Shortly before Christmas the French born Alpine skier Elise Pelegrin qualified for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal but Pelegrin has Maltese ancestry and elected to compete for Malta at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season.  Out of 49  European nations currently affiliated with the IOC, Malta is the only one yet to make an appearance at the Winter Games. Barring unforeseen circumstances this will change in February and, for the first time, all the eligible European countries will be present in Sochi.

Of the 16 nations that competed at the inaugural Winter Olympics in 1924 fourteen were European including powerhouse nations Austria and Norway but also lesser lights like Belgium and Hungary.

Germany, banned from the Games following World War I, debuted alongside the Netherlands in 1928 and more Mediterranean nations followed in 1936.  A slow trickle of new nations followed post-WW2 until the changes in Eastern Europe saw the emergence into Olympic competition of a flood of ex-Soviet and ex-Yugoslav nations from 1992 onwards.

European nations to compete at the Winter Olympics are, in order of debut;

1924 – Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia.

1928 – Estonia, Germany, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania

1936 – Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Liechtenstein, Turkey

1948 – Denmark, Iceland

1952 – Portugal

1956 – Soviet Union

1968 – West Germany, East Germany

1976 – Andorra, San Marino

1980 – Cyprus

1984 – Monaco

1992 – Croatia, Ireland, Slovenia

1994 – Armenia, Georgia, Czech Republic, Israel, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Bosnia

1998 – Azerbaijan, Serbia and Montenegro, FYR Macedonia,

2006 – Albania

2010 – Serbia, Montenegro

2014 –  Malta

Outside the mainstream nations cross-country skiers from Greenland regularly compete for Denmark and a snowboarder from the Isle of Man has represented Great Britain.

Will there be any additions to this list? That depends on politics. The next debutants might be Kosovo? Or Scotland? Perhaps the Basque Country or Catalonia? We’ll just have to wait and see – although the clever bet is that it might be a while before we see a snowboarder from the Vatican City nailing a Rippey flip at the Olympics.

Todd Lodwick recently qualified for his 6^th US Olympic team in Nordic combined. He will become the first American to compete at 6 Winter Olympics, although that only ties the record held by 16 men and 4 women. The lists for most appearances at the Winter Olympics by men and women are as follows, with the US records at the bottom of each list.

Note that of the 5 men and 1 woman who competed in their 6^th Winter Olympics at Vancouver in 2010, we expect two of them to compete in Sochi to set a record with their 7^th Winter Olympic appearance – Albert Demchenko of Russia in luge and Noriaki Kasai of Japan in ski jumping.

