I just wanted to take the opportunity to say congratulations to Tuğba Karademir, a Turkish skater who secured a place in the Olympic finals this year and came in 21st, which I believe is the best a Turkish skater has ever done. As others have pointed out, it’s a shame that a country with half its landmass under snow for six months of the year doesn’t make more of an effort to develop an appropriate environment for athletes who would pursue winter sports seriously. Karademir moved to Canada because she felt she could not get sufficient training in her native country. I hope the fact that she has done so well encourages Turkey to rethink its apathy toward winter sports, because clearly the Turkish talent is there, waiting to be developed. Link