Events started today at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, 1 day before the Opening Ceremony. This is the first time this has happened at the Winter Olympics since 1984, but the 6^th time it has happened overall. The years in which competition started before the Opening Ceremony are as follows:

[table]

Year,Venue,Opening,Events Start

1964,Innsbruck,29 January, 27 January

1968,Grenoble,6 February,4 February

1976,Innsbruck,4 February,3 February

1980,Lake Placid,13 February,12 February

1984,Sarajevo,8 February,7 February

[/table]

Note that in 1964 and 1968, events actually started 2 days before the Opening Ceremony.

This is the first time since 1972 that Winter Olympic events started on a Thursday – it also happened in 1932, 1936, 1952, 1956, and 1960.

Women’s moguls qualifying round takes place today. The USA leads the medal list in this event with 5 medals, tied with Norway, and the USA and Norway also have 2 gold medals, topping that list.

The USA gold medalists were Donna Weinbrecht in 1992 and Hannah Kearney in 2010. Kearney is back in 2014 and is a clear favorite in the event, having won the 2013 World Championships and led the World Cup standings in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Kearney was also Overall World Cup freestyle champion in 2011 and 2012.

Other USA medals were Shannon Bahrke with 2 – a silver in 2002 and a bronze in 2010 – and Liz McIntyre, who won a silver in 1994.

So what’s gonna happen, or may happen, for the next 2 weeks in Sochi? Can’t predict everything but a number of things will definitely happen, and a number of them are likely. Here goes.