Appearances – Men, Winter

6           Carl-Erik Eriksson (SWE-BOB; 1964/68/72/76/80/84)

6           Colin Coates (AUS-SSK; 1968/72/76/80/84/88)

6           Alfred Eder (AUT-BIA; 1976/80/84/88/92/94)

6           Jochen Behle (FRG/GER-CCS; 1980/84/88/92/94/98)

6           Harri Kirvesniemi (FIN-CCS; 1980/84/88/92/94/98)

6           Mike Dixon (GBR-BIA/CCS; 1984/88/92/94/98/02)

6           Raimo Helminen (FIN-ICH; 1984/88/92/94/98/02)

6           Markus Prock (AUT-LUG; 1984/88/92/94/98/02)

6           Sergey Chepikov (EUN/RUS/URS-BIA/CCS; 1988/92/94/98/02/06)

6           Georg Hackl (FRG/GER-LUG; 1988/92/94/98/02/06)

6           Wilfried Huber (ITA-LUG; 1988/92/94/98/02/06)

6           Ilmārs Bricis (LAT-BIA; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

6           Marco Büchel (LIE-ASK; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

6           Andrus Veerpalu (EST-CCS; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

6           Albert Demchenko (EUN/RUS-LUG; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

6           Noriaki Kasai (JPN-SKJ; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

5           Brian Shimer (BOB; 1988/92/94/98/02)

5           Casey Puckett (ASK/FRS; 1992/94/98/02/10)

5           Mark Grimmette (LUG; 1994/98/02/06/10)

5           Todd Lodwick (NCO; 1994/98/02/06/10)

4           Jim Bickford, Jr. (BOB; 1936/48/52/56)

4           Larry Damon (BIA/CCS; 1956/60/64/68)

4           Tim Caldwell (CCS; 1972/76/80/84)

4           Bill Koch (CCS; 1976/80/84/92)

4           Lyle Nelson (BIA; 1976/80/84/88)

4           Brent Rushlaw (BOB; 1976/80/84/88)

4           Chris Chelios (ICH; 1984/98/02/06)

4           Dan Jansen (SSK; 1984/88/92/94)

4           Eric Flaim (SSK/STK; 1988/92/94/98)

4           A J Kitt (ASK; 1988/92/94/98)

4           Chris Thorpe (LUG; 1992/94/98/02)

4           Keith Tkachuk (ICH; 1992/98/02/06)

4           Eric Bergoust (FRS; 1994/98/02/06)

4           KC Boutiette (SSK; 1994/98/02/06)

4           Daron Rahlves (ASK/FRS; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Bode Miller (ASK; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Jay Hakkinen (BIA; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Bill Demong (NCO; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Brian Martin (LUG; 1998/02/06/10)

Appearances – Women, Winter

6           Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen (FIN-CCS; 1976/80/84/88/92/94)

6           Emese Nemeth-Hunyady (AUT/HUN-SSK; 1984/88/92/94/98/02)

6           Gerda Weissensteiner (ITA-BOB/LUG; 1988/92/94/98/02/06)

6           Anna Orlova (LAT-LUG; 1992/94/98/02/06/10)

5           24 women tied with 4 appearances.

4           Mary Docter (SSK; 1980/84/88/92)

4           Bonnie Blair (SSK; 1984/88/92/94)

4           Cammy Myler (LUG; 1988/92/94/98)

4           Ann Battelle (FRS; 1992/94/98/02)

4           Nina Kemppel (CCS; 1992/94/98/02)

4           Amy Peterson (STK; 1992/94/98/02)

4           Chris Witty (SSK; 1994/98/02/06)

4           Jennifer Rodriguez (SSK; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Catherine Raney Norman (SSK; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Sarah Schleper (ASK; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Angela Ruggiero (ICH; 1998/02/06/10)

4           Jenny Schmidgall-Potter (ICH; 1998/02/06/10)

Competitors from snowless nations

Medals at the Winter Olympics are always won by athletes from countries that have snow. This makes sense: a boy from Austria is more likely to end up being an alpine skier than a boy from, say, Cuba. That doesn’t mean athletes from snowless countries aren’t trying to win medals at the Winter Olympics. The most famous may be the Jamaican bobsleigh team that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, as they were made immortal by the movie “Cool Runnings“. That team did not actually complete the competition, but in 1994 the four-man crew from Jamaica finished a respectable 14th (in a field of 30), which was then also the best performance by competitors from a snowless nation.

But the Jamaican bobbers are not the best Winter Olympians from a snowless nation. First, in Torino 2006, they were dethroned by a bobsleigh duo from Monaco. The Monegasque bob had traditionally been piloted by Prince Albert but Patrice Servelle and Jérémy Bottin did much better than their monarch had ever done, placing 12th. Jamaica regained the throne in 2010, however. The island’s first ever skier, Errol Kerr, place 9th in the inaugural version of the ski cross event, just missing the semi-finals.

