THE GAMES OF THE I^st OLYMPIAD

Born 30 March 1894 in Fareham, Hampshire (GBR)
Died 29 March 1975 in Eastleigh, Hampshire (GBR)

[table]

Year,Sport,Event,Place,Medal

1932,Athletics,50 km walk ,1, gold,
[/table]

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gr/tommy-green-1.html

Olympic history contains many stories of handicaps that champions have overcome but few can match the adversities Tommy Green faced before being crowned champion in one of the most gruelling events of the Olympic program. Because of rickets, he was unable to walk at all until he was five years old; in 1906 he falsified his age in order to join the Army but was invalided out of the Royal Hussars four years later as a result of injuries received when a horse fell on him. Then after being recalled with the Reserve in 1914, he was wounded three times and badly gassed while serving with the King’s Own Hussars in France.

Green was first encouraged to take up walking by a war-blinded friend whom he had been helping to train for the St. Dunstan’s London-to-Brighton walk and in 1926, at the age of 32, Green won the first race he entered, a 12 mile race from Worthing-to-Brighton. Following this surprise victory he joined Belgrave Harriers and built up an impressive record in all the major road races. Green won the London-to-Brighton four times and was a six-time winner of both the Manchester to Blackpool and the Nottingham to Birmingham races. Other major successes included a win in the classic Milan 100 km. in 1930, a year which also saw him win the inaugural British 50 km. title. The only significant event that Green never managed to win was the National 20 miles championship, although he finished second on five occasions.

Undoubtedly, the greatest of Tommy Green’s many triumphs was his victory in the 50 km. walk at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932. After being troubled by the strong Californian sun he was at one stage one minute behind the leaders, but walking magnificently in the closing stages, he came through to win by more than seven minutes. At the age of 38 years and 126 days, Green is the oldest-ever winner of the event. In 1936 he made a great bid to make the Olympic team for a second time, but his fourth place in the RWA 50 km. was not quite good enough to earn him selection for the Berlin Games.

After his checkered early life, Tommy Green held a variety of jobs before being employed at the Eastleigh Railway Works, where he demonstrated that accident-proneness is a continuing condition by losing a thumb in an industrial accident. On retiring from the railways, Green became a publican in Eastleigh and was a prominent figure in the local sporting world.

Personal Bests: 20kmW – 1-38:45.3 (1933); 50kmW – 4-35:36.0 (1930).

—–

Each of us who write on this blog have our own favourite Olympian. You may have already read about Bill Mallon’s personal choice last week at https://olympstats.com/2014/03/27/olympic-bio-of-the-day-martin-sheridan-2/. Tommy Green is mine – Hilary Evans

B. 12 February 1907; St. Kilda, Victoria, Australia

D. 7 November 1951; Off the coast of Morocco

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/freddie-mcevoy-1.html.

[table]

Year,Sport,Event,Place,Medal

1936,Bobsled,Two-man,4,

,,Four-man,3,Bronze

[/table]

Some Olympians find heroics in their sporting careers, some find it in their lives after the Olympics, some find it in the bedroom, and some find heroics in selfless attempt to save lives. Here’s one who did the last two.

We have talked how we all have certain favorite Olympians. Freddie McEvoy was the favorite of Ian Buchanan, esteemed British Olympic historian, and the first President of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH). This is one is in Ian’s memory.

—–

Freddie McEvoy was a swashbuckling legend in aristocratic British sporting circles. He was educated at the Jesuit School of Stonyhurst, and early turned his attention to sports, becoming an expert in shooting, race-car driving, deep-sea diving, and boxing. He competed at the Olympics in 1936 as a bobsled driver, after having won the 1935 World Championship in the 4-man. Among his professions are listed jewelry designer, public relations consultant, professional gambler, smuggler, black marketer, and gigolo. He was well-known in European gambling casinos and was known to have won and lost fortunes during his lifetime. He admitted to being a rogue, swindler, and con man who used his intelligence and charm to move among the highest of the monied classes. In appearance, he was almost a twin of his very close friend, Errol Flynn.

McEvoy was that rare individual whose life was more exciting than the legend. Among the stories that surround him are that he once killed a man in a barroom brawl in Marseilles, that he once won a $10,000 bet by driving from Paris to Cannes in under 10 hours, and that he once won $25,000 playing backgammon in Monte Carlo and then spent that money the next day to buy a Maserati. In the Maserati he placed 3rd at the 1936 Vanderbilt Trophy races at Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island. When McEvoy won car races, he usually used his earnings to bet on the horses, and when he picked a winner he celebrated by drinking pink champagne.

