See also  http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/martin-sheridan-1.html

B. 3 March 1881; Bohola, Mayo, Ireland

D. 27 March 1918; New York, New York, United States

 

[table]

Year,Sport,Event,Place,Medal

1904,Athletics,Shot Put,4,

,,Discus Throw,1,Gold

1906,Athletics,Standing High Jump,=2,Silver

,,Standing Long Jump,2,Silver

,,Shot Put,1,Gold

,,Stone Throw,2,Silver

,,Discus Throw,1,Gold

,,Discus Throw Greek,4,

,,Pentathlon (Ancient),AC,

1908,Athletics,Standing High Jump,16,

,,Standing Long Jump,3,Bronze

,,Triple Jump,9,

,,Shot Put,AC,

,,Discus Throw,1,Gold

,,Discus Throw Greek,1,Gold

[/table]

The Irish-born Martin Sheridan was the greatest all-round athlete of his time and thru 2014, his total of 9 Olympic medals has been bettered by only 11 Americans, and only by Carl Lewis and Ray Ewry in track & field. In addition to winning the discus at the 1904, 1906 and 1908 Olympic Games, Sheridan won the shot in 1906 and the Greek-style discus in 1908.  To these five gold medals he added three silver medals in 1906 in the stone throw and the standing jumps and a bronze medal in the standing long jump in 1908.

Inspired by his older brother, Richard, who won the AAU discus in 1901 and 1902, Martin himself won the title four times. He also won the AAU shot in 1904 and three times was the AAU All-Around champion (1905, 1907, 1909), setting a world record each time. Further proof of his versatility came at the 1908 Olympics when he placed ninth in the triple jump. The discus was undoubtedly his best event; in addition to his three Olympic titles and four AAU championships, he improved the world best in the discus 15 times between 1902 and 1909. Sheridan almost certainly missed another gold medal when he was forced to withdraw from the 1906 pentathlon due to injury.

Apart from his prowess as a competitor, Martin Sheridan has passed into Olympic lore with his remark to the press at the 1908 Olympics, where he was quoted as saying, “This flag dips to no earthly King!” after the Michigan weightman, Ralph Rose, refused to lower the American flag as he passed the Royal Box at the opening ceremony.

Like many of the great Irish-American athletes of the time, Sheridan was employed by the New York Police Department and was the personal bodyguard of the New York governor whenever he visited the city. Sheridan, who had come to America in 1897, retired from active competition in 1911 and died of pneumonia at the early age of 37, during the influenza pandemic of that year. At his death, seven years after he retired from athletics, no less than Jim Thorpe proclaimed that “Sheridan was the greatest athlete in the world.  He could do things I never could.”

Personal Bests: TJ – 14.21 (1905); SP – 14.74 (1908); DT – 44.01 (1908); HT – 162-8 (49.58) (1906); JT – 120-3 (36.65) (1908).

—–

On a personal note, each of us who write on this blog have our own favorites. The author (Mallon) of this post confesses that Martin Sheridan is his favorite Olympic athlete, so much that he sleeps next to him every nite. See the picture below – the Chocolate Lab is Martin Sheridan “Marty” Mallon, while the Westie is Barney Rubble Mallon.

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 3^rd 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 4^th best total medals ever won by one nation at one Winter Olympics:

[table]

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

[/table]

• 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:

[table]

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%

[/table]

• 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 3^rd best NOC improvement ever from one Winter Olympics to the next.

[table]

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

[/table]

• 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.

[table]

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

[/table]

• 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 5^th in this table.

[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%

[/table]

• 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:

[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%

[/table]

• 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 6^th in the national medal list in Sochi, by either system. Since re-unification, here is how Germany has done at the Winter Olympics:

[table]

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

[/table]

• 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:

[table]

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

[/table]

• 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.

• Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA) won 2 medals to bring his Winter Olympic total to 13, a new all-time best, bettering the 12 won by his countryman, Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR-CCS). This also moved Bjørndalen to =4^th all-time among all Olympians, =3^rd all-time among male Olympians, trailing only – Michael Phelps (USA-SWI) (22); Larisa Latynina (URS-GYM) (18), and Nikolay Andrianov (URS-GYM) (15). Bjørndalen is tied with 13 with Borys Shakhlin (URS-GYM), Edoardo Mangiarrotti (ITA-FEN), and Takashi Ono (JPN-GYM).
• Bjørndalen’s 2 medals in Sochi marked the 5^th time he has won 2 or more medals at an Olympic Games (1998/2002/2006/2010/2014). He is only the second Olympian ever to do this, equalling the mark of German canoeing legend Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, who did it in 1988/1992/1996/2000/2004.
• Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS) won 3 gold medals in Sochi, to bring her total for Olympic medals to 10, after 5 in Vancouver, and lone silvers in 2002 and 2006. Her 10 Winter Olympic medals ties her for first among women at the Winter Olympics, with Stefania Belmondo (ITA-CCS) and Raisa Smetanina (EUN/URS-CCS).
• Victor Ahn won 4 medals in Sochi, making him only the 3^rd Winter Olympian to win 4 medals at 2 or more Olympics (2006/14); the others were Lyubov Yegorova (1992-94) and Bjørn Dæhlie (1992-94-98). This has been done 26 times at the Summer Olympics, including 3 times by Larisa Latynina (1956-60-64) and Michael Phelps (2004-08-12). It has almost always been achieved by gymnasts (15) and swimmers (8), but once by an archer (Hubert Van Innis [1900/20]), once by a shooter (Carl Osburn [1912-20]), and once by an athlete (Paavo Nurmi [1920-24]). Ahn is only the second Olympian to have done this non-consecutively after Hubert Van Innis, as noted above.
• Ahn’s 4 Olympic medals in short-track speed skating is only the 2^nd time this has been accomplished at one Winter Olympics. The other time was also by Ahn, as An Hyeon-Su in 2006, representing Korea.
• Sven Kramer (NED-SSK) won 3 medals in Sochi, after winning 2 in Torino and Vancouver, giving him a total of 7 Olympic medals in speed skating. This equals the all-time record for speed skating medals won by a male, held by Clas Thunberg (FIN) and Ivar Ballangrud (NOR), but its been a long-time as Thunberg finished his Olympic career in 1928 and Ballangrud in 1936.
• The all-time Olympic speed skating record, male or female, is 9 by Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, who competed in Sochi but did not medal. Three women have now won 8 speed skating medals, including Ireen Wüst (NED), who won 5 medals in Sochi to bring her total to 8, and equal the marks of Karin Enke-Kania (GDR) and Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann-Kleemann (GER).
• Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser (CAN-ICH) played on the gold medal winning women’s ice hockey team for Canada. This was the 5^th consecutive Olympics at which these two have helped Canada win a medal – with 4 golds from 2002-14, after a silver medal in 1998. Their 5 medals in a team sport equals the all-time Olympic record held by Teresa Edwards (USA-BAS) (5/401) and Dezső Gyarmati (HUN-WAP) (5/311).
• Hefford and Wickenheiser were joined by Caroline Ouellette in Sochi, and the three have now won 4 gold medals in women’s ice hockey. This equals the all-time Olympic record for gold medals won in a team sport, held by USA basketball players Teresa Edwards and Lisa Leslie.
• Ouellette became the first Winter Olympian to win 4 or more gold medals, while never losing an event (info courtesy Nick Zaccardi of NBCOlympicTalk). This has been done 19 times at the Summer Olympics, led by Ray Ewry (USA-ATH), with 10, or 8 if you elect not to count 1906 (which is wrong). Kristin Otto (GDR-SWI) won 6 gold medals with no losses. Two athletes won 5 golds while going undefeated – American shooter Bud Fisher and Russian synchro swimmer Anastasiya Davydova.
• Bode Miller won a bronze medal in Sochi in Alpine skiing, giving him 6 all-time. This moves him to =2^nd all-time among Olympic Alpine skiiers, trailing the 8 medals won by Norway’s Kjetil André Aamodt. Miller is tied with 2 women – Croatian Janica Kostelić and Swede Anja Pärson.
• Three freestyle skiiers won their second Olympic medal in that sport, to move to =2^nd all-time on the Olympic freestyle skiing lists – Alexandre Bilodeau (CAN), Lydia Ierodiaconu-Lassila (AUS), and Hannah Kearney (USA). They trail Norway’s Kari Traa, the only freestyler to win 3 medals in the sport at the Olympics.
• With the addition of the team trophy, 11 figure skaters won 2 medals in Sochi, something that had only been done once before at the Winter Olympics, in 1936 by German Ernst Baier in singles and pairs. It was also done in 1908 by Britain’s Madge Syers in singles and pairs, when the sport was contested at the Summer Olympics. The 11 figure skaters were as follows: Tetiana Volosozhar (RUS), Maksim Trankov (RUS), Kseniya Stolbova (RUS), Fyodor Klimov (RUS), Yelena Ilyinykh (RUS), Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), Charlie White (USA), Meryl Davis (USA), Patrick Chan (CAN), Scott Moir (CAN), and Tessa Virtue (CAN).