In all, 23 snowless nations (or with occasional snow at best) have competed at the Winter Olympics. These are their best results:

1. Jamaica – Errol Kerr (Freestyle skiing, Ski cross, 2010) – 9th
2. Monaco – Patrice Servelle & Jérémy Bottin (Bobsleigh, Two, 2006) – 12th
3. US Virgin Islands – Anne Abernathy (Luge, Singles, 1988) – 16th
4. Hong Kong – Han Yue Shuang (Short track, 1,000 m, 2006) – 18th
5. Bermuda – Patrick Singleton (Skeleton, 2006) – 19th
6. Uruguay – Gabriel Hottegrindre (Alpine skiing, Slalom, 1998) – 24th
7. Puerto Rico – Liston Bochette, José Ferrer, Jorge Bonnet & Douglas Rosado (Bobsleigh, Four, 1994) – 25th
8. Netherlands Antilles – Bart Carpentier Alting & Bart Drechsel (Bobsleigh, Two, 1988) – 29th
9. Trinidad & Tobago – Gregory Sun & Curtis Harry (Bobsleigh, Two, 1998) – 32nd
10. Philippines – Raymund Ocampo (Luge, Singles, 1988) – 35th
11. American Samoa – Faauuga Muagututia & Brad Kiltz (Bobsleigh, Two, 1994) – 39th
12. Madagascar – Mathieu Razanakolona (Alpine skiing, Giant slalom, 2006) – 39th
13. British Virgin Islands – Erroll Fraser (Speed skating, 500 m, 1984) – 40th
14. Costa Rica – Arturo Kinch (Alpine skiing, Donhill, 1980) – 41st
15. Senegal – Lamien Guèye (Alpine skiing, Downhill, 1992) – 45th
16. Ghana – Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong (Alpine skiing, Slalom, 2010) – 47th
17. Honduras – Jenny Palacios-Stillo (Cross country skiing, 15 km, 1992) – 50th
18. Fiji – Laurence Thomas (Alpine skiing, Giant slalom, 2002) – 55th
19. Swaziland – Keith Fraser (Alpine skiing, Giant slalom, 1992) – 63rd
20. Cameroon – Isaac Menyoli (Cross country skiing, Sprint, 2002) – 65th
21. Thailand – Prawat Nagvajara (Cross country skiing, Sprint, 2002) – 66th
22. Cayman Islands – Dow Travers (Alpine skiing, Giant slalom, 2010) – 69th
23. Guam – Judd Bankert (Biathlon, 10 km, 1988) – 71st

(List of countries without snow was taken from here.)

Of course, not all of these athletes grew up in a snowless country.  Mathieu Razanakolona, for example, grew up in Canada but competed for Madagascar on account of his Malagasy father, while Erroll Fraser and Anne Abernathy were both born in the US.

The list of snowless countries competing at the Winter Olympics will likely expand in Sochi. Countries without snowfall that will possibly début in 2014 are Eritrea, Malta, Paraguay, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga and Zimbabwe.

The best site for statistical information on the web is at http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/. You should bookmark it and use it frequently during Sochi for information on what has gone before.

Yes, I do have something to do with it. The site is work done by me and a group of my associates who we call the OlyMADMen – there are about a dozen of us, led by Jeroen Heijmans (NED), Arild Gjerde (NOR), and Hilary Evans(GBR/Wales) (and Hilary is actually James Hilary Evans, to clear that up). Other main contributors to the site are Taavi Kalju (EST), Wolf Reinhardt (GER), Martin Kellner (AUT), Ralf Regnitter (GER), Paul Tchir (CAN), Ralph Schlüter (GER), Mørten Aarlia Torp (NOR), Magne Teigen (NOR), and David Foster (GBR). A few other Olympic stat freaks also help us out – Christian Tugnoli (ITA), Ove Karlsson (SWE), Stein Opdahl (NOR), Carl-Johan Johansson (SWE), Paweł Wudarski (POL), and others.

sports-reference.com/olympics is based on our own private website, which we use as our research site – its located at www.olympedia.org. Sorry, but for now it’s a private site, but we can allow you access if you want it – just send us an email ([email protected]) or post your email below. You’ll love it, I promise you, if you like the Olympics. Olympedia and sports-reference are similar, but different. Information goes on Olympedia first and gets picked up by sports-reference later, after some editing.

