[riffraff]

I'd wager there's probably a social factor too: if for any reason a given population is slightly better at X then X becomes more popular which leads to more support, more practitioners and in turn this becomes self-reinforcing.

[k1kingy]

Rugby in New Zealand is a good example of this. Our small country with a small population is (and basically always has been) one of the top teams in the world.

Not only at the elite level, but our junior teams and even school teams perform well on the world stage.

Like you say, that social factor plays a huge part in it. Support, funding, etc etc

[ruthie_cohen]

Similarly with Australians and swimming, or Dagestan and combat sports.

[aadhavans]

Cricket in India comes to mind.

[nasmorn]

India has 1.4bn people. It is honestly weird they are not dominating in more sports. Once they really move out of being a developing nation and spend more on frivolous pursuits like Olympic medals I bet they will do just that.