• Big news could occur in Sochi as one of several Olympians could become the greatest Winter Olympian ever, in terms of medals won. The current record is 12 Winter Olympic medals, by Norwegian cross-country skiing legend Bjørn Dæhlie.  Three Olympians are threatening this record, with a nice post on the subject done by Nick Zaccardi of NBC OlympicTalk – take a look at http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/29/winter-olympics-most-decorated-medals-bjorn-daehlie-ole-einar-bjoerndalen-marit-bjoergen/.
• The most likely candidate to break the record is Dæhlie’s countryman, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, a biathlete who comes to Sochi with 11 Olympic medals, who needs 2 more medals to break the record. A medal in the men’s biathlon relay is almost assured, but the record depends on him winning an individual medal, a good possibility, or being selected for the mixed relay. Norwegian cross-country skiier Marit Bjørgen comes to Sochi with 7 Winter Olympic medals. That might seem too far away, but she is entered in all 6 women’s cross-country events, and is, by far, the greatest women’s Nordic skiier in the world. The sprint events (individual and team) might trip her up, as shorter events always can, but she could win medals in all 6 events to get to 13. German speed skater Claudia Pechstein comes to Sochi with 9 medals, but her chances were hampered when Germany did not qualify a team for the team pursuit. She will probably medal in the 3,000 and 5,000, but getting to 12 would depend on her entering and medalling in the 1,500 metres, which is not likely. She is mostly a distance skater, and seems a very long shot to get to 12, with 13 seemingly out of the question.
• Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai and Russian Albert Demchenko in luge will become the first Olympians to compete in 7 Winter Olympics. Both have competed at every Olympics since 1992, and both have won 1 silver medal – Kasai in 1994 team competition, and Demchenko in 2006 singles.
• Todd Lodwick in Nordic combined will become the first American to compete in 6 Winter Olympics. Lodwick has also won 1 silver medal, in the 2010 team event. Lodwick has also been selected to carry the USA Flag at the Opening Ceremony. Only three previous Olympians have carried a flag at an Opening Ceremony, as they prepared to compete in their 6th Olympics – Finnish cross-country skiier Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen in 1994, German cross-country skiier Jochen Behle in 1998, and British biathlete/cross-country skiier Mike Dixon in 2002.
• Petr Nedvěd will compete in his 2^nd Winter Olympics, skating for the Czech Republic in ice hockey, 20 years after he participated at Lillehammer for Canada. The 20-year gap will be the longest ever gap between any 2 appearances at the Winter Olympics. However, it is not close to the Summer Olympic record of 44 years, set by Japanese equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu who competed at the 1964 Olympics, and then not again until 2008 in Beijing. He also appeared at London in 2012.
• Japan’s Maki Tabata will compete in speed skating, 20 years after her first Winter Olympic appearance in 1994. Tabata missed the 1998 Nagano Olympics, but this will be her 5^th Winter Olympics. The 20-year span of Winter Olympic appearances would be a new Winter Olympic record for women, with 7 women currently tied with 18 years, except for German speed skater Claudia Pechstein, who will surpass Tabata by competing over 22 years – from 1992-2014. Pechstein competed in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006, but missed the 2010 Winter Olympics over a controversial drug ban.
• The men’s record is 26 years for span of Winter Olympic appearances, set by Costa Rican Arturo Kinch (1980-2006) and Mexico’s Hubertus von Hohenlohe (1984-2010). Kinch competed in both Alpine and cross-country skiing. Von Hohenlohe competes in Alpine skiing and will appear in Sochi to set a new record with 30 years span of Winter Olympic appearances.
• When von Hohenlohe competes in Alpine skiing (he’ll probably be entered in slalom and giant slalom), he will break his own record as the oldest Winter Olympic alpine skiing competitor. He was 51 years, 25 days old (51-025) in 2010 at Vancouver. He will be 55-017 on the scheduled day of giant slalom in Sochi. The next oldest Olympic Alpine skiier was Costa Rican Julián Muñoz at Albertville in 1992, aged 45-226, almost 10 years younger than von Hohenlohe will be in Sochi. This will also make von Hohenlohe the second oldest Winter Olympian ever, after Sweden’s Carl August Kronlund in 1924 curling, who was 58-156.
• Laís Souza, a Brazilian freestyle skiier, will sadly not compete at Sochi. Souza competed at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics in gymnastics, and was expected to become the first Summer Olympic gymnast to ever compete at the Winter Olympics. Tragically, Souza was severely injured in a training accident in Utah a few weeks ago. She dislocated a vertebrae in her neck and is currently paralyzed from the neck down, is respirator dependent, and very likely will be permanently so. A short silent prayer is in order for Ms. Souza.
• Women’s ski jumping will be a new sport / discipline for women, the only such new sport / discipline for any gender in Sochi. This comes 4 years after the acrimonious attempt by women to get the sport placed on the Olympic Program in Vancouver, when the IOC balked at the idea and one IOC Member, Gian-Franco Kasper, said that women were not suited for ski jumping, and that it might harm them physically. As a physician, I know of no medical evidence to support Kasper’s assertion. I think the women in Sochi are OK, but I know ski jumping would likely harm me physically.
• There will be 12 new events in Sochi – biathlon mixed relay (1), freestyle skiing halfpipe and slopestyle for men and women (4), figure skating mixed team trophy (1), luge mixed relay (1), women’s ski jumping normal hill (1), and snowboarding slopestyle and parallel special slalom for men and women (4). This will make 98 events in Sochi, after 86 in Vancouver. The Winter Olympic Program since 1992 has inflated greatly, with the following number of events: 1992 Albertville – 57; 1994 Lillehammer – 61; 1998 Nagano – 68; 2002 Salt Lake City – 78; 2006 Torino – 84; 2010 Vancouver – 86.
• There will be 88 nations competing in Sochi, the most ever at an Olympic Winter Games. The IOC is calling the number 87, not counting India, whose NOC has been suspended, but their athletes will compete under the Olympic Flag, as Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA). National participation since 1992 has been as follows: 1992 Albertville – 64; 1994 Lillehammer – 67; 1998 Nagano – 72; 2002 Salt Lake City – 77; 2006 Torino – 79; 2010 Vancouver – 82.
• There will be 7 nations competing in Sochi for the first time at the Winter Olympics: Dominica, Malta, Paraguay, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, and Zimbabwe