He used his connections and his sociability to marry well several times. The first was in 1940 to a woman twice his age, Beatrice Cartwright, an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune. He and Cartwright had lived together at the Badrutt Palace in St. Moritz for several winters, prior to their marriage. One year, McEvoy brought a much younger model to “care for him,” explaining to Cartwright that he must have a younger bedfellow than her. The marriage lasted two years, and in the same year they were divorced, he married Irene Wrightsman, the 18-year-old daughter of the president of Standard Oil of Kansas. That marriage also lasted but two years, and he spent most of 1944 going back and forth from Mexico City to Beverly Hills, smuggling arms, jewelry, liquor and other valuables into the United States. In Mexico City he stayed with Dorothy di Frasso, one of Freddie’s most generous patrons. Di Frasso spread his fame among her friends for his bedroom performances, which she said was worth all the money she gave him. American bobsledder Billy Fiske, once commented on how much he admired McEvoy, and when someone protested that he could not, he noted, “Yes, I do, I admire anyone who can get away with something that I could not do myself.”

In 1945, McEvoy began a long-running affair with the wealthy heiress, Barbara Hutton. Hutton agreed with di Frasso concerning Freddie’s skills, considering him a superb lover, and felt that he understood women better than any man she had ever met. They later lived together at a fashionable ski chalet in Franconia, New Hampshire, which Hutton bought for McEvoy. They never married but remained friends throughout his life. McEvoy eventually married French fashion model Claude Stephanie Filatre. In November 1951 they were sailing on his 104-ton schooner, Kangaroo, near Cap Cantin off the coast of Morocco when a storm hit. The ship went down, but Freddie lashed his wife and maid to the mast, and then swam to shore seeking help. But he was unable to find any assistance and swam back out to the mast. He and Claude Stephanie then began swimming to shore, but she was unable to make it. He attempted to tow her to shore, but the waves pulled them to sea, they crashed against the rocks, and were not seen alive again. Their bodies were recovered the next day.

B. 5 October 1925

[table]

Year,Sport,Event,Finish,Medal

1952,ROW,Double Sculls,3 h1 r4/5 (w John Rogers),

1956,ROW,Double Sculls,3 (w Merv Wood),Bronze

[/table]

Many of our Olympian bios tell stories of great heroics and often great careers after the Olympics. Here’s one that didn’t turn out so well.

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/murray-riley-1.html.

Murray Riley partnered Merv Wood to a bronze medal in the 1956 double sculls, after the pair had won gold medals in the doubles at the 1950 and 1954 Commonwealth Games. At the time the two were both police officers, but their careers would take decidedly different courses. Wood eventually became New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner in 1976, but stepped down in 1979, partly because of his association with Riley who had by then turned to a life of crime.

Riley joined the NSW police force in 1943, when only 17 years old, and he eventually rose to detective-sergeant, 3rd class. Major drug investigations in the 1960s found that Riley was associated with managers of several illegal gambling casinos in Sydney and Wollongong and it led to his involvement in drugs. In 1966 he was jailed for a year in New Zealand on charges of attempting to bribe a police inspector, after he was found to be involved in drug importation and cashing stolen American Express checks. After his release he linked up with well-known Australian crime figure Wally Dean and the two became supervisors for the Sydney League Clubs, and began scamming the clubs, extorting their services at very high fees in return for protection.

Riley disappeared for a few years but emerged in September 1974, helping Dean in an unsuccessful attempt to get elected to the South Sydney City Council. In October 1984, Riley came into the employ of Lennie McPherson, noted drug dealer, looking after collections from various gambling clubs and bookmakers, and providing protection for them.

Riley was also involved in the Nugan Hand Bank Scandal, which was a complex arrangement fronted by the United States CIA, and former US Green Beret Michael Hand, as a front to help catch drug dealers and exporters. It was found that in April 1976, Nugan Hand made cash transfers to Riley in Hong Kong, totaling about $1.2 million. Riley used the cash to take delivery of heroin shipments. The Australian Joint Task Force on Drugs, concluded, “Throughout 1976 Hand was knowingly involved in drug activity with the ‘Riley’ group in that he permitted and even encouraged the use of Nugan Hand facilities for the movement of drug money.”

Riley was finally caught in June 1978, when he was arrested after 4.3 tons of cannabis was found onboard the yacht Anoa at Polkington Reef, east of Papua New Guinea. Riley pleaded guilty and was sentenced by Judge Kenneth Torrington to 5-10 years in jail.