• Armin Zöggeler (ITA) won his sixth medal in Olympic luge, all in singles. He became the 1^st Winter Olympian to win medals in 6 Olympics, and only the 6^th person overall. The other Summer Olympians were: Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (GDR/GER-CAN), Aladár Gerevich (HUN-FEN), Anky van Grunsven (NED-EQU), Elisabeta Oleniuc-Lipă (ROU-ROW), and Hans Günter Winkler (FRG/GER-EQU). However, Zöggeler joined Gerevich and Winkler as the only Olympians to do this in the same event – Gerevich in team sabre, and Winkler in team show jumping. Zöggeler is the 1^st Olympian, Winter or Summer, to win 6 medals in the same individual Olympic event.
• Aleksandr Tretyakov (RUS) and Martins Dukurs (LAT) won medals in skeleton in Sochi, after also doing so in Vancouver. Their 2 medals in this sport equals the Olympic best for skeleton held by Jack Heaton (USA-1928/48) and Gregor Stähli (SUI-2002/06).
• Kelly Clark (USA) won her third medal in snowboarding halfpipe, making her the first Olympic snowboarder to win 3 Olympic medals.
• Vic Wild (RUS) and Žan Košir (SLO) won medals in parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom, with Wild winning gold medals in both events. This made them the first snowboarders to win 2 medals at one Winter Olympics and Wild the first to win 2 gold medals at one Winter Olympics.
• In biathlon Darya Domracheva (BLR) won 3 gold medals in Sochi, the first female biathlete to win 3 gold medals at a single Winter Olympics. Tora Berger and Tiril Eckhoff, both Norwegian biathletes, won 3 medals, and with Domracheva, the three of them equalled the record for women with 3 biathlon medals at one Winter Olympics, held previously by 7 other women.
• Russian bobsledders Aleksandr Zubkov and Aleksey Voyevoda won gold medals in both 2- and 4-man in Sochi. This is the best you can do in Olympic bobsledding at one Games, with Zubkov and Voyevoda becoming the 11^th and 12^th sliders to accomplish this.
• With the new event of luge mixed team relay, 7 luge sliders equalled the record with 2 Olympic medals at one Games. This had been performed 5 times previously, from 1968-76, always with a double in men’s singles and doubles. One woman, German Natalie Geisenberger, became the first female to accomplish this. Four German sliders became the first to win 2 gold medals at one Winter Olympics – Geisenberger, Felix Loch, Tobias Arlt, and Tobias Wendl. The other double medalists in luge in Sochi were Russian Albert Demchenko, and Latvians Andris Šics and Juris Šics.
• Ireen Wüst (NED) became the 5^th Winter Olympic speed skater, and 2^nd female, to win 5 medals at one Olympics. This had previously been done by Clas Thunberg (FIN-1924), Roald Larsen (NOR-1924), Eric Heiden (USA-1980), and the one female, Cindy Klaasen (CAN-2006).
• Albert Demchenko (EUN/RUS-LUG) and Noriaki Kasai (JPN-SKJ) both competed in their 7^th Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, setting an all-time record for most appearances at the Winter Olympics. Both competed consecutively from 1992-2014.
• Claudia Pechstein (GDR/GER-SSK) competed in her 6^th Winter Olympics in Sochi, equalling the female record for Winter Olympic appearances, held now by Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen (FIN-CCS) (1976-1994), Emese Nemeth-Hunyady (AUT/HUN-SSK) (1984-2002), Gerda Weissensteiner (ITA-BOB/LUG) (1988-2006), Anna Orlova (LAT-LUG) (1992-2010), and Pechstein (1992-2014). Of those, Pechstein is the only one whose appearances were not consecutive, as she did not compete in 2010 because of a doping controversy.
• Nine men also competed in their 6^th Winter Olympics in Sochi, equalling the previous record. They were: Hubertus von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe (MEX-ASK) (1984-2014), Teemu Selänne (FIN-ICH) (1992-2014), Janne Ahonen (FIN-SKJ) (1994-2014), Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA/CCS) (1994-2014), Sergey Dolidovich (BLR-CCS) (1994-2014), Lee Gyu-Hyeok (KOR-SSK) (1994-2014), Todd Lodwick (USA-NCO) (1994-2014), Mario Stecher (AUT-NCO) (1994-2014), and Armin Zöggeler (ITA-LUG) (1994-2014).
• Hubertus von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe’s appearance in Alpine skiing in Sochi was 30 years after his first Winter Olympic appearance at Sarajevo in 1984. This set an all-time record for span of appearances at the Winter Olympics, breaking his own mark of 26 set in 2010, which he co-held with Costa Rican skiier Arturo Kinch (1980-2006).
• Claudia Pechstein’s appearance in speed skating in Sochi came 22 years after her first Winter Olympic in Albertville in1992. This set an all-time record for span of appearances at the Winter Olympics by a woman, bettering the previous mark of 18, held by 7 women. The mark was also bettered in Sochi by Japanese speed skater Maki Tabata and French/Hungarian Alpine/freestyle skiier Ophélie David. Both first competed in 1994, making their span of appearances 20 years. David competed in Alpine skiing for Hungary in 1994 and returned in 2010-14 as a freestyler for France.
• Ophélie David’s gap of 16 years between appearances (1994/2010) was the record for longest gap between appearances by a woman at the Winter Olympics. It was equalled at Sochi by American curler Erika Brown (1998/2014) and Japanese ice hockey player Yoko Kondo (1998/2014).
• The Winter Olympic men’s record for largest gap between appearances was 20 by American Jack Heaton, bobsledder/skeleton slider, who competed in 1928 and then not again until 1948. This record was equalled in Sochi by Czech Republic ice hockey player Petr Nedvěd, who first competed in 1994, but then for his adopted country of Canada.