• Thailand has competed at the Winter Olympics previously, in 2002 and 2006, but they will be represented in Sochi by a female Winter Olympian for the first time. That woman will compete as Vanessa Vanakorn, but she is far better known under her professional name of Vanessa-Mae, which she uses in her career as a concert violinist (her full name is Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson). Albania and Montenegro will also have women competitors for the first time at a Winter Olympics.
• Of the athletes entered in the 2014 Winter Olympics, 42% of them have competed at a previous Olympics. This is the highest ever at any recent Olympics, Winter or Summer, and is far higher than the historical average of 34.1% of Winter Olympians competing at more than one Games, which is also much greater than the Summer figure of 23.6% of athletes competing at 2 or more Games. The 42% figure reflects the longer careers of Winter Olympic athletes, now that they are able to better support themselves financially from their sport.
• As has become common since 1980, a number of former track & field athletics Olympians will compete in bobsledding at Sochi. There are 6 such known ATH/BOB doublers scheduled to compete: Lolo Jones (USA-2008/2012), Lauryn Williams (USA-2004/2008/2012), Craig Pickering (GBR-2008), Jana Pittman (AUS-2000/2004), Hanna Mariën (BEL-2008), and Olga Fyodorova-Stulneva (RUS-2004). Fyodorova-Stulneva also competed in bobsledding in 2010, using her maiden name of Fyodorova in both 2004 and 2010.  In addition Martin Tešovič will compete for Slovakia in the bob as he did in 2010. Tešovič participated at the Summer Olympics in weightlifting in 1996, 2004, and 2012.
• Lauryn Williams won a gold medal in the 4×100 relay at London in 2012 (and a silver in the 100 metres in 2004), and with a gold medal in Sochi, could become only the second Olympian to win gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, after American Eddie Eagan – 1920 boxing and 1932 bobsledding. Hanna Mariën also won a Summer Olympic medal, in the 4×100 relay at Beijng in 2008. If either Williams or Mariën medal in Sochi, they will join 4 previous Olympians to have medalled at both the Summer and Winter Olympics – Eagan, Norwegian Jacob Tullin Thams (1924 SKJ, 1936 SAI), Canadian Clara Hughes (1996 CYC, 2002/2006/2010 SSK), and German Christa Rothenburger-Luding (1988 CYC, 1984/1988/1992 SSK).
• These could be called the sibling Olympics, as there are lots of them competing in Sochi. The USA team alone has 7 sets of siblings on the squad, and there are 9 brother pairs in men’s ice hockey. But these are bested by the Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters (Chloe, Maxime, and Justine) in freestyle skiing, the Swiss Gasparin sisters in biathlon (Aita, Elisa and Selina), and the New Zealand Wells brothers (Beau-James, Byron, and Jossi) in freestyle skiing. We had a longer post on this on 20 January, https://olympstats.com/2014/01/20/multiple-siblings-at-the-winter-olympics/, detailing the 19 previous times that families have had 3 or more siblings competing at the Winter Olympics.
• Siblings Lyndon and Amy Sheehan will both compete in freestyle skiing halfpipe, but for different nations. Amy competes for Australia, where they were both born, while Lyndon represents New Zealand. Has this ever happened before, with siblings competing at the same Olympics, in the same sport, but for different nations? Oh, yes, the first time occurred at the 1960 Winter Olympics in ice hockey when brothers Steve Tikal, who skated for Australia, faced off against František Tikal, who played for Czechoslovakia. It has also happened a number of other times – see our full post on this topic from a few days ago –  https://olympstats.com/2014/02/01/siblings-same-olympics-same-sport-different-nations/
• Italian Armin Zöggeler has 5 medals in men’s singles luge, with 2 golds, 1 silver, and 2 bronzes. He is one of only 3 Olympians, Winter or Summer, to win 5 medals in the same individual event, joined by Japanese judoka Ryoko Tamura-Tani, with 5 medals in women’s extra-lightweight judo and German speed skater Claudia Pechstein, in women’s 5,000 metres. If Pechstein or Zöggeler win a medal in those events, they will become the first Olympians to win 6 medals in the same individual event. Only 2 Olympians have won 6 medals in the same event – Hungarian Aladár Gerevich in men’s team sabre fencing, and German Hans Günter Winkler in equestrian team show jumping – both at the Summer Olympics, and both in team events.
• If Zöggeler wins a silver medal in men’s singles luge, he will become the first Olympian to record a double medal sweep – 2 gold, 2 silvers, 2 bronzes – in any event, individual or team, Summer or Winter.
• Austrian Marlies Schild and Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen could complete individual medal sweeps – gold/silver/bronze in the same individual event. Schild needs a gold medal in women’s slalom to complete her sweep, while Bjørndalen needs a bronze medal in men’s 20 km biathlon to complete his individual medal sweep.
• German speed skater Claudia Pechstein will be attempting to win the women’s 5,000 metres for the 4^th time. She won the event in 1994, 1998, and 2002, but won silver in 2006, and could not compete in 2010 because of a contested drug ban. If she succeeds, she will become only the third Olympian, and the first Winter Olympian, to win the same individual event at 4 Olympics. This has been done previously only by Al Oerter (USA) in athletics discus throw (1956-68) and Carl Lewis (USA) in athletics long jump (1984-96), unless you count Ray Ewry (USA), in standing high jump and standing long jump, but that includes the 1906 Olympics, not recognized by the IOC. Depending on whether you’re a lumper or a splitter, you could also include Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm, who won the sailing monotype class in 1948-60, but the class changed slightly during those years. However you look at it, if Pechstein wins her 4^th gold in the 5K, she will become the first Olympian to have done that in an individual event, but not consecutively.
• Americans Shaun White, in snowboarding halfpipe, and Shani Davis, in 1,000 metre speedskating, will be going for their 3^rd consecutive gold medals in those events, both having won in 2006 and 2010. At the Winter Olympics, this has only been done 3 times, and all by women – Claudia Pechstein (as above), Norwegian Sonja Henie in women’s singles figure skating (1928-36), and American Bonnie Blair in women’s 500 metre speed skating (1988-94).
• Yevgeny Plyushchenko could become the 2^nd figure skater to win medals in 4 Olympics. Its not technically at 4 Winter Olympics, because the first time it was done was by Sweden’s Gillis Grafström, who won gold medals in men’s singles in 1920, 1924, and 1928, and a silver medal in 1932. The 1920 figure skating gold medal was actually at the Summer Olympics.

