Gulmarg to name some. I am not a huge skiing enthusiast myself, so dont know how it compares skiing facilities elsewhere (probably not very well). I actually might go to one this December, so I'll let you know what I find .... I am invariant under co-ordinate transformations 21:39, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Is this list of countries defined by the tropical latitudes or by climate? If by latitudes, HK lies entirely within this boundary. It is currently confusing in the article, presenting both definitions. --Kvasir (talk) 21:25, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Both. The inclusion criteria is stated as those that lie entirely or predominantly within the tropical latitudes and also have a mostly tropical climate according to the Köppen climate classification system (bold added by me). The "near misses" are listed in the prose text beneath the tables. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 20:54, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Why is New Zealand even mentioned? It is a major skiing mecca during the Southern winter, and where a lot of the Northern people train at that time. Sure, the northern parts might be warm, but no one lists the USA here because of Florida. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.230.175.226 (talk) 13:08, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

That a large part of Mexico does not lie within the tropics is ultimately irrelevant for the purposes of winter sport (it's only relevant because of the title of this article). The real point is whether it has regions regularly receiving significant snowfall (which, at appropriate altitudes, is entirely possible even at tropical latitudes, as pointed out above), and it turns out it does not. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 19:57, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

Costa Rica's debut in Winter Olympics

Costa Rica made it's Winter Olympic debut in 1980, not 2006!

(JethroOlympiad (talk) 20:40, 30 January 2008 (UTC))

No problem, if you can find a reference to this all the better. --MacRusgail (talk) 15:29, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Taiwan

I have included Taiwan, because although it considers itself to be a successor state of pre-Communist China, it is right on the border of the tropics. --MacRusgail (talk) 16:27, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

This shows you are badly informed on the legal status of ROC-controlled territories and the practice in international sports. Athletes can only participate under the name "Chinese Taipei". --2001:16B8:31CD:E100:5821:B1B4:F2AD:170 (talk) 17:17, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

Removing GA nom

Hi. I noticed this was listed at WP:GAN. I regret to inform you that because this is not an article, but a list, it cannot reach Good Article status. However, if you wish to pursue a higher classification for this article, you can nominate it as a Featured List at WP:FLC. Because of this, I am removing your nomination. Thanks. Nikki311 23:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Six paragraphs = a list?! --MacRusgail (talk) 17:43, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I was a bit surprised at that too. I don't think this could ever be a featured article, but I thought it would be cool to bring an article nominated for deletion 18 months ago all the way back to "good" status. Oh well. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 18:07, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Seemingly it's a bit controversial for GA status, and it was really written as a novelty item, about a little known subject. However, I think it has gone well beyond a list.--MacRusgail (talk) 18:47, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Lots of lists on the Featured List category have plenty of paragraph text. For example: List_of_Chicago_Landmarks. I think a good list has to be more than being just a list. There has to be a well written paragraph explaining why the subject is significant, inclusion criteria etc. I would also suggest a picture of a tropical athelete at the winter olympics as the token poster boy/girl for the article. --Kvasir (talk) 22:28, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

I've looked on flickr for Creative Commons licensed photos for all the obvious poster children (Anne Abernathy, Arturo Kinch, Philip Boit, Judd Bankert, etc.) but did not find any. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 23:20, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Egypt

I think Egypt is missing (Egypt at the 1984 Winter Olympics). --Smooth O (talk) 18:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Finances

Some mention should be made in this article of how much more 'tropical' athletes pay to train for their Winter Games participation. Lacking training facilities in their home countries, they must find the funds to train away from home for most, if not all, of their training. Mention could also be made of whether or not thier home country governments subsidise them in any way. There is more to this subject than its novelty value. Grandma Roses (talk) 22:07, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

FA in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics?

Can we, as a community, PLEASE raise this up to Featured Article status in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics? That would be fantastic and awesome if we did. Zaldax (talk) 14:40, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Inclusion of countries which have partial territory in the tropics.

I think we should include countries which have partial territory in the tropics onto the list. What do you think? Sportsfan 1234 (talk) 15:35, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

That just makes it a problem article again, per the comments about Australia and New Zealand in earlier sections -- 70.24.244.161 (talk) 15:07, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

That would include a LOT of countries, including the United States.Czolgolz (talk) 15:22, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

This article is mainly about the novelty of certain countries being in the winter Olympics. I wouldn't include the USA or NZ, because considerable chunks of those countries are cold - Alaska alone is massive, and the Southern Alps take up much of South Island. In the case of New Zealand, the vast majority of the country is temperate, and it's only in the north of North Island that one can experience a subtropical climate. I think Australia is a better example, because the vast majority of the country is arid, with some rainforest in the far north. The part which is temperate or receives much snow is