Here are the top individual medal winners from Sochi, listing all those with 3 or more medals, females listed first:

[table]

Name,G,S,B,TM

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),2,3,-,5

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),3,-,-,3

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3,-,-,3

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),2,-,1,3

Charlotte Kalla (SWE-CCS),1,2,-,3

Tora Berger (NOR-BIA),1,1,1,3

Shim Seok-Hui (KOR-STK),1,1,1,3

Tiril Eckhoff (NOR-BIA),1,-,2,3

Arianna Fontana (ITA-STK),-,1,2,3

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),3,-,1,4

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),2,1,-,3

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2,1,-,3

Maksim Vylegzhanin (RUS-CCS),-,3,-,3

Ondřej Moravec (CZE-BIA),-,2,1,3

[/table]

And here are all those who won 2 or more gold medals in Sochi:

[table]

Name,Golds

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),3

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),3

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),2

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),2

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),2

Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA),2

Aleksandr Zubkov (RUS-BOB),2

Tina Maze (SLO-ASK),2

Kamil Stoch (POL-SKJ),2

Tetiana Volosozhar (RUS-FSK),2

Aleksey Voyevoda (RUS-BOB),2

Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR-BIA),2

Dario Cologna (SUI-CCS),2

Maksim Trankov (RUS-FSK),2

Felix Loch (GER-LUG),2

Natalie Geisenberger (GER-LUG),2

Jorien ter Mors (NED-SSK),2

Tobias Arlt (GER-LUG),2

Tobias Wendl (GER-LUG),2

Jørgen Graabak (NOR-NCO),2

Vic Wild (RUS-SNB),2

[/table]

And here are all those who won 2 or more medals in individual events, led by Dutch speedskater Ireen Wüst. Again, women given first, followed by the men:

[table]

Name,IG,IS,IB,ITM

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),1,3,-,4

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3,-,-,3

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),2,-,-,2

Tina Maze (SLO-ASK),2,-,-,2

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),1,-,1,2

Martina Sáblíková (CZE-SSK),1,1,-,2

Anna Fenninger (AUT-ASK),1,1,-,2

Maria Riesch (GER-ASK),1,1,-,2

Charlotte Kalla (SWE-CCS),-,2,-,2

Shim Seok-Hui (KOR-STK),-,1,1,2

Arianna Fontana (ITA-STK),-,1,1,2

Nicole Hosp (AUT-ASK),-,1,1,2

Therese Johaug (NOR-CCS),-,1,1,2

Margot Boer (NED-SSK),-,-,2,2

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),2,-,1,3

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2,1,-,3

Kamil Stoch (POL-SKJ),2,-,-,2

Dario Cologna (SUI-CCS),2,-,-,2

Vic Wild (RUS-SNB),2,-,-,2

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),1,1,-,2

Kjetil Jansrud (NOR-ASK),1,-,1,2

Jorrit Bergsma (NED-SSK),1,-,1,2

Michel Mulder (NED-SSK),1,-,1,2

Ondřej Moravec (CZE-BIA),-,1,1,2

Denny Morrison (CAN-SSK),-,1,1,2

Christof Innerhofer (ITA-ASK),-,1,1,2

Peter Prevc (SLO-SKJ),-,1,1,2

Žan Košir (SLO-SNB),-,1,1,2

[/table]

Russia won the medal chase at the 2014 Sochi Olympics by winning 33 medals, with 13 golds, both tops, whether you use the North American or the European system. Will Russia win as many medals in 2018, or perhaps more? No.

