OK, a couple weeks ago we reviewed all the new individual bests and records that were set in Sochi. Let’s look now at how the nations did in Sochi and has this affects the historical record.
First a word about national medal lists. The Europeans / Internationals and the Americans list their national medal lists differently. Internationally, the list leaders are those with the most gold medals, followed by silver medals, followed by bronze medals. In the United States and Canada, the list leaders are those with the most total medals, then sorting by gold, silver, and bronze. So when these differ we will try to mention that.
Either way you look at it, Russia led the medal lists. They had the most medals, with 33, and the most gold medals, with 13. Norway was second with 11 gold medals, followed by Canada with 10, while the United States had the second most total medals, with 28.
Going by gender, Russia led the men’s lists with 10 gold medals and 20 medals, followed by the Netherlands’ 14 medals and Norway’s 6 gold medals. The United States women had the most medals, with 13, followed by Norway with 12 and Canada with 11, but Canadian women won the most gold medals with 6, trailed by the United States and Norway, with 4 each. In mixed events, Russia was again pre-eminent in both systems, winning 5 medals and 2 gold medals. The United States, Germany, and Canada each won 2 mixed medals.
In all, 26 nations won medals in Sochi, equalling the record set in 2006 and 2010. Oddly, no nations won a Winter Olympic medal for the first time in Sochi. And only Slovenia won their first Winter Olympic gold medals, with 2 won by Tina Maze in Alpine skiing. Had Slovenia not done that, Sochi would have been only the 3rd Winter Olympics at which no nation won their first Winter Olympic medal and no nation won their first Winter Olympic gold medal. That has only happened in 1960 at Squaw Valley and 1984 at Sarajevo.
How did Russia’s 33 medals won in Sochi rank all-time? Well, here is the all-time list, showing that this was 4th best total medals ever won by one nation at one Winter Olympics:
Year
NOC
G
S
B
TM
2010
United States
9
15
13
37
2002
Germany
12
16
8
36
2002
United States
10
13
11
34
2014
Russia
13
11
9
33
2010
Germany
10
13
7
30
1988
Soviet Union
11
9
9
29
1998
Germany
12
9
8
29
2006
Germany
11
12
6
29
2014
United States
9
7
12
28
1976
Soviet Union
13
6
8
27
However, there were 98 events in Sochi, after only 86 events in Vancouver. And going way back, there were only 16 events at Chamonix in 1924 and 14 in 1928 and 1932. How does 33 medals rank all-time if we compare it to the number of possible medals won? Well, its not really close to the top if we look at medals won as a percentage of possible medals won. In fact, Russia won 12.6% of possible medals in Sochi, the lowest percentage ever by the leading medal-winning nation at a Winter Olympics. That list is dominated by the early Winter Olympics – fewer nations, fewer events, more chance to win a high percentage. Here is the list of the leading medal winning nations with the percentage of medals won:
Year
NOC
Medals
Possible
Events
%%%
1924
Norway
17
44
16
38.6%
1928
Norway
15
40
14
37.5%
1932
United States
12
40
14
30.0%
1936
Norway
15
47
17
31.9%
1948
Norway
10
62
22
16.1%
1948
Sweden
10
62
22
16.1%
1952
Norway
16
62
22
25.8%
1956
Soviet Union
16
66
24
24.2%
1960
Soviet Union
21
75
27
28.0%
1964
Soviet Union
25
96
34
26.0%
1968
Norway
14
99
35
14.1%
1972
Soviet Union
16
99
35
16.2%
1976
Soviet Union
27
105
37
25.7%
1980
German Demo. Rep.
23
108
38
21.3%
1984
Soviet Union
25
111
39
22.5%
1988
Soviet Union
29
128
46
22.7%
1992
Germany
26
159
57
16.4%
1994
Norway
26
171
61
15.2%
1998
Germany
29
186
68
15.6%
2002
Germany
36
216
78
16.7%
2006
Germany
29
226
84
12.8%
2010
United States
37
232
86
15.9%
2014
Russia
33
262
98
12.6%
Now we noted in a post on the last day of Sochi that Russia won 33 medals in 2014, after winning only 15 in 2010, an improvement of 18 medals. Was that a record? Nope. In 2002 the United States won 34 medals, after winning only 13 in 1998, an improvement of 21 medals. Note that both the USA in 2002 and Russia in 2014 did this on home soil. Also notable in 2014 was the improvement by the Netherlands, with 24 medals, after only 8 in Vancouver, an improvement of 16 medals, and the 3rd best NOC improvement ever from one Winter Olympics to the next.
Year
NOC
TM
Δ
1998
United States
13
2002
United States
34
21
2010
Russia
15
2014
Russia
33
18
2010
Netherlands
8
2014
Netherlands
24
16
1988
Norway
5
1992
Norway
20
15
2006
United States
25
2010
United States
37
12
1972
Soviet Union
16
1976
Soviet Union
27
11
1988
Austria
10
1992
Austria
21
11
1984
Switzerland
5
1988
Switzerland
15
10
If we look at it by sport, the leaders are as in the table below. Note that in 13 of the 15 sports / disciplines, the national leaders were the same in both systems. But in bobsledding and short-track speedskating, they were different.