As regards the USA, other than Hawaii, none of the states are genuinely tropical. Florida is close to being tropical. Various territories such as American Samoa, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico qualify, but they have their own teams, so should be mentioned in their own right. In the case of New Zealand, the Cook Islands are possibly an example of a tropical territory, but I don't believe that they have ever competed.--MacRùsgail (talk) 16:29, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

tbh it's more about the novelty of snowless nations - arguably Ireland is at a bigger disadvantage than many tropical nations with high snowy mountains. Sheila1988 (talk) 23:55, 23 December 2017 (UTC)

Bolivia

Bolivia exists entirely between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator. Its climate is dominantly tropical. Bolivia appeared at the Winter games long before Philippines. Currently the introduction reads: The first truly tropical nation to compete in the Winter Olympic Games is the Philippines. On what basis is this statement made?Ordinary Person (talk) 13:51, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

According to Bolivia#Geography, the Andean and Sub-Andean regions comprise 41% of Bolivia's territory, and that is a significant amount. I would not say that Bolivia's climate is "dominantly" tropical. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 17:13, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

Requested move 08 February 2014

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. -- BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 03:11, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

---

Tropical nations at the Winter Olympics → Tropical nations at the Winter Olympics and Paralympics – as this already includes material on the paralympics, I propose that the article's title change to match the article's scope, and expand the article to more fully encompass the paralympics. -- 70.24.244.161 (talk) 15:01, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's policy on article titles.

• Oppose - Not really enough Paralympic material yet. I would prefer to develop it, and then hive it off.--MacRùsgail (talk) 16:31, 8 February 2014 (UTC)
• Support - The fact that there is any content at all about the Paralympics, no matter how little, is sufficient justification for the move. Hiving it off will only be viable when there is sufficient content to make a separate article. I see no problem with having a single article covering both events as they are so closely related anyway - London 2012 saw the end of the marginalisation of the Paralympics. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:26, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

Comment - they are still separate events with quite different entry criteria. There's only one paralympian, from what I can see in this article. Not enough to justify a clunky title.--MacRùsgail (talk) 14:09, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose - They are separate events. Czolgolz (talk) 14:32, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
  • Comment the information already exists here in this article. What do you propose we do with that? Delete the information, or, split it off into a small article? -- 70.24.244.161 (talk) 04:41, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose - We have distinct articles for the Olympics and Paralympics with respect to almost every other topic, so we can certainly have separate articles for this topic. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 16:33, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
• Comment The Paralympics one would be too short, so merging it with this would correct. If we do that I support the change. Sportsfan 1234 (talk) 19:32, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

Discussion

Any additional comments:

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

POV

This article is opushing some sort of agenda against tropical states (which are third world countries), Why is there no Nordic nations at the Summer Olympics? One can easily make the comparison with Norway's medal count in the different games to make it as notable(Lihaas (talk) 19:44, 16 February 2014 (UTC)).

I think it's a stretch to say that an "agenda" is being pushed here. As the lede says, their entries are a subject of human interest stories during the Games. That's really the only purpse here, to document the participation instances of those countries because people are interested in them. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 20:08, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

How is it some sort of "agenda" when Hong Kong is a first world country? And considering that the Winter Games are composed of sports played on ice and snow, and these tropical countries would therefore not have a traditional history of experiencing these climatic conditions, or have any region that regularly experiences these conditions, how is that some agenda?. Further almost the entire planet except Antarctica experiences summer conditions, so why would you have a Nordic nations list? Does Norway not have summer conditions and a history of summer conditions? There is but one country that could possibly appear on some sort of anti-Tropical countries list, that's Greenland, since the Inuit population is not tied to summertime traditions of the greened land. -- 70.50.151.11 (talk) 04:46, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

And Greenland doesn't have an IOCCzolgolz (talk) 04:50, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

"This article is opushing some sort of agenda against tropical states"

I think you're having an irony failure. It's about how countries which don't get much snow are competing in snow sports etc. That in itself is unusual. The Nordic countries all have running tracks etc which are used in summer Olympics. The lack of snow and ice in Jamaica makes it difficult for them to run a bobsleigh team.

Rather than saying this is some kind of agenda, can't you see it as an ACHIEVEMENT? It's harder for them to practice, let alone get into the Winter Olympics!

"(which are third world countries)"

I suggest you look at the lists. The Cayman Islands, Taiwan and Hong Kong are not poor countries. Australia was mentioned in the article too. Or used to be.-MacRùsgail (talk) 17:11, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is listed as partcipant in the 2014 Winter Olympics. It didn't participate and it hasn't after 2002. 74.213.89.155 (talk) 23:01, 23 February 2014 (UTC)