I’ll predict right now, knowing nothing about Russian athletic performance between now and 2018, that they will win 23 medals in Pyeongchang, and probably 9 golds. How can I predict that now?

Its done by a thing I call the “Host Nation Bounce Analysis.” It has long been suspected that each nation that hosts an Olympics (and I know the IOC policy is that nations don’t host Olympics, cities do – spare me) improves their performance in the medal tables. To truly analyze this I looked at the performance of hosting nations since World War II, looking at how many medals they won at their hosting Olympics (0 in the table below), at the Olympics before they hosted (-1), and at the three Olympics after they hosted (1/2/3 below). We could easily calculate the percentage of medals and gold medals they won at each of these five Olympic Games.

In the table below I call the percentage of medals and gold medals they won at their hosting Olympics as 100%, and compared their performance, relative to the number of medals and golds available, at the other four Olympics contiguous with the one they hosted. Using current base numbers of 300 events, and 950 medals (combative sports have 2 bronze medals in most cases), we get the following estimates for medals won and percentages of medals won by host nations:

 

[table]

#,G,TM,%G,%TM,%HostGM,%HostTM

-1,19.0,55.0,6.33%,5.79%,57.7%,67.8%

0,32.9,81.2,10.95%,8.54%,100.0%,100.0%

1,21.5,59.6,7.17%,6.28%,65.4%,73.4%

2,15.7,47.6,5.24%,5.01%,47.7%,58.7%

3,12.5,38.6,4.17%,4.06%,38.1%,47.5%

[/table]

 

So there is a definite bounce effect. Nations tend to win only about 60-70% of medals at the Olympics prior to their host Olympics. And likewise, they win less medals at the Olympics after they host. Further, this has a reasonably linear decrease over time, earning about 70% of the medals at the 1^st Olympics post-hosting, and then about 55% and 40% at the 2^nd and 3^rd Olympics post-hosting.

Now this analysis has been done for the Summer Olympics. The reason for that is that until recently, there simply weren’t enough events at the Winter Olympics to do a solid statistical analysis, although I did look at it. With the small number of events, there is simply too much statistical noise. With the 98 events held in Sochi, this may now be eliminated, but we have only one Winter Olympics to base that on.

So considering this, I am predicting that Russia will win 70% of the number of the medals and gold medals they won in Sochi – or 23 medals and 9 gold medals. Have at it, prognosticators.

Assuming Russia wins a medal in bobsledding today, that will give them 33 medals in Sochi. It is only the 5^th time that a nation has won over 30 medals at a Winter Olympics, after Germany and the United States in both 2002 and 2010, and will rank them 4^th all-time for nations at the Olympic Winter Games, whether they finish with 32 or 33 medals. The top 4 national performances at a single Winter Olympics have been as follows:

[table]

 

Year,NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Totals

2010,United States,9,15,13,37

2002,Germany,12,16,8,36

2002,United States,10,13,11,34

2010,Germany,10,13,7,30

[/table]

 

But in 2010, Russia won “only” 15 medals, meaning they will have improved from 15 to 33 in Sochi, a gain of 18 medals (or possibly 17). How does that improvement rank all-time at the Winter Olympics? Either way, it will be second all-time after the USA improving from 13 to 34 from 1998-2002, a gain of 21, which, like Russia, benefitted from hosting the Winter Olympics on home soil. But the Netherlands also improved in Sochi, from 8 to 24 medals, a bump of 16 medals, thanks to their impressive speed skaters. That is 3^rd all-time.

Here are all the nations that have seen a bump of 10 or more medals from one Winter Olympics to the next. Please note that this is a little easier as the number of events increases at each Winter Olympics.

 

[table]

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

[/table]

 

And that is @bambam1729 signing off from Sochi, folks. Its been fun. I’ll leave you with the words of the Reverend Robert de Courcy Laffan, who spoke them at the Closing Banquet at the end of the 1908 Olympics in London:

“The Olympic Movement was one with great ideals – the perfect physical development of a new humanity, the spreading all over the world of the spirit of sport, which was the spirit of the truest chivalry, and the drawing together of all the nations of the earth in the bonds of peace and mutual amity. They were at the beginning of one of those great world movements which was going to develop long after all present had passed away.”