Other sites you should know about:

www.olympic.org – the main IOC site

www.teamusa.org – the main US Olympic Committee site

www.sochi2014.com – the main site for the Sochi Organizing Committee – all athlete bios and results eventually will be on here

www.insidethegames.biz – lots of good stuff, updated daily, follow at @insidethegames

olympictalk.nbcsports.com/author/nzaccardi86 – NBC’s main web guy Nick Zaccardi adds new stuff daily, follow at @nzaccardi

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/globetrotting – Phil Hersh, US best known Olympic-beat writer, keeps tabs on everything in international sport, follow at @olyphil

www.3wiresports.com/author/alan-abrahamson – Alan Abrahamson, former LA Times Olympic-beat writer, follows the Olympic Movement closely, follow at @alanabrahamson

frontierbeaver.com/sports – a blog by Ollie Williams, a bit British oriented but covers all Olympic sports and nations, follow at @OllieW

http://espn.go.com/olympics – Bonnie Ford keeps us up-to-date even if ESPN doesn’t usually know about any sports other than the NFL – but Bonnie does, follow at @Bonnie_D_Ford

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics – although Sports Illustrated suffers from the ESPN-virus of NFL-only at times, look for anything by Tim Layden, who knows his stuff, follow at @SITimLayden

www.aroundtherings.com – Around the Rings, led by Ed Hula, focuses on the Olympic Movement – this is a pay-site – follow at @EHula_ATR

www.gamesbids.com – information about the bidding process and host cities – can be of some interest

The XXII Olympic Winter Games (the official title) will be held in Sochi, Russia, a resort on the Black Sea in the southern part of Russia, a little east of the Crimean Peninsula. Much has been made of Sochi as a Winter Olympic site, with critics saying it is too warm, too far south, and more a summer resort than a winter one. So let’s look at some numbers – after all, that’s what I do.

Is Sochi the southernmost site for a Winter Olympics? Nope, in fact, four other sites have been located at more southerly latitudes than Sochi, as follows:

Year     City                         NOC      Latitude (N)

1998     Nagano               JPN        36°-38′

1960     Squaw Valley   USA       39°-11′

2002     Salt Lake City  USA       40°-45′

1972     Sapporo              JPN        43°-04′

2014     Sochi                     RUS       43°-35′

Lillehammer (1994) was the northernmost Winter Olympic host city, at 61°-07′, followed by Oslo (1952) at 59°-57′.

Is Sochi at the lowest altitude of any Winter Olympic host city? Not really, although this depends on your approach to defining altitude. Most cities have a “base” altitude, and using this, Sochi is higher up than Vancouver was in 2010 – Vancouver’s base altitude on the Pacific Ocean was 0. Here are the lowest base altitudes for Olympic Winter host cities:

Year     City                        NOC      Altitude (m)

2010     Vancouver         CAN                       0

1972     Sapporo              JPN                      19

1952     Oslo                      NOR                     23

2014     Sochi                    RUS                      65

1994     Lillehammer    NOR                  208

The highest elevations for Winter Olympic hosts were Squaw Valley, California (USA) (1960) at 1,900 metres (6,235 feet) and Saint Moritz (SUI) (1928/48) at 1,822 metres (5,980 feet).

Remember, however, that Sochi has two separate sets of sites – the Coastal Cluster, by the Black Sea, and the Mountain Cluster, in the western Caucasus Mountains, near Krasnaya Polyana. Krasnaya Polyana has a base elevation of 560 metres (1,840 feet), with the mountains rising to 2,320 metres (7,610 feet).

So is Sochi the warmest site ever for a Winter Olympics. Basically, yes, but not by all that much, and for those of you who remember the Spring Olympics in Vancouver (so-called by Shaun White), Sochi’s temperature, down by the Black Sea, is about the same.