Sport
RankUS
RankEU
NOC
G
S
B
TM
ASK
1
1
Austria
3
4
2
9
BIA
1
1
Norway
3
1
2
6
BOB
1
3
United States
-
1
3
4
BOB
2
1
Russia
2
-
-
2
CCS
1
1
Norway
5
2
4
11
CUR
1
1
Canada
2
-
-
2
FSK
1
1
Russia
3
1
1
5
FRS
1
1
Canada
4
4
1
9
ICH
1
1
Canada
2
-
-
2
LUG
1
1
Germany
4
1
-
5
NCO
1
1
Norway
2
1
1
4
STK
1
2
China
2
3
1
6
STK
2
1
Russia
3
1
1
5
SKE
1
1
Russia
1
-
1
2
SKJ
=1
=1
Germany
2
-
-
2
SKJ
=1
=1
Poland
2
-
-
2
SNB
1
1
United States
3
-
2
5
SSK
1
1
Netherlands
8
7
8
23
Most noteworthy, of course, is the Netherlands winning 23 medals in speed skating, of the 32 available to one nation (there are 12 events, but in team pursuit a nation can win only 1 medal). This is fully 71.9% of all available medals. How does this rank all-time? One needs to remember that there were 12 speed skating events in Sochi. If we look at single-sport performances by a nation all-time and limit it to sports in which there are 3 or more events at the Winter Olympics, we get the following for the best ever. You can see that the Netherlands ranks only 5th in this table.
Sport
Year
NOC
Medals
Possible
Events
%%%
LUG
1972
GDR
8
8
3
100.0%
CCS
1948
SWE
6
7
3
85.7%
CCS
1952
FIN
8
10
4
80.0%
LUG
1988
GDR
6
8
3
75.0%
SSK
2014
NED
23
32
12
71.9%
CCS
1936
SWE
5
7
3
71.4%
SKJ
1992
AUT
5
7
3
71.4%
CCS
1988
SOV
13
20
8
65.0%
LUG
1964
GER
5
8
3
62.5%
LUG
1976
GDR
5
8
3
62.5%
LUG
1998
GER
5
8
3
62.5%
LUG
2002
GER
5
8
3
62.5%
LUG
2010
GER
5
8
3
62.5%
But take a look at the number of events in that table – 3 or 4 in all cases except for the Soviet Union in 1988 cross-country skiing, which had 8 events. If we limit the search to national performances in Olympic year-sports with 8 or more events the Netherlands 2014 speed skating dominance was easily the greatest ever. Here is that table:
Sport
Year
NOC
Medals
Possible
Events
%%%
SSK
2014
NED
23
32
12
71.9%
CCS
1988
SOV
13
20
8
65.0%
SSK
1960
SOV
12
24
8
50.0%
SSK
1964
SOV
12
24
8
50.0%
ASK
2006
AUT
14
30
10
46.7%
SSK
1988
GDR
13
30
10
43.3%
BIA
2006
GER
11
26
10
42.3%
ASK
1988
SUI
11
30
10
36.7%
SSK
1992
GER
11
30
10
36.7%
ASK
1998
AUT
11
30
10
36.7%
SSK
1998
NED
11
30
10
36.7%
Otherwise, not too many surprises in the leaders by sports – Austria in Alpine skiing, Germany in luge, Canada in ice hockey, Norway in biathlon, cross-country and Nordic combined. Mostly what we have come to expect.
But speaking of Germany, while we usually try to highlight the best and the brightest in these lists and posts, what happened to Deutschland in Sochi? They won only 19 medals in Sochi, after 30 in Vancouver, and were only 6th in the national medal list in Sochi, by either system. Since re-unification, here is how Germany has done at the Winter Olympics:
Year
NOC
G
S
B
TM
RankUS
RankEU
1992
Germany
10
10
6
26
1
1
1994
Germany
9
7
8
24
2
3
1998
Germany
12
9
8
29
1
1
2002
Germany
12
16
8
36
1
2
2006
Germany
11
12
6
29
1
1
2010
Germany
10
13
7
30
2
2
2014
Germany
8
6
5
19
6
6
So this was definitely the worst German performance at the Winter Olympics since the Berlin Wall fell. But why? They dominated in luge, as they always do. But the only other sport in which they topped the medals was ski jumping, and there are only 4 events in that sport. But look at 3 sports in which they normally win a lot of medals – biathlon, cross-country skiing, and speed skating. And remember, there were 35 events just in those 3 sports in 2014, with 91 possible medals to be won. Let’s look at those 3 sports and how they have done just since 2002:
Sport
Year
G
S
B
TM
Biathlon
2002
3
5
1
9
Biathlon
2006
5
4
2
11
Biathlon
2010
2
1
2
5
Biathlon
2014
-
2
-
2
Cross-Country Skiing
2002
1
2
2
5
Cross-Country Skiing
2006
-
3
1
4
Cross-Country Skiing
2010
1
4
-
5
Cross-Country Skiing
2014
-
-
1
1
Speedskating
2002
3
3
2
8
Speedskating
2006
1
1
1
3
Speedskating
2010
1
3
-
4
Speedskating
2014
-
-
-
0
Totals
2002
7
10
5
22
Totals
2006
6
8
4
18
Totals
2010
4
8
2
14
Totals
2014
-
2
1
3
So those 3 sports are almost entirely responsible for the fall-off in German performance in Sochi. In fact, looking at those 3 sports, while the drop-off in Sochi for Germany might have seemed precipitous, it was coming. As you can see Germany won 22 medals in BIA/CCS/SSK in Salt Lake City, 18 in Torino, and only 14 in Vancouver. There were signs that Germany’s overall performance in these sports was declining, but I think 0 speed skating medals was still somewhat surprising. In fact, if you give Germany the same 22 medals in these sports that they won in 2002, they would have won the following total medals since then: 2002 – 36; 2006 – 33; 2010 – 38; 2014 – 37. Almost no difference.
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