Ah. Well, perhaps I ought to amend it to an average Northern European, then. There are definitely no tru scorpions in the Nordics, although we probably have some tiny pseudoscorpids around somewhere. Although I’ve hiked all over Southern Spain and never spotted a scorpion there either.
…which probably says more about my perceptiveness or lack-there-of than anything else.
Huh. There being scorpions everywhere except the Arctic is such a wild statement to your average European. Never have I ever seen a scorpion outside a terrarium despite having traveled and hiked extensively in various countries around the continent.
Are they truly that common in the Americas, even in more temperate climates?
By definition, if Finland is included, we’re talking about Fennoscandia and, if you add in Iceland, it’s the Nordic countries.
Denmark is usually included in Scandinavia, but technically it isn’t part of the Scandinavian peninsula.
However, I know that outside Europe the distinctions aren’t all that important.
I would probably pick Denmark as a favourite based solely on their legal right to hit ice-crossing Swedes with sticks. And Swedes suck balls (source: am Finnish).
However, to be somewhat pedantic, Scandinavia either refers to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, or just Norway and Sweden (the actual Scandinavian peninsula). Finland, Iceland, and the Baltic countries are not part of Scandinavia.
There are sports where women have reached or surpassed men’s records, for example long-distance endurance races or some accuracy-based competitions. Anything where raw explosive strength or size isn’t the main deciding factor. There are examples in history where women have been banned from participating in specific sports because they have been able to win in competition with men.
I think, for the leagues you listed, size, strength and speed are often key, and as such most men have an advantage over most women. I don’t doubt there could be exceptions to that rule.