It's not just the presence or absence of snow

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It’s not just the presence or absence of snow and ice that determines Winter Olympics success, or even participation(参与). If it were, some of America’s best ice skaters and speedskaters wouldn’t live and train in Southern California or Florida. If it were, athletes from countries like Peru, Chile, Nepal, Morocco, Afghanistan and Ethiopia – all with snow-covered mountains—would be fighting for the medals.

Instead, the more telling factors are economic. Would-be Winter Olympians need years of training, coaching and competition. Most nations, even those with plenty of snow and cold, simply can’t afford the equipment.

Unlike the Winter Games, the Summer Olympics level many of the advantages of national wealth, as well as favorable geography and climate. Athletes from the poorest African and Caribbean nations have developed into some of the world’s greatest athletes with little cost.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the fonder of the modern Olympics, recognized some of the global sporting unfairness more than a century ago. De Coubertin objected to the creation of a separate Winter Olympics for many years, dismissing winter sports in 1921 as “the play of the rich.”