Year     City                      NOC        Feb Mean Temp (C° / F°)

2014     Sochi                  RUS                     6° / 43°

2010     Vancouver      CAN                     5° / 41°

1992     Albertville       FRA                      5° / 41°

2006     Torino                ITA                        4° / 39°

1924     Chamonix        FRA                      4° / 39°

1968     Grenoble          FRA                      3° / 37°

The coldest sites for Winter Olympics were Lillehammer (NOR) (1994) and Lake Placid, New York (USA) (1932/80) where the average February temperature is about -9° C. or 17° F. So its safe to say Sochi will not be the coolest ever Winter Olympic site.

Other critics of Sochi have said that the site is too small for a modern Winter Olympics, and that too much of it has had to be built from scratch. While it is true that huge amounts of infrastructure has been required to make Sochi an Olympic city, as a host site, its not that small. Here are the populations of Winter Olympic host cities currently, and in the year in which they hosted:

Year     City                       NOC     Pop (2013)    Pop (OlyYr)

1972     Sapporo             JPN       1,918,000        1,150,000

2006     Torino                  ITA            912,000           857,000

1988     Calgary               CAN     1,097,000           650,000

2010     Vancouver        CAN         603,500           603,500

1984     Sarajevo             BIH           438,000           448,000

1952     Oslo                     NOR         629,000           447,000

1998     Nagano              JPN           387,000           356,000

2014     Sochi                   RUS           343,000           343,000

And nothing compares to the two United States’ host cities. Lake Placid, New York had a population of 2,950 in 1932 and 2,490 in 1980, while Squaw Valley, California barely existed in 1960, with a population for that site generously estimated at 300, by David Antonucci, author of a book on the 1960 Winter Olympics (Snowball’s Chance: The Story of the 1960 Olympic Winter Games).

And if you think Sochi needs to build infrastructure when Squaw Valley was selected as host city in June 1955, it didn’t exist. Antonucci thinks only two families actually lived in what was to become Squaw Valley. But it was a different time.

Rumors abound that Sochi is costing $51 billion (US) for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Is that a record? Stay tuned – more to come.

For those of you who know me, you realize I’ve been obsessed by the Olympics and Olympic Stats for almost 50 years now. For those who don’t, you’ll soon find out.

I’ve been able to write almost 25 books on the Olympics Games – you can find many of them on Amazon, mostly dealing with the history of the Olympics, books such as Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement (with Ian Buchanan and later with Jeroen Heijmans), The Golden Book of the Olympic Games (with Erich Kamper), a series of books on the early Olympic Games, from 1896-1920, and my first book, also done with Ian Buchanan, with Quest for Gold: The Encyclopedia of American Olympians.

In 1991, along with Buchanan, Kamper, Ture Widlund, David Wallechinsky, Stan Greenberg, Ove Karlsson, and others, we formed the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) – you can check us out here – http://www.isoh.org/. We met at a pub in the Knightsbridge section of London, the Duke of Clarence, although the pub no longer exists, and formed the society on a cold, rainy London December day. ISOH has since grown to almost 500 members world-wide, with a very nice journal, the Journal of Olympic History, for which I was the first editor, from 1991-96 – now edited by Volker Kluge, pre-eminent German Olympic historian. I also had the privilege of serving as the second President of ISOH, from 2000-2004, following Ian Buchanan. The current President is David Wallechinsky, author of the great book, The Complete Book of the Olympics, which has had a new edition after Olympic Games since 1984.

So come along for the ride – I’ll be posting lots of Olympic information in the run-up to Sochi 2014. If you want to follow me on Twitter, its @bambam1729, and on my tweets, I’ll keep everyone informed when I’ve put new material here on OlympStats. During Sochi, I’ll be posting new historical and statistical data several times a day, always updating via Twitter. Welcome aboard.

Bill Mallon MD

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