Switzerland and the Alpine ski championships

During the last FIS World Alpine Championships, at Saalbach, Austrial, the country of Switzerland won medals in all five men’s events and eight of 11 events overall to lead the medal table in an event marked by first-time champions and medal winners. 

American women did quite well too, nearly making it a medal in all five events for the first time, as four different athletes won medals across the women's events. This wasn’t the case of my French countrymen and women who failed to win one single medal. As the country with the most ski resorts after the US, 

France’s poor performance only comes even with the 2009 world championships in Val d’Isère, and both events are a far cry from Portillo’s and the 16 medals garnered by France in 1966! 

Already, team directors and coaches must be conducting a post-mortem of the event, trying to analyze ski technique, recruiting schemes and training regimen from all places and directions. Besides just plain bad luck, which always stands as a glaring possibility, I would submit in stark contrast with that dismal performance, the winning Swiss team as a good benchmark. 

Most particularly, I’m thinking of the cultural difference between the two alpine countries. I would surmise that the Swiss have got to be more inclusive and tolerant than the French as they must make room for German, French and sometimes Italian speaking athletes in their team, along with their specific idiosyncrasies if not distinct cultures attached to the linguistic differences. 

In addition, I would think that as a country, Swiss may have more common sens, are perhaps less influenced by “cool” things and much more humble than the French population altogether, and this shows in their team cohesion and performance. 

Do you agree with that view?