 

Mikaela Shiffrin’s victory in the women’s slalom today gives her the following Olympic statistical bests/records:

• Youngest gold medalist in women’s slalom (surpassing Paola Magoni-Sforza (ITA-1984) (19-155)
• 5th youngest medalist in women’s slalom (at 18-345) – leader is Danièle Debernard (FRA-1972) (17-205)
• 5th youngest female gold medalist in Alpine skiing (18-345) – leader is Michela Figini (SUI-1984 Downhill) (17-315)
• 4th American victory in the event which moves the USA ahead of Switzerland (we currently both have 3).
• 6th American medal in the event – first since 1972 (Barbara Cochran) – still trail France (8) and Austria (7)
• First American victory in women’s slalom since 1972 (Barbara Cochran) and slalom overall since 1984 (Phil Mahre)

This is also the 5^th USA medal in Alpine skiing at Sochi, which equals the 2^nd best USA performance at any Winter Olympics (1984). We have won medals as follows:

[table]

Year,RankUS,RankEU,G,S,B,TM

2010,1,2,2,3,3,8

2014,,,2,1,2,5

1984,1,1,3,2,-,5

1964,3,3,-,2,2,4

1994,3,2,2,2,-,4

1960,4,6,-,3,-,3

1948,4,4,1,1,-,2

1952,4,2,2,-,-,2

1972,4,3,1,-,1,2

1992,=5,=7,-,2,-,2

2002,6,6,-,2,-,2

2006,5,2,2,-,-,2

1976,=7,=7,-,-,1,1

1980,6,5,-,1,-,1

1998,7,6,1,-,-,1

[/table]

USA Today at the Olympics

• Alpine Skiing – Women’s Slalom – the USA has won this event 3 times, but it has been 42 years. The 3 gold medals were won by Gretchen Fraser in 1948, Andi Mead-Lawrence in 1952, and Barbara Cochran in 1972. We have won 2 other medals – a silver by Betsy Snite in 1960 and a bronze by Jean Saubert in 1964. The USA is tied for 1st all-time with Switzerland in terms of most gold medals in the event. The 5 medals won is 3rd behind France (8) and Austria (7), also tied with Switzerland.
• Biathlon – Women’s Relay – this event has been contested 6 times and the USA has one top 10 finish, with an 8th in 1994.
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Men’s 500 metres – J. R. Celski is in the quarter-finals and still alive for a medal. The USA has 2 medals in this event, with a gold by Apolo Anton Ohno in 2006, and a bronze by Rusty Smith in 2002. This puts the USA =3rd all-time in terms of medals won, trailing Canada (5) and Korea (3).
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Men’s Relay – the United States is in the A Final and has a shot at a medal. The USA has won 3 medals in the event, with bronzes in 2006-2010 and a silver in 1994. The USA Olympic best in the event is 6:44.498 set by the US team in the Vancouver final.
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Women’s 1,000 metres – Jessica Smith and Emily Scott are in the quarter-finals and still alive for medals. The USA has 1 medal in the event, a silver by Katherine Reutter in 2010. We have had 1 other finalist, Amy Peterson in 1998, who placed 4th.
• Men’s Curling – the United States has been eliminated.
• Freestyle Skiing – Women’s Skiier-Cross – this is a new event to the Olympic Program.

 

This Day at the Olympics

346 Olympians were born

69 Olympians died

87 Olympic events were held

 

USA Births and Death on this Day at the Olympics

Born

[table]

Date,Name,Sport,Years

21 Feb 1874,Oluf Landnes,GYM,1904

21 Feb 1882,Bill Tuttle,SWI/WAP,1904

21 Feb 1885,Julio Kilenyi,ART,1932

21 Feb 1886,Howard Smith,ART,1932

21 Feb 1894,Franz Federschmidt,ROW,1920

21 Feb 1896,Karl Knight,CAN,1924

21 Feb 1900,James Newell,ART,1932

21 Feb 1915,Basil Francis,SWI,1932

21 Feb 1927,Colin Stewart,ASK,1948

21 Feb 1928,Gino Pariani,FTB,1948

21 Feb 1934,Thomas Orley,FEN,1964

21 Feb 1956,Nancy Fiddler,CCS,1988-92

21 Feb 1963,Michael Gostigian,MOP,1988-96

21 Feb 1967,Leroy Burrell,ATH,1992

21 Feb 1973,Les Gutches,WRE,1996

21 Feb 1973,Brian Rolston,ICH,1994-06

21 Feb 1976,Donald Suxho,VOL,2004-12

21 Feb 1977,Tyler Jewell,SNB,2006-10

21 Feb 1990,Kathleen Hersey,SWI,2008-12

[/table]

