gistfile1.txt

bash-3.1$ cat test.py
import gzip
datafile="/var/opt/sports_dw/dev/nz_sports/done/flat_customer_sport_preference_fct1.out.gz"
opn=gzip.open(datafile)
for i, line in enumerate(opn):
    pass
print i+1

bash-3.1$ time python test.py
33725715

real    5m8.971s
user    5m6.272s
sys     0m0.644s


bash-3.1$ time zcat /var/opt/sports_dw/dev/nz_sports/done/flat_customer_sport_preference_fct1.out.gz|wc -l
33725715

real    0m16.134s
user    0m14.855s
sys     0m1.743s