Olive picking is not the easiest thing in the world to do. It involves timing the harvest to the right maturity, spreading collection nets, and detaching the fruit by hand. It turns out that a team of Finnish competitors is the fastest at doing just that. Finland emerged as the surprise winner of the ninth World Olive Picking Championship on the Croatian island of Brač, outperforming teams from nine other countries despite having no olive-growing tradition of its own. The team harvested 122 pounds of olives in just 45 minutes, finishing ahead of the Czech Republic and Poland in a competition that combines traditional olive harvesting with international tourism and friendly rivalry. This year’s competition brought together 40 participants representing ten teams: Finland, Sweden, Serbia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, the United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. Each team had four competitors: two women and two men. With defending champion France absent this year, the title was up for grabs. The United States placed seventh with 93 pounds. Instead of a large cash payout, the winners receive a gold medal and walk away with bragging rights.