So let the Games begin. It’ll be a yabba-dabba-doo time, we’ll have a gay old time.

Well, since Hilary began our new policy of starting with Bob Dylan lyrics, we’ll see which Winter Olympics athletes soon “will build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung, and may [they] stay forever young.”

Who are the youngest and oldest athletes that will compete in Sochi and how do they rank historically with the oldest/youngest all-time at the Winter Olympics?

Well, the youngest female will be German ski jumper Gianina Ernst, born on 31 December 1998, who will be 15-041 (years-days) when she competes on 10 February. The second youngest will be American freestyle skiier Maggie Voisin, born 14 December 1998, who competes the next day in slopestyle, and will be 15-059.

The youngest “man” is Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano, born 28 October 1998, who will also start competition on 11 February, in halfpipe, when he will be 15-106. The next youngest male is Austrian freestyler Marco Ladner, born 22 April 1998, who also is entered in halfpipe, and will be 15-295 when he makes his Olympic début.

But none of those approach the Olympic Winter records for youngest competitors. The youngest female Winter Olympian was British figure skater Cecilia Colledge, only 11-072, when she competed in singles at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics, while the youngest male to compete at the Winter Olympics was East German figure skater Jan Hoffmann, who was 12-111 at the 1968 Grenoble Games.

So we have yet to see an Olympian born in the 21^st century – that landmark will surely occur in Rio de Janeiro two years hence. The first born modern Olympian that we are certain of, incidentally, was 1900 French equestrian Louis, Count de Douet-Graville, born on 27 February 1831, over 157 years before Gianini Ernst and Maggie Voisin.

The oldest competitor in Sochi will be the Mexican Alpine skiing Prince, Hubertus von Hohenlohe, or more properly, Hubertus Rudolph, Prince von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Billed in some recent media pieces as “The Most Interesting Olympian in the World,” the Prince-Alpine skiier-rock singer-professional photographer was born 2 February 1959, and will have just turned 55-years-old in Sochi. He will become the 2^nd oldest Winter Olympian of all-time, surpassed only by a Swedish curler at the 1^st Winter Olympics, Carl-August Kronlund, who was 58-156 when he competed at Chamonix.

Prince von Hohenlohe will become the oldest ever Winter Olympic Alpine skiier, although he actually already holds that distinction, as he was 51-025 when he competed at Vancouver in 2010.

The next oldest man in Sochi will be German curler, John Jahr, born 10 April 1965, who will be almost 49 years old when he starts competition.

The oldest female in Sochi will be Angelica Morrone di Silvestri, an Italian-American, who will cross-country ski for Dominica along with her husband, Gary di Silvestri, an American investment specialist. Morrone di Silvestri was born on 25 November 1965, and will be 48-081 when she skis in the 10 km classical in Sochi on 13 February. This will make her the oldest woman to ever compete in Olympic cross-country skiing, by far, surpassing Norwegian Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, who was 41-100 back in 2006 at Torino. The di Silvestris ski for Dominica because they used to vacation there, and well, it seemed like as a good a country as any to represent at the Winter Olympics. The daily mean temperature in Dominica, incidentally, varies year-round between 21.8 and 24.6 degrees Celsius (71.2 to 76.3 Fahrenheit).