In January 2008, historian Dr. John Jiggens of the Queensland University of Technology, deepened the crime connection of Riley with the publication of his book ___The Sydney Connection: Nugan Hand, Murray Riley, and the Murder of Donald Mackay___. Mackay was a furniture store owner in the NSW town of Griffith, who in 1975, tipped off police about a large marijuana plantation at Coleambally, south of Griffith. Mackay was murdered outside the Hotel Griffith on 15 July 1977, as his bloodstained car and spent .22 cartridges were found in the hotel carpark the next day, although his body was never recovered. Jiggens notes in the book that Nugan and Riley were key figures in an international drug-smuggling group supplying the United States market in the 1970s.

Olympic athletes are known as the greatest of athletes. Yet, perhaps the term student-athletes can be applied to many of them. Fully 34 of them have won a Rhodes Scholarship, one of the highest academic awards possible, to study at Oxford University in England. There are others than on this list, who competed at the Paralympics but our databases cover only the Olympic Games. Here is the list of Olympian Rhodes Scholars. More information on these can be found here or by following the links below.

[table]

Name,NOC,Sport,OlyYr,Oxford Yr-School

Ranjit Bhatia,IND,ATH,1960,1957 Jesus College

Graham Bond,AUS,GYM,1956-64,1961 Balliol College

Munroe Bourne,CAN,SWI,1928-36,1932 University College

Bill Bradley,USA,BAS,1964,1965 Worcester College

John Carleton,USA,CCS/NCO,1924,1922 Magdalen College

Angie Darby,AUS,MOP,2008,2012 Christ Church College

Eddie Eagan,USA,BOB/BOX,1920-32,1922 New College

Alan Hobkirk,CAN,HOK,1976,1974 Jesus College

Simon Hollingsworth,AUS,ATH,1992-96,1997 Exeter College

Don Johnson,CAN,ATH,1924,1923 Balliol College

Rosara Joseph,NZL,CYC,2008,2006 St. John’s College

Wilfred Kalaugher,NZL,ATH,1928,1927 Balliol College

Wilfred Kent-Hughes,AUS,ATH,1920,1915 Christ Church College

Desmond Koh,SIN,SWI,1988-96,1995 Oriel College

Charles Littlejohn,GBR,ROW,1912,1909 New College

Jack Lovelock,NZL,ATH,1932-36,1931 Exeter College

Selwyn Maister,NZL,HOK,1968-76,1969 Magdalen College

Murray McLachlan,RSA,SWI,1960,1961 Wadham College

Tom McMillen,USA,BAS,1972,1974 University College

Tucker Murphy,BER,CCS,2010-14,2005 Merton College

John Misha Petkevich,USA,FSK,1968-72,1973 Magdalen College

Edward Pitblado,GBR,ICH,1924,1920 Queen’s College

Arthur Porritt,NZL,ATH,1924,1923 Magdalen College

Eric Prabhakar,IND,ATH,1948,1948 Christ Church College

Mari Rabie,RSA,TRI,2008,2010 St. Catherine’s College

Bevil Rudd,RSA,ATH,1920,1913 Trinity College

Annette Salmeen,USA,SWI,1996,1997 St. John’s College

Malav Shroff,IND,SAI,2004,1998 St. Peter’s College

Bill Stevenson,USA,ATH,1924,1922 Balliol College

Harvey Sutton,ANZ,ATH,1908,1905 New College

Norm Taber,USA,ATH,1912,1913 St. John’s College

PJ Thum,SIN,SWI,1996,2002 Hertford College

Alan Valentine,USA,RUG,1924,1922 Balliol College

Hugh Ward,ANZ,ROW,1912,1911 New College

[/table]

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.

Taken from http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ew/ray-ewry-1.html

Born 14 October 1873 in Lafayette, Indiana (USA)
Died 29 September 1937 in Long Island, New York (USA)

Olympic record
Track and Field Athletics
1900 Paris
Standing High Jump – Gold
Standing Long Jump – Gold
Standing Triple Jump – Gold
1904 St.Louis
Standing High Jump – Gold
Standing Long Jump – Gold
Standing Triple Jump – Gold
1908 London
Standing High Jump – Gold
Standing Long Jump – Gold
(1906 Athens)
Standing High Jump – Gold
Standing Long Jump – Gold

Ray Ewry was paralyzed by polio as a child, but by dint of diligent exercising he developed immense strength in his legs and became the greatest exponent of the standing jumps that the sport has ever seen. He attended Purdue from 1890 to 1897, where he captained the track team and also played football. After gaining a graduate degree in mechanical engineering he competed briefly for the Chicago AA before moving to New York, where he worked for the city as a hydraulics engineer and joined the New York AC. He won the first of his 15 AAU titles in 1898 at the age of 25 and the last in 1910. He was undoubtedly deprived of many more titles when the standing jumps were dropped from the AAU program from 1899 to 1905. He attempted a comeback in 1912 but, not surprisingly some of the spring had gone from his legs as he approached his 40th birthday and he failed to make the Olympic team. Ewry’s 10 gold medals was an absolute Olympic record that stood until 2008.

