• USA Alpine Skiing Women’s Slalom
• USA Biathlon Women’s Relay
• USA Freestyle Skiing Women’s Skiier-Cross
• USA Short-Track Speed Skating Men’s 500 metres
• USA Short-Track Speed Skating Men’s Relay
• USA Short-Track Speed Skating Women’s 1,000 metres

• Alpine Skiing Women’s Slalom
• Biathlon Women’s Relay
• Men’s Curling
• Freestyle Skiing Women’s Skiier-Cross
• Short-Track Speed Skating Men’s 500 metres
• Short-Track Speed Skating Men’s Relay
• Short-Track Speed Skating Women 1,000 metres

Canada and the United States play in the final match of women’s ice hockey, the winner to get the gold medal. This is a re-play of the 1998, 2002, and 2010 Winter Olympic finals. The USA and Canada have played 5 previous times at the Winter Olympics – twice in 1998, including the final, the 2002 and 2010 finals, and an A-pool match earlier in Sochi. The United States won the first two games, including the 1998 gold medal. Since then Canada has won the gold medal in 2002, 2006, and 2010, and defeated the United States in the last 3 matches between them, including their earlier match in Sochi.

Attached are the game summaries of all the previous CAN v USA matches at the Winter Olympics.

• USA vs Canada Women’s Ice Hockey

Ted Ligety has almost certainly won the men’s Alpine skiing giant slalom today in Sochi, giving him the following Olympic bests and records:

 

• With his second Olympic gold medal, Ligety becomes only the 2^nd American with 2 Alpine skiing gold medals, and the first male, after Andi Mead-Lawrence, who won her 2 gold medals in slalom and giant slalom in 1952.
• He becomes the 5^th American male with 2 or more Alpine skiing medals – Bode Miller (6), Phil Mahre (2), Tommy Moe (2), Andrew Weibrecht (2). There are 8 American women with 2+ Alpine skiing medals, led by Julia Mancuso with 4, making Ligety the 13^th American to win 2 or more medals in Olympic Alpine skiing.
• Ligety becomes the 7^th American to win Alpine skiing medals at 2 or more Olympics. This list is led by Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso with 3, with Dianne Roffe, Picabo Street, Phil Mahre, and Andrew Weibrecht the 4 Americans to win Olympic Alpine medals at 2 Winter Olympics.

So how is the United States doing in Alpine skiing at Sochi? Not quite as badly as originally described a few days ago, now helped by medals in the men’s Super G and giant slalom. Here is how the US performance in 2014 ranks compared to our previous medal rankings in Olympic Alpine skiing.

 

[table]

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

2010,United States,1,2,2,3,3,8

1984,United States,1,1,3,2,-,5

1964,United States,3,3,-,2,2,4

1994,United States,3,2,2,2,-,4

2014,United States,,,1,1,2,4

1960,United States,4,6,-,3,-,3

1948,United States,4,4,1,1,-,2

1952,United States,4,2,2,-,-,2

1972,United States,4,3,1,-,1,2

1992,United States,=5,=7,-,2,-,2

2002,United States,6,6,-,2,-,2

2006,United States,5,2,2,-,-,2

1976,United States,=7,=7,-,-,1,1

1980,United States,6,5,-,1,-,1

1998,United States,7,6,1,-,-,1

[/table]

 

After the men’s giant slalom, here is the 2014 Olympic Alpine skiing medal list (assuming no changes after top 30 starters):

 

[table]

2014 – NOCs,G,S,B,TM

Austria,2,2,1,5

United States,1,1,2,4

Switzerland,2,0,1,3

Germany,1,1,1,3

Slovenia,2,0,0,2

Norway,1,0,1,2

France,0,1,1,2

Italy,0,1,1,2

Croatia,0,1,0,1

Canada,0,0,1,1

Totals,9,7,9,25

[/table]

• USA Women’s Curling
• USA Women’s Ice Hockey
• USA Freestyle Skiing Men’s Skiier-Cross
• USA Figure Skating Women’s Individual
• USA Nordic Combined Men’s Team

Freestyle skiing women’s halfpipe will also end on Thursday, but this is new event to the Olympic Program.

• Women’s Curling
• Women’s Ice Hockey
• Figure Skating Women’s Singles
• Freestyle Skiing Men’s Skiier-Cross
• Nordic Combined Men’s Team

Women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe will also finish on Thursday. This is a new Olympic event.

Lauryn Williams and her pilot, Elana Meyers,  are in first place in the women’s bobsled after two runs. Williams has 2 Olympics medals, a silver in the 100 metres at the 2004 Olympics, and a gold in the 4×100 relay at London in 2012. If they win the gold medal tomorrow, Lauryn Williams will become the 2nd Olympian, and 1st female Olympian, to win gold medals at both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games.