Gary di Silvestri turned 47 on 3 February, and will be the 3^rd oldest male Winter Olympian in 2014, and also will become the 3^rd oldest man to compete in Winter Olympic cross-country skiing, trailing Costa Rican Arturo Kinch, who was 49-309 in 2006, and Thailand’s Prawat Nagvajara, who was 47-078 when he compete in Torino.

Third-oldest Olympian of some sort seems to run in the di Silvestri family. Angelica will become the 3^rd oldest female Winter Olympian of all-time, trailing US Virgin Island’s lugeist Anne Abernathy, who was 48-306 at Salt Lake City. The second oldest female Winter Olympian was American curler Joni Cotton, 48-266, also in 2002.

“May God bless and keep [them] always, may [their] wishes all come true … ”

“For the loser now, Will be later to win”. I guess when Bob Dylan wrote those words 50 years ago he never for a minute thought they’d be applied to the thorny question of which country is the best at finishing last at the Winter Olympics. The answer is not particularly gratifying if you happen to come from Great Britain. The British might have had an empire on which the sun never set but the conquest of India and large parts of Africa is not ideal preparation for various forms of sliding down a mountain or skating across frozen ponds.

So how did we calculate the table below? Very simply the last place finisher in every Winter Olympic event from 1924 to 2010 is awarded a gold medal, second to last won silver and, of course, third last gets bronze. For ease of calculation we have ignored anybody not included in the final classification so if really wanted to avoid “winning a medal” all you had to do was fall, give up or get disqualified.
The results show Great Britain with quite a lead on this “reverse medal table” which I suppose is legacy of being ever present at the Winter Games without ever being a major player at the Games. Indeed it was a Briton, Cyril Horn, who in this upside down view of Olympic history became the 1st Olympic champion by finishing last in the 500m speed skating at the Chamonix games of 1924.

The rest of top ten can be divided into countries like Japan and South Korea who like Great Britain have usually elected to fill their quota of competitors without ever really expecting to dominate the competition and countries like the USA and Canada who seem to be here by sheer force of numbers.

Argentina in 6th place with 31 “golds” is comfortably the top nation in this table to have never won a medal by the usual method of accounting with Greece next best in 15th. The most successful nation in the history of the Winter Games, Norway, also proves successful in not losing. Norway’s 15 reverse golds puts them outside the top twenty in our list and subtracted from their genuine gold medal total of 107 puts them at +92 and well clear of the USSR at +74 and Germany at +71. Unfortunately for Britain this method of calculation still keeps them at the wrong end of the list with -44 ahead of Japan on -35 with Argentina moving into third on -31.

It has to be said that coming last in an event doesn’t mean that you’re in the same class at ski jumper Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards and the Mexican cross-country skier who took so long to finish at the Calgary Games that a search party was sent out to look for him. Sometimes it’s just that Lady Luck looks you in the eye and then proceeds to knee you in the groin. That’s what happened to American speed skater Buddy Solem in the 10000 m at the St. Moritz Games of 1948. Halfway through the event a warm wind blew in from the south and started to melt the ice. By the time Solem finished his heat you could see waves forming on the ice each time he passed by. He finished 5 minutes behind the next slowest and nearly ten minutes behind the winner.

