Olympic Etiquette: Supporting Your Home Team When Studying Abroad

If your country is full of sporting super stars, great for you! But do spare a moment for your your host country. Are they happy they managed to even put a team together and qualify? If so,  it probably isn’t a good idea to sing your country’s most annoyingly patriotic songs and talk about how much better your team is to theirs.

However, there is an exception to the obnoxiousness rule. If you’re in a country where the national passtime is to complain about how bad their athletes are,  then go right ahead, you’ll probably make a few life-long friends this way.

If your host country has just lost in its favorite national sport and people are crying on the streets, I would generally not suggest parading in front of these supporters with a marching band ( especially if your country just kicked their asses).

Too much flaunting here might result in your own ass-kicking. While I’m not saying you need to be ashamed and hide, a bit of courtesy here will go a long way so keep wearing that shirt with the national flag on, just don’t take it off and throw it in a crying person’s face.

Of course it’s natural to be more interested in your team’s performance than any others’, but try and watch some events where your host country’s athletes are competing in, especially the high-profile ones. No doubt the local people/media will follow their events closely; you don’t want to be the one looking completely ignorant if anyone asks what you thought of the game.

Nothing winds people up more than the one lone person who just chooses to support the opposition for no reason other than for controversy. So be a good sport and support your host country, after all, they are supporting you (sort of) by allowing you to study there.