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Fresh off a record 18 gold medals at the February Winter Olympics, Norway heads into the March Winter Paralympics holding the most cumulative golds in the history of those games (140).

But its international sports successes are not confined just to those performed on snow and ice, both of which are plentiful in Norway. The country of just 5.6 million people also fields winning athletes in soccer, tennis, golf 鈥� and even Olympic beach volleyball.

This record is all the more notable for Norwegians鈥� unconventional approach to developing high-caliber athletes: When introducing children to sports, schools, parents, and local sports clubs seek to build on their innate joy in the fun and friendship of physical activity. Youthful curiosity and interest in exploring a variety of sports are encouraged, through high school and up to college age. National guidelines forbid competitive teams, scorekeeping, or ranking for children below age 12. And they emphasize that children should help plan and execute sports activities, and determine their level of participation.

鈥淲hat the Norwegians know ... is that the most important thing is that children enjoy sport and come back again and again,鈥� observed former Olympian Cath Bishop in The Guardian recently. 鈥淣orway plays the long game.鈥� This hints at a patient trust in young people鈥檚 capacity to continually grow and develop new skills 鈥� athletic, technical, and personal.

Take Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Kl忙bo, who has won the most golds of any Winter Olympian (11). As a young boy, he was an avid soccer player. It took several years of coaching and practice before he improved enough to specialize in skiing at the age of 15.

鈥淲hen you try different sports ... you develop the social skills to handle different kinds of people,鈥� Tore 脴vebr酶, Norway鈥檚 director of elite sports, told CNN recently. When youth have that 鈥渂road learning base,鈥� he said, it becomes 鈥渆asier to build a high-performance culture; they know who they are, what they want.鈥�

This view contrasts with the emphasis on early talent identification and specialization in other countries. In the United States, 81% of students ranked 鈥渉aving fun鈥� as their biggest motivation for playing sports 鈥� well above 鈥渨inning games/championships,鈥� according to a 2021 Aspen Institute survey. Yet, 70% of youth athletes drop out of organized sports by age 13, burned out by the pressure to win or due to injury.

鈥淭his not only diminishes the pipeline of elite athletes,鈥� according to Brad Stulberg, a University of Michigan academic and a proponent of the Norwegian model. 鈥淚t also creates a hindrance for healthy habits and all the character lessons kids can learn from sport.鈥�

As Mr. 脴vebr酶 had commented just before the previous Winter Olympics in 2022, Norway鈥檚 approach is akin to 鈥渄eveloping citizens and not only athletes.鈥� That鈥檚 proving to be a winning recipe 鈥� for the competitors and their country.