The first was Eddie Eagan. Who was Eddie Eagan? Eagan won a gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing at the 1920 Summer Olympics and returned 12 years later to win a bobsledding gold medal in the 4-man at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. But he was more – a lawyer, war hero, and Rhodes Scholar. Here is our bio of Eagan from our website – www.sports-reference.com/olympics:

—–

As the only person to win a gold medal at both the Winter Games in a winter sport and the Summer Games in a summer sport, Eddie Eagan holds a unique place in Olympic history. In 1920 at Antwerp, Eagan beat Thomas Holstock (SAF), then Harold Franks (GBR), and in the final Sverre Sørsdal of Norway to win the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division. After the Olympics, Eagan returned to Yale Law School. He left there in 1922 to become a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where he soon made his mark in British amateur boxing circles.

At the 1924 Olympics, Eagan chose not to defend his light-heavyweight title but instead weighed in as a heavyweight. He met first the Englishman, Arthur Clifton who had replaced Eagan as British ABA champion. After a grueling three rounds Clifton got the verdict but in doing so, so severely injured his hands that he could not come forward for his second round match. After competing twice in the summer Games, Eagan made his debut at the Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. It was here that he made Olympic history when, as a member of the 4-man bobsled team, he added a gold medal to the one he had won at the summer Games twelve years earlier.

Eagan obtained a B.A. degree from Oxford in 1928 and in 1932 was admitted to the U.S. Bar. He practiced law untiI the outbreak of World War II when he rejoined the armed forces. Colonel Eagan served with distinction throughout the period of hostilities and was awarded ribbons for combat in all three theatres of operations.

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ea/eddie-eagan-1.html

—–

Is Eagan the only athlete to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics? No. It has been done by three other athletes. The second to do it was Norwegian Jacob Tullin Thams, who won a gold medal in ski jumping at the 1924 Chamonix Olympics, and 12 years later, won a silver medal in 8-metres class sailing at Berlin.

Two women have since won Summer/Winter medals.  One was Canadian Clara Hughes who competed in 6 Olympic Games between 1996-2012 in cycling and speed skating. Hughes won 6 Olympic medals, 2 in cycling in 1996, and 4 in speed skating in 2002/2006/2010. The other was Christa Rothenburger-Luding, also a cyclist/speed skater, who competed for the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) at the Olympics in 1980-88, and for Germany in 1992. Rothenburger-Luding won 5 Olympic medals, 4 in speed skating, and 1 in track sprint cycling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She is the only athlete to have won Winter/Summer medals in the same year, which can no longer occur, winning gold/silver at Calgary in 1988 in addition to her track cycling silver medal.

So even if Meyers/Williams don’t win gold tomorrow in women’s bobsledding, Williams could add to the list of Summer/Winter medalists if she wins any medal. Another possibility to do this is Belgium’s Hanna Mariën, who, braking for Elfje Willemsen, is in 4th place in the event after 2 runs. Mariën won a silver medal in the 4×100 relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

So how does the Netherlands dominance in Sochi speed skating compare to any nations’ dominance at Summer Olympic sports? Here we will limit ourselves only to those Olympics since 1948, and we’ll also restrict ourselves to those sports with 4 or more events.

The Netherlands has currently won 70.4% of the Sochi speed skating medals. That would rank 4^th in the list below, trailing only the United States in diving in 1948, 1952, and 1956. And one should remember that the Netherlands has done this in 9 events, with 3 left to be contested.

Counting all Olympics, the USA has won 100% of the medals in 5 sport-years with 4 or more events. Four of those occurred in 1904, but in 1932 the USA won all 12 diving medals.

 

[table]

Sport,Year,NOC,Medals,Won,%%%

Diving,1948,USA,10,12,83.3%

Diving,1952,USA,9,12,75.0%

Diving,1956,USA,9,12,75.0%

Diving,1964,USA,8,12,66.7%

Diving,1984,USA,8,12,66.7%

Table Tennis,1996,CHN,8,12,66.7%

Table Tennis,2000,CHN,8,12,66.7%

Table Tennis,2008,CHN,8,12,66.7%

Gymnastics,1960,SOV,26,43,60.5%

Swimming,1968,USA,52,87,59.8%

Swimming,1964,USA,29,54,53.7%

Badminton,2000,CHN,8,15,53.3%

Badminton,2008,CHN,8,15,53.3%

Badminton,2012,CHN,8,15,53.3%

Diving,1960,USA,6,12,50.0%

Diving,1968,USA,6,12,50.0%

Diving,1980,SOV,6,12,50.0%

Archery,1988,KOR,6,12,50.0%

Diving,1988,CHN,6,12,50.0%

Table Tennis,2004,CHN,6,12,50.0%

Table Tennis,2012,CHN,6,12,50.0%

[/table]