 

Died

[table]

Date,Name,Sport,Years

21 Feb 1925,Raymond Havemeyer,GOL,1904

21 Feb 1964,John Brennan,ATH,1908

21 Feb 1965,Harry Daniels,WAP,1928

21 Feb 1969,Joe de Capriles,FEN,1936-52

21 Feb 1971,Clare Jacobs,ATH,1908

21 Feb 1976,Temple Ashbrook,SAI,1932

21 Feb 1996,Fred Kammer Jr.,ICH,1936

21 Feb 1996,Don Laz,ATH,1952

21 Feb 1997,Leo Sjogren,ATH,1952-56

[/table]

 

Previous USA Winter Olympic Medals on This Day

[table]

Medalist,Sport,X,Event,Medal,Date

Dick Button,FSK,M,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 1952

Jim Grogan,FSK,M,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1952

Charlie Tickner,FSK,M,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1980

Eric Heiden,SSK,M,1500 m,Gold,21 Feb 1980

Kristi Yamaguchi,FSK,F,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 1992

Nancy Kerrigan,FSK,F,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1992

Bode Miller,ASK,M,GS,Silver,21 Feb 2002

Sarah Hughes,FSK,F,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 2002

Michelle Kwan,FSK,F,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 2002

USA Team,ICH,F,Ice Hockey,Silver,21 Feb 2002

USA Team,BOB,F,Two,Silver,21 Feb 2006

Shani Davis,SSK,M,1500 m,Silver,21 Feb 2006

Chad Hedrick,SSK,M,1500 m,Bronze,21 Feb 2006

Bode Miller,ASK,M,Combined,Gold,21 Feb 2010

[/table]

 

Recent Medal Standings after Day #14

[table]

Day #14 – 20 Feb 2014,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

United States,8,6,11,25,1

Russia,7,9,7,23,2

Netherlands,6,7,9,22,3

Norway,10,4,7,21,4

Canada,7,9,4,20,5

Germany,8,4,4,16,6

France,4,4,7,15,7

Sweden,2,6,4,12,8

Switzerland,6,3,2,11,9

Austria,2,6,2,10,10

Czech Republic,2,4,2,8,11

Japan,1,4,3,8,12

Italy,-,2,6,8,13

Slovenia,2,1,4,7,14

Belarus,5,-,1,6,15

China,3,2,1,6,16

Korea (South),2,2,1,5,17

Poland,4,-,-,4,18

Finland,1,3,0,4,19

Great Britain,1,-,2,3,20

Australia,-,2,1,3,21

Latvia,-,1,2,3,22

Slovakia,1,-,-,1,23

Croatia,-,1,-,1,24

Kazakhstan,-,-,1,1,=25

Ukraine,-,-,1,1,=25

Totals (81 events),82,80,82,244

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 25 Feb 2010,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

United States,8,12,12,32,1

Germany,8,11,7,26,2

Norway,7,6,6,19,3

Canada,8,6,3,17,4

Russia,3,4,6,13,5

Austria,4,3,5,12,6

Korea,6,4,1,11,7

France,2,3,5,10,8

China,4,2,3,9,9

Switzerland,6,-,2,8,10

Sweden,4,2,2,8,11

Netherlands,3,1,2,6,12

Czech Republic,2,-,3,5,13

Poland,-,3,1,4,14

Japan,-,2,2,4,15

Italy,-,1,3,4,16

Australia,2,1,-,3,17

Belarus,1,1,1,3,=18

Slovakia,1,1,1,3,=18

Slovenia,-,2,1,3,20

Finland,-,1,2,3,21

Latvia,-,2,-,2,22

Croatia,-,1,1,2,23

Great Britain,1,-,-,1,24

Estonia,-,1,-,1,=25

Kazakhstan,-,1,-,1,=25

Totals (70 events),70,71,69,210

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 23 Feb 2006,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,9,10,5,24,1

United States,7,8,5,20,2

Austria,8,6,5,19,3

Russia,8,3,8,19,4

Canada,5,8,6,19,5

Norway,2,8,8,18,6

Switzerland,5,4,4,13,7

Sweden,5,2,4,11,8

Italy,4,-,6,10,9

France,3,2,4,9,10

China,2,3,4,9,11

Korea,4,3,1,8,12

Netherlands,2,2,3,7,13

Finland,-,3,3,6,14

Estonia,3,-,-,3,15

Croatia,1,2,-,3,16

Australia,1,-,1,2,17

Czech Republic,-,2,-,2,18

Ukraine,-,-,2,2,19

Japan,1,-,-,1,20

Belarus,-,1,-,1,=21

Bulgaria,-,1,-,1,=21

Great Britain,-,1,-,1,=21

Slovakia,-,1,-,1,=21

Latvia,-,-,1,1,25

Totals (70 events),70,70,70,210

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 21 Feb 2002,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,10,15,8,33,1