My advice to Britain? See what you can do to make additions to the Olympic programme. Maybe the introduction of darts on ice, snow snooker or sub-zero cricket may help drop Britain down the table. On second thoughts, let’s forget sub-zero cricket – the Australians might just prove too good at that.
[table colalign=”center|center|center|center|center|center|”]
Rank,Nation,G,S,B,Total
1, GBR, 53, 67, 43, 163
2, JPN, 44, 43, 36, 123
3, USA, 43, 60, 68, 171
4, CAN, 42, 41, 45, 128
5, KOR, 38, 32, 30, 100
6, ARG, 31, 25, 26, 82
7, CHN, 29, 39, 20, 88
8, FRA, 25, 30, 30, 85
9, AUS, 24, 15, 21, 60
10, YUG, 24, 15, 17, 56
11, ITA, 23, 33, 22, 78
12, HUN, 22, 24, 23, 69
13, BEL, 21, 6, 8, 35
14, AUT, 18, 16, 26, 60
15, GRE, 18, 15, 8, 41
16, ROU, 17, 21, 25, 63
17, GER, 17, 16, 18, 51
18, BUL, 16, 13, 7, 36
19, LAT, 16, 9, 15, 40
20, POL, 15, 24, 25, 64
21, NOR, 15, 14, 15, 44
22, UKR, 13, 17, 8, 38
23, SWE, 13, 12, 16, 41
24, RUS, 13, 11, 18, 42
25, TPE, 13, 6, 11, 30
26, SUI, 11, 17, 22, 50
27, EST, 10, 6, 5, 21
28, KAZ, 9, 12, 10, 31
29, CHI, 9, 7, 5, 21
30, MGL, 8, 11, 10, 29
31, NZL, 8, 7, 5, 20
32, LIB, 8, 6, 4, 18
33, NED, 8, 5, 14, 27
34, PRK, 8, 5, 7, 20
35, ARM, 8, 5, 2, 15
36, BLR, 8, 3, 16, 27
37, BRA, 7, 0, 5, 12
38, CZE, 6, 12, 11, 29
39, MEX, 6, 8, 7, 21
40, DEN, 6, 8, 1, 15
41, MDA, 6, 3, 4, 13
42, CYP, 6, 2, 4, 12
43, PUR, 6, 2, 4, 12
44, TCH, 5, 17, 10, 32
45, TUR, 5, 12, 6, 23
46, ESP, 5, 9, 12, 26
47, ISV, 5, 5, 3, 13
48, SVK, 5, 4, 9, 18
49, ISL, 5, 3, 6, 14
50, FIN, 4, 6, 9, 19
51, CRC, 4, 5, 3, 12
52, URS, 4, 4, 7, 15
53, LIE, 4, 3, 4, 11
54, BIH, 4, 3, 1, 8
55, IRI, 4, 2, 2, 8
56, SMR, 3, 6, 1, 10
57, FRG, 3, 5, 8, 16
58, MAR, 3, 4, 5, 12
59, HKG, 3, 2, 0, 5
60, UZB, 3, 1, 2, 6
61, IND, 3, 1, 1, 5
62, GUA, 3, 1, 0, 4
63, GDR, 3, 0, 2, 5
64, LTU, 3, 0, 2, 5
65, ALG, 3, 0, 1, 4
66, HON, 3, 0, 0, 3
67, IRL, 2, 5, 3, 10
68, CRO, 2, 4, 7, 13
69, MKD, 2, 3, 0, 5
70, AND, 2, 2, 1, 5
71, BOL, 2, 1, 1, 4
72, POR, 2, 1, 1, 4
73, KGZ, 2, 1, 0, 3
74, LUX, 2, 0, 1, 3
75, ALB, 2, 0, 0, 2
76, RSA, 1, 5, 1, 7
77, SLO, 1, 4, 6, 11
78, EUN, 1, 2, 1, 4
79, NEP, 1, 1, 1, 3
80, SCG, 1, 1, 1, 3
81, TJK, 1, 1, 1, 3
82, EGY, 1, 1, 0, 2
83, SEN, 1, 1, 0, 2
84, SRB, 1, 1, 0, 2
85, FIJ, 1, 0, 2, 3
86, AHO, 1, 0, 0, 1
87, CMR, 1, 0, 0, 1
88, KEN, 1, 0, 0, 1
89, THA, 1, 0, 0, 1
90, TTO, 1, 0, 0, 1
91, GEO, 0, 2, 4, 6
92, IVB, 0, 1, 1, 2
93, MON, 0, 1, 1, 2
94, GHA, 0, 1, 0, 1
95, GUM, 0, 1, 0, 1
96, ISR, 0, 1, 0, 1
97, PER, 0, 1, 0, 1
98, PHI, 0, 1, 0, 1
99, VEN, 0, 1, 0, 1
100, AZE, 0, 0, 1, 1
101, BER, 0, 0, 1, 1
102, ETH, 0, 0, 1, 1
103, MAD, 0, 0, 1, 1
104, PAK, 0, 0, 1, 1
[/table]

Jim Thorpe

Tonight the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks will face each other in Super Bowl XLVIII so it seems as good a time as ever to delve into the link between the National Football League and the Olympic Games. The connection goes back as far as the beginning of the NFL in 1920.
The first Olympian to play in the NFL (or the American Professional Football Association as it was then called) is still almost certainly the greatest all-round sportsman ever to grace the gridiron – the legendary Jim Thorpe. For publicity purposes Thorpe was even installed at the League’s first chairman. The link continues to this day in the shape of Tampa Bay running back Jeff Demps and Marquise Goodwin, wide receiver with the Buffalo Bills.

