The sun is shining high in the sky yet again, and summer is enhanced yet further by the added atmospheric bonus of not one but two major international sporting spectacles. The ongoing European football championships in France have already delivered their fair share of drama, excitement and extraordinary surprises, and with the Olympics on the way, there is plenty more in store for us.
Whether you are a die-hard footie fan or not, it is hard to resist watching nations square off against each other, millions of fans backing each side, pitting their best athletes against each other in contests of skill, strength and guile. For the victors, the prizes of blissful national unity and chest-pumping pride await. Maybe one day Malta can be there too, but in the meantime, we continue to pick our favourites and participate wholeheartedly in the drama.
One of the biggest surprises of the competition so far has come from a nation with perhaps the smallest fan bases of them all. One cannot help but get carried away alongside the Icelandic people on the waves of euphoria their national sporting heroes have set in motion. It is a gripping story, with a plot that celebrates the achievement of fantastic dreams and the overcoming of impossible odds along the way.
It is in fact a story every bit at home on any page, including one about exercise and fitness, as it is under the sports headlines. If you have seen the hot-blooded Vikings from a distinctly cold and tiny homeland in action, you might agree that a victory for Iceland is also a victory for strength and fitness at large.
Personally, I enjoy watching all sports, particularly when world-class strength, endurance, agility and high-octane movement skills are displayed in all their glory. Of course, Iceland have shown us tremendous heart and tactical discipline, but in time with the rhythm of stirring Viking chants from their fans, they have also shown us dominating jumps and general out-muscling of opponents when battling for possession in the air or on the ground, long powerful throw-ins, bone-crushing charges, and fearless tackles. Best of all, they’ve done it all in charming and fun-loving style. In the many Iceland-inspired conversations I have heard over the last week, the word ‘strength’ always features somewhere.
Strength enthusiasts are well aware of Iceland’s dominance in the strength sport scene. They have fielded a grossly disproportionate amount of World’s Strongest Man champions over the years when taking into account their population size. They are also a major force in the world of international powerlifting competition, another pure strength sport. So the Icelanders are strong people. But what makes them so and is there anything we can learn from them?
“It’s their genetics, it’s in their blood!” An interesting argument indeed, but unfortunately one that far from satisfies me. Is ‘it’ really something that can exist among platelets and blood cells or in strands of DNA acids? Are we really ready for a healthy, insightful and developmental nature versus nurture debate or are we just trying to find excuses as to why we cannot do the same, because we simply do not have ‘it’?
Why do the Icelanders excel at strength sports or indeed now any discipline where strength is a major factor? Why do African Americans from low-income urban areas in the US excel at basketball, or boxing for that matter? And why do the Ethiopians and Kenyans excel at marathon running?
The latter is perhaps among the most profound and perplexing of cases, but even in the case of East African dominance in distance running, I always contest it is not all about genetics. Living and training at altitude, the development of increased aerobic capacity through walking and running large distances from a young age, traditional diets and poverty-inspired financial motivation to succeed are all factors too, and they are certainly not confined to the DNA sequences housed inside the nuclei of cells of East African runners.
Over 8,000km to the northwest, strength sports are extremely popular in Iceland. Local World’s Strongest Man winners enjoy the status of national sporting heroes. Four-time world champion ‘Viking Warrior’ Jon Pall Sigmarsson is a bona fide Icelandic legend, as is Magnus Ver Magnusson, another multiple world title winner. I can only imagine how little Icelandic boys must look up to these giant men in awe, hoping to one day develop similar levels of world-beating, log-lifting and monster truck-pulling power.
I suspect that as a result of their cultural inclinations, Icelandic professional footballers training with their respective clubs abroad offer little resistance in embracing the importance of gym time and the development of superior functional strength on the pitch. I have been told that a high proportion of Icelanders have gone on to achieve captaincy in the foreign clubs they play for, highlighting an even more crucial type of strength, that of the mind.
Perhaps one of the most important things of all we can take home from Iceland's incredible and inspiring performance at this year’s European football championships is a reminder of what sport and physical activity are ultimately all about. Anyone can do it.
It’s about the choices we make and the attitudes and work ethics we hone. ‘It’ is not something hidden or mysterious, located somewhere deep and inaccessible within our physiology. ‘It’ is something we can all tap into to get us moving, to get stronger than we were yesterday and, most importantly of all, to enjoy every minute of it.
matthew.muscat.inglott@mcast.edu.mt