Personal Bests: sHJ – 1.675 (1900); sLJ – 11-4¾ (3.47) (1904); sTJ – 35-7¼ (10.86) (1901).

Taken from http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/wes-santee-1.html

Born 25 March 1932 in Ashland, Kansas (USA)
Died 14 November 2010 in Eureka, Kansas (USA)

Olympic record
Track and Field Athletics
1952 Helsinki
5000m – 13th in heat – DNQ for final

Wes Santee was the top American miler in the 1950s and was considered a threat to be the first man to run a mile under four minutes. He ran for the University of Kansas, where he won NCAA titles in the mile (1953), 5,000 metres (1952), and cross-country (1953). Santee was AAU Champion in the 1,500/mile in 1952-53 and 1955, and placed second in the 3-mile in 1951. Shortly after Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute barrier, Santee ran a mile in 4:00.6 in Compton, California, but his intermediate time for 1,500 metres set a world record of 3:42.8. The next night he ran 4:00.7 in Stockton, California, which at the time gave him three of the four fastest miles ever run, surpassed only by Bannister’s barrier-breaker. Santee also set two indoor world records for the mile (1954/55). In 1955 he won a silver medal in the 1,500 at the Pan-American Games.

Santee would never run a four-minute mile, running his career best of 4:00.5 in 1955. Then early in 1956, he was banned from amateur competition by the AAU for taking excessive expense money, despite a US senator taking up his cause. Santee served in the US Marine Corps for two years during his career, joining in July 1953. He then spent 30 years in the Marine Corps Reserves, later serving as president of the Marine Corps Reserve Officers Association. He made his career in the insurance business in his native Kansas. Santee also served several terms on the President’s Council for Physical Fitness.

Personal Bests: 800 – 1:48.3 (1953); 1500 – 3:42.8 (1954); Mile – 4:00.5 (1955); 2 miles – 8:58.0 (1954); 5000 – 14:32.0 (1952).

Taken from http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ir/bill-irwin-1.html

Born 24 March 1920 in Winnipeg, Manitoba (CAN)
Died 9 February 2013 in Vernon, British Columbia (CAN)

Olympic record
Sankt Moritz 1948
Alpine Skiing – downhill 60th, slalom 50th, combined 36th
Ski jumping – individual 39th
Cross Country Skiing – 18km 81st
Nordic Combined – individual 37th

Alongside his brother Bert, Bill Irwin rose to prominence in the Canadian amateur skiing scene during the late 1930s and early 1940s, capturing first place in the Western Canadian Championships in 1937, 1939, 1941, and 1942, and the Vancouver Ski Classic in 1940, 1941, and 1942. After serving in the Canadian Army from 1943 through 1945, he quickly returned to form and qualified for 1948 Winter Olympics in six events: the downhill, the slalom, and the combined in alpine skiing, the 18 kilometers in cross-country skiing, the individual in Nordic combined, and the normal hill, individual in ski jumping. This meant that he missed only one individual event at the Games, the 50 kilometer cross-country ski. Despite his versatility, however, his best finish was 36th in the alpine combined competition. Coming up short at the Olympics, however, does not diminish his accomplishments, as he won over 200 trophies across all of the skiing disciplines, nationally and internationally, until his retirement from active competition in 1955.

Irwin began skiing at the age of nine, influenced by his father Bert “Pop” Irwin, who was manager of the Amber Ski Club and builder of Canada’s first cable-handle rope tow in 1934. Bill’s career was a winning one from start to finish: he won his first “Potato Race” in 1930 and his last “Over the Hill Downhill” in 1983. Outside of competition he taught Scottish Commandos how to ski and founded the Loch Lomond Ski Area and Club near Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was awarded the Ontario Tourism Award in 1975 for his promotion of skiing, and was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 2000. His son Dave became an Olympic skier himself (1976 and 1980) and was a member of the Crazy Canucks, a group of Canadians who, during the 1970s and 1980s, gained a reputations as fast and reckless skiers.

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.