 

One thing to note is that China has won 50% or more medals 9 times since 1996, 8 of those in table tennis and badminton. The IOC has discussed eliminating women’s ice hockey because of the dominance of Canada and the United States, and it did eliminate women’s softball, one reason given was that the USA women were so far ahead of their competition. And it cut back on the number of swimmers that can compete in any event because of multiple USA medal sweeps back in the 1960s and 70s (note what the USA did in 1964-68 above). Will the IOC ever have similar discussions concerning table tennis and badminton because China is so far ahead of their competition?

The Netherlands has now won 19 of 27 available speed skating medals. There are 3 events left (women’s 5K and both team pursuits), so there will be 36 medals given out in Sochi for speed skating. The Netherlands has won 70.4% of the medals available for speed skating to date, and if they fail to win any of the final 9 medals (dream on), they will still win 52.8% of all the speed skating medals.

How does this rank at the Winter Olympics? Well, it trails a few performances, but those were in early Games, and usually in sports with only 1 to 3 events available for a nation. Looking at the list below for all nations winning 2/3^rds or more of a sports medals at one Winter Olympics, the Netherlands performance is really incomparable. Only the German Democratic Republic’s (East Germany) winning 8 of 9 luge medals in 1972 is in the class, but that is only in 3 events. Finland’s winning 8 of 12 cross-country medals in 1952 is the most comparable, but that is still in only 4 events.

 

[table]

Sport,Year,NOC,Won,Medals,%%%

Nordic Combined,1924,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Nordic Combined,1928,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Nordic Combined,1932,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Ski Jumping,1932,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Nordic Combined,1936,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Ski Jumping,1948,NOR,3,3,100.0%

Luge,1972,GDR,8,9,88.9%

Cross-Country Skiing,1924,NOR,5,6,83.3%

Speedskating,2014,NED,19,27,70.4%

Cross-Country Skiing,1952,FIN,8,12,66.7%

Cross-Country Skiing,1948,SWE,6,9,66.7%

Luge,1988,GDR,6,9,66.7%

Bobsledding,1932,USA,4,6,66.7%

Alpine Skiing,1936,GER,4,6,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1964,NOR,4,6,66.7%

Bobsledding,1980,GDR,4,6,66.7%

Bobsledding,1984,GDR,4,6,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1924,NOR,2,3,66.7%

Bobsledding,1928,USA,2,3,66.7%

Skeleton,1928,USA,2,3,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1928,NOR,2,3,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1936,NOR,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1948,FIN,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1952,NOR,2,3,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1952,NOR,2,3,66.7%

Ski Jumping,1956,FIN,2,3,66.7%

Biathlon,1964,SOV,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1972,GDR,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1976,GDR,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1980,GDR,2,3,66.7%

Nordic Combined,1984,FIN,2,3,66.7%

[/table]

Once again, the Netherlands swept the medals in the men’s 10,000 metres speed skating, giving the Dutchmen their 4^th medal sweep at the Sochi Olympics. How does this rank all-time?

Well, it’s a Winter Olympic record. No other nation has ever swept more than 2 events at a single Winter Olympics. Overall, it’s a little behind the Summer Olympic record of 57, set by the United States in 1904 – that record will likely last for awhile. On the other hand, the early Olympics were very different than what we have now.

Looking at Olympics only since WW2, this is the most medals sweeps by one nation since the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) swept 6 events at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Here is the list of all nations with 2 or more medal sweeps at a Winter Olympics, and 4 or more at the Summer Olympics.

[table]

Year,NOC,Ssn,Sweeps

2014,Netherlands,W,4

1924,Norway,W,2

1928,Norway,W,2

1932,Norway,W,2

1964,Soviet Union,W,2

1972,German Demo. Rep.,W,2

1984,German Demo. Rep.,W,2

1998,Germany,W,2

1904,United States,S,57

1908,Great Britain,S,15

1900,France,S,11

1900,United States,S,9

1920,United States,S,8

1932,United States,S,8

1924,United States,S,7

1912,Sweden,S,6

1952,United States,S,6

1956,United States,S,6

1968,United States,S,6

1980,German Demo. Rep.,S,6

1912,United States,S,5

1980,Soviet Union,S,5

1936,United States,S,4

1948,United States,S,4

1960,Soviet Union,S,4

1960,United States,S,4

1964,United States,S,4

1976,United States,S,4

[/table]

One other thing to note is that the Netherlands had only previously swept one Olympic event, the 1998 men’s speed skating 10K.