The only man to reach the peak of both sports is another track and field legend in the shape of “Bullet” Bob Hayes. Eight years after his triumphs at the Tokyo Olympics he was part of the victorious Dallas Cowboys team at Super Bowl VI and later followed Thorpe into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Michael Carter, shot put silver medallist in 1984 is the other Olympian to earn a Super Bowl ring – he did it just 6 months after his Olympic appearance.

Unsurprisingly the vast majority of the Olympic/NFL have been both American and have come from a track and field background but there have been a number of exceptions. Wrestling is the only other sport where multiple Olympians, including 2 gold medallists, have graduated into the NFL but the last to date left the NFL after the 1969 season.
A unique case is that of NY Giants back-up quarterback Randy Dean. He made fleeting appearances in the late 70s after having been a valuable member of the US handball team at the 1976 Games.
The only non-American to reach this list is Australian high jumper Colin Ridgway. He arrived on a college scholarship to Lamar University in Texas and was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a punter. His stint in the NFL lasted just 3 games before he was released.

Another unusual case is that of Herschel Walker, the only NFL player to have competed in the Winter Olympics. Already an established star in the NFL, Walker was a late addition to the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation’s bobsled programme for the 1992 Winter Olympics. Joining the squad only after the Minnesota Vikings had ended their season his appearance on the US roster was unpopular with many of his US teammates. Pushing for Brian Shimer he finished 7th.

Finally we should remember one man who never made it to this list. Stone Johnson was a finalist in the 200 m at the Rome Olympics and a member of the US relay team that was disqualified after crossing the line first in the final. In 1963 he was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Oakland Raiders when he sustained a broken neck. He succumbed to his injuries 10 days later. Although he never played a down in a regular-season NFL game, his number 33 was retired by the Chiefs.

Olympic gold and Super Bowl winner
“Bullet” Bob Hayes USA
1964 100m/4×100 Gold
Dallas Cowboys (1965-74) – Super Bowl winner 1972, San Francisco 49ers (1975)

Olympic medal and Super Bowl winner
Mike Carter USA
1984 Shot Put Silver
San Francisco (1984-92)

Olympic gold medal and NFL experience
Jim Bausch – Chicago Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds (1933)
Ron Brown – Los Angeles Rams (1984-90, 1991), Los Angeles Raiders (1990)
Milt Campbell – Cleveland Browns (1957)
Henry Carr – New York Giants (1965-67)

Glenn Davis – Detroit Lions (1960-61)
Sam Graddy – Denver Broncos (1987-88), Los Angeles Raiders (1990-92)
Jim Hines – Miami Dolphins (1969), Kansas City Chiefs (1970)
James Jett – Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (1993-2000)
Johnny Jones – New York Jets (1980-84)
Glenn Morris – Detroit Lions (1940)
Tommie Smith – Cincinnati Bengals (1969)
Jim Thorpe – Canton Bulldogs (1920 & 1926), Cleveland Indians (1921), Oorang Indians (1922-23), Rock Island Independents (1924-25), New York Giants (1925), Chicago Cardinals (1928)
Gerald Tinker – Atlanta Falcons (1974-75), Green Bay Packers (1975)
Peter Mehringer – Chicago Cardinals (1934-36)
John Spellman – Providence Steam Rollers (1925-31), Boston Braves (1932)

For a full list of all Olympians who have played in NFL (or AFL) please visit this page

The United States has entered a team of 230 athletes for the Sochi Winter Olympics. It has been fairly well documented that this is the largest team ever for one nation at the Winter Olympics. Not as much has been written about Canada’s team for Sochi, which has 221 athletes, the second largest team ever when it was announced a few days ago.

Now, this is somewhat artificial because of the way the Winter Olympics have increased in size over the years. In 1924 at Chamonix, there were only 16 events and the first time there were more than 50 events at the Winter Olympics was at Albertville in 1992, with 57. There were 86 events at Vancouver in 2010 but Sochi will have 98 events, the largest percentage increase since 2002, when there were 78 events after 68 in Nagano in 1998 (14.7% increase) and 1964, when the Winter Olympics went from 27 events at Squaw Valley to 34 at Innsbruck (25.9% increase).

But still, it is rare to field an Olympic team with 200 or more athletes. To date, only the United States and Canada have ever fielded a Winter Olympic team with 200+ athletes. Russia’s team has just been announced and appears to be about 223 athletes, making it second only to the USA 2014 team in size, although it is not yet fully available on the Sochi 2014 website. The times that a nation has had a Winter Olympic team with 200+ competitors, or will have, are in the list below:

United States                            2014                        230

Russia                                            2014                        223

Canada                                          2014                        221

United States                            2010                        212

Canada                                          2010                        201

United States                            2006                        204

United States                            2002                        202

And on the other extreme, the following nations have had only 1 Winter Olympic competitor – ever.