United States,10,11,9,30,2

Norway,12,5,4,21,3

Austria,3,4,8,15,4

Russia,4,4,3,11,5

Italy,3,2,5,10,6

Canada,3,1,6,10,7

France,3,4,2,9,8

Switzerland,3,2,4,9,9

Finland,3,2,1,6,10

Sweden,-,1,5,6,11

Netherlands,2,3,-,5,12

China,1,2,2,5,13

Croatia,2,1,-,3,=14

Korea,2,1,-,3,=14

Czech Republic,1,2,-,3,16

Bulgaria,-,1,2,3,17

Australia,2,-,-,2,18

Estonia,1,-,1,2,=19

Great Britain,1,-,1,2,=19

Japan,-,1,1,2,=21

Poland,-,1,1,2,=21

Belarus,-,-,1,1,=23

Slovenia,-,-,1,1,=23

Totals (64 events),66,63,65,194

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 20 Feb 1998,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,10,9,8,27,1

Norway,8,8,5,21,2

Russia,9,5,2,16,3

Austria,3,5,7,15,4

United States,6,3,4,13,5

Canada,4,5,4,13,6

Netherlands,5,4,2,11,7

Finland,2,4,5,11,8

Italy,2,6,2,10,9

Japan,4,1,3,8,10

France,2,1,4,7,11

Switzerland,2,1,3,6,12

China,-,4,1,5,13

Korea,2,-,1,3,14

Czech Republic,-,1,1,2,=15

Sweden,-,1,1,2,=15

Belarus,-,-,2,2,=17

Kazakhstan,-,-,2,2,=17

Bulgaria,1,-,-,1,19

Denmark,-,1,-,1,=20

Ukraine,-,1,-,1,=20

Australia,-,-,1,1,=22

Belgium,-,-,1,1,=22

Totals (59 events),60,60,59,179

[/table]

 

• USA Alpine Skiing Men’s Slalom
• USA Biathlon Men’s Relay
• USA Cross-Country Skiing Women’s 30K
• USA Speed Skating Men’s Team Pursuit
• USA Speed Skating Women’s Team Pursuit

There are also 2 new events ending on Saturday – snowboarding parallel special slalom for both men and women.

 

With the Games winding down, the final full day of multiple events and medal events is Saturday, 22 February. There are only 3 finals on Sunday (23 Feb) – men’s ice hockey, 4-man bobsledding, and 50 km cross-country skiing. Here are the event sheets for the events ending on Saturday:

• Alpine Skiing Men’s Slalom
• Biathlon Men’s Relay
• Cross-Country Skiing Women’s 30K
• Speed Skating Men’s Team Pursuit
• Speed Skating Women’s Team Pursuit

There are also two new events – snowboarding parallel special slalom for men and women.

The United States and Canada play today in a men’s ice hockey semi-final. This will be the 18^th Olympic match between the two arch-rivals, with Canada holding a comfortable edge in the rivalry – winning 11, tieing 3, and losing 3. The results of all the matches are as follows:

 

United States vs. Canada

[table]

Year,Match,Result,Score,Date

1920,Semi-Final,CAN d. USA,2-0,Apr 25

1924,Final Pool,CAN d. USA,6-1,Feb 3

1932,Round-Robin,CAN d. USA,2-1,Feb 4

1932,Round-Robin,CAN tied USA,2-2,Feb 13

1936,Final Pool,CAN d. USA,1-0,Feb 16

1948,Round-Robin,CAN d. USA,12-3,Feb 5

1952,Round-Robin,CAN tied USA,3-3,Feb 24

1956,Final Pool,USA d. CAN,4-1,Jan 31

1960,Final Pool,USA d. CAN,2-1,Feb 25

1964,Final Pool,CAN d. USA,8-6,Feb 3

1968,A Pool,CAN d. USA,3-2,Feb 11

1984,B Pool,CAN d. USA,4-2,Feb 7

1994,B Pool,CAN tied USA,3-3,Feb 17

1998,D Pool,CAN d. USA,4-1,Feb 16

2002,Gold Medal,CAN d. USA,5-2,Feb 24

2010,Gold Medal,CAN d. USA,3-2,Feb 28

2010,A Pool,USA d. CAN,5-3,Feb 21

[/table]