Albania

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Colombia

Egypt

Ethiopia

Ghana

Guam

Honduras

Kenya

Madagascar

Montenegro

Pakistan

Swaziland

Tajikistan

Thailand

Uruguay

Of those, Albania, the British Virgin Islands, Montenegro, Pakistan, and Thailand will have competitors in Sochi and will drop off the above list.

And here are the nations that have competed at the Winter Olympics, but have not yet had a woman compete:

Albania

American Samoa

Bermuda

Bolivia

British Virgin Islands

Cameroon

Cayman Islands

Costa Rica

Egypt

Ethiopia

Fiji

Ghana

Guam

Jamaica

Kenya

Madagascar

Montenegro

Nepal

Netherlands Antilles

Pakistan

Philippines, The

San Marino

Senegal

Swaziland

Tajikistan

Thailand

Trinidad & Tobago

Uruguay

Thailand will have a female Alpine skiier in Sochi, the concert violinist Vanessa-Mae, who will compete as Vanessa Vanakorn. Albania and Montenegro have also entered women for the first time at the Winter Olympics.

Lyndon Sheehan and his sister, Amy Sheehan, will both compete at Sochi in freestyle halfpipe, but not for the same nation. Lyndon will represent New Zealand, while Amy skis for Australia. Apparently Olympic News Service (ONS) just announced that this is not rare, and  happened twice before at the 2010 Winter Olympics, with brothers Jan (NOR) and Tommy Schmid (SUI) in the nordic combined, and siblings Anastasia Kuzmina (SVK) and her brother, Anton Shipulin (RUS), in the biathlon. ONS missed another one from Vancouver, as the Reed Siblings, Allison (GEO), Cathy (JPN) and Chris (JPN) all participated in figure skating.

But it actually first happened back in 1960 at Squaw Valley. There František Tikal played ice hockey for Czechoslovakia, while his brother, Steve Tikal, played for Australia, and they played against each other.

Here are the siblings who have competed at the same Winter Olympics, in the same sport, but for different nations:

1960: František (TCH) / Steve (AUS) Tikal in ice hockey

1998: Hans (AUT) / Bernard (SLO) Knauß in alpine skiing

2002: Robert (CZE) / Martin (GER) Reichel in ice hockey

2010: Jan (NOR) / Tommy (SUI) Schmid in nordic combined

2010: Allison (GEO) / Cathy and Chris (JPN) Reed in figure skating

2010: Anastasia Kuzmina (SVK) / Anton Shipulin (RUS) in biathlon

But it has also happened a number of times at the Summer Olympics, as follows:

1964/1968: Fred (NED) / Tony (USA) van Dorp in water polo

1984: Carmen Ionescu (CAN) / Florenta Tacu (ROU) in athletics

1992: Katerina, Maggy (BUL) / Manuela Maleeva (SUI) in tennis

1996: Gusman (MDA) / Elmadi (KAZ) Zhabrailov in wrestling

2000: Jenny (ITA) / Jessica (NED) Gal in judo

2008: Ágnes (HUN) / Erszébet (ITA) Valkai in water polo

2008: Hilda (NED) / Sylvia (KEN) Kibet in athletics

2008: Matty (USA) / Shane (NZL) Reed in triathlon

2008: Natasa (HUN) / Stjepan (CRO) Janic in canoeing

2008/2012: Soslan (UZB) / Taymuraz (KAZ) Tigiyev in wrestling

2012: Mimi (BRN) / Almensh (BEL) Belete in athletics

In addition to the Tikals competing directly against each other, this also happened with the Van Dorps in water polo in 1964; the Reichels in ice hockey in 2002, and the Valkais in water polo in 2008. In addition, the Zhabrailovs actually had a wrestling match against each other.

UPDATE (9 July 2016): As the 2016 Olympics are dawning, the brother / sister tandem of Bernard Legat  and Violah Cheptoo Legat will also compete for different nations in Rio. Violah has made the Kenyan team in the women’s 1,500  metres. Bernard made his fifth Olympic team at the US Olympic Trials in the 5,000 metres. He competed for Kenya in 2000 and 2004 and for the United States in 2008 and 2012, and to come, in 2016..