Yesterday we started putting on USA-oriented Factsheets, giving the factsheets for the “Big Medal” sports of speedskating, figure skating, and Alpine skiing. Today we give you 3 more Factsheets – in this case it is for the “Sliding Sports” – bobsledding, luge, and skeleton. More to come in the next few days.
US Winter / Summer Olympians
We think that Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams will be chosen for the Sochi 2014 US Olympic bobsled team tonite. We had a post the other day about Winter / Summer Olympians (see here), in which we noted that this has occurred 128 times in the past – 23 women and 105 men.
So how often has it occurred for United States Olympians? Previously 8 times, as follows:
USA Winter / Summer Olympians
Athlete Gdr Summer Winter
Connie Carpenter-Phinney F CYC-1984 SSK-1972
Connie Paraskevin-Young F CYC-1988/92/96 SSK-1984
Chris Witty F CYC-2000 SSK-1994-06
Eddie Eagan M BOX-1920/24 BOB-1932
Art Longsjo, Jr. M CYC-1956 SSK-1956
Arnold Uhrlass M CYC-1964 SSK-1960
Willie Davenport M ATH-1964/68/72/76 BOB-1980
David Gilman M CAN-1976/84 LUG-1984
Could it be 10 after tonite? Well, not technically – they actually have to compete first for it to count as a Summer / Winter Olympian, so that will be a few weeks away. But Lolo Jones competed in track & field athletics (high hurdles) at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, and Lauryn Williams competed in athletics (100 metres and 4×100 relay) at London in 2012, so its likely they will soon be added to the above list.
USA Sports Factsheets
We’ll now deviate a bit for a few days. To date, all of our posts have been somewhat “general,” giving information about athletes or interesting facts from all nations. The Factsheets by sports that were posted were also general, with data for all nations and all athletes.
For the next few days, I will include USA-oriented Factsheets by sports, for our US Media. After we finish this (hopefully by Wednesday, 22 January), we will return to more general information.
Entries close for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games tomorrow, the 19th January. Thus the next set of information to be sent out will be Factsheets by nations. We will be publishing information for every NOC competing in Sochi, as well as those who have previously competed at the Olympic Winter Games, but will not be attending.
Today, the USA Factsheets will be for the “Big Medal Sports” – Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, and Speed Skating – the sports in which US Winter Olympic teams have won the most medals, by far.
Perfect Ski Jumping Scores
In 1998 at Nagano, Japanese ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki took off on his second jump on the large hill, and did something that had never been done before at the Olympics. Funaki was given a set of five marks of 20.0 for style points. This had only been achieved once before in international competition, by Austrian Toni Innauer in a ski flying meet at Oberstdorf, Germany in March 1976.
Since Funaki’s jump, only three other jumpers have been given a perfect set of 20.0 style points in any international event – Sven Hannawald (GER) and Hideharu Miyahira (JPN) in the same World Cup large hill event at Willingen in February 2003, and Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl in the Four Hills tournament at Bischofen in January 2009.
At the Olympics, two others jumpers have been awarded three scores of 20.0 for a single jump, both achieving a style score of 59.5 – Norwegian Espen Bredesen in 1994 on the normal hill, and Austrian Andreas Kofler on the large hill in 2006.
Funaki actually was given perfect 20s a total of 9 times at the Winter Olympics – his perfect jump in 1998, with 5 20s, his first jump on the normal hill also in 1998, and his first jump on the large hill in 1998, both with 2 20s and style scores of 59.0. Bredesen was the recipient of perfect scores 6 times – with two 20s given to him in the 1994 team event, and a single 20 on his second jump on the large hill in 1994.
Other jumpers who were awarded perfect 20s multiple times include Finland’s Janne Ahonen with 3 20s, Japan’s Noriaki Kasai with 3 20s, and Kofler, who was given a 4th 20 in the 2006 large hill qualifying round. Kasai, incidentally, has competed at 6 Winter Olympics in ski jumping, and is still competing and having his best season, winning a ski flying event in January 2014. He will be in Sochi, barring some unforeseen problem, and will set a record by appearing in his 7th Winter Olympics. This mark will also probably be achieved by Russian luger Albert Demchenko.
The entire list of perfect 20.0 style scores given at the Winter Olympics follows. This has been done 21 times, with 34 perfect 20.0 scores awarded.
5-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98LHJ2) (60.0/20,20,20,20,20)
3-20.0 Espen Bredesen (NOR,94NHJ1) (59.5/19.5,19.5,20,20,20)
3-20.0 Andreas Kofler (AUT,06LHJ1) (59.5/20,19.5,20,20,19.5)
2-20.0 Espen Bredesen (NOR,94TmJ2) (59.0/19.5,19.5,20,19.5,20)
2-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98NHJ1) (59.0/20,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
2-20.0 Noriaki Kasai (JPN,98NHJ2) (59.0/19.5,20,19.5,20,19)
2-20.0 Andreas Widhölzl (AUT,98LHJ1) (59.0/20,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
2-20.0 Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN,98LHJ1) (59.0/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Noriaki Kasai (JPN,94NHJ1) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Esp. Bredesen (NOR,94LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Andi Goldberger (AUT,94TmJ2) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,98NHJ2) (58.5/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
1-20.0 Masahiko Harada (JPN,98NHJ2) (58.5/19,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Andre. Widhölzl (AUT,98LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,20,19.5,19.5,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,98TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,19.5,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Simon Ammann (SUI,02TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19,19.5)
1-20.0 Ths. Morgenstern (AUT,06LHJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19,19.5)
1-20.0 Janne Ahonen (FIN,02NHJ2) (57.5/19.5,19,19,20,19)
1-20.0 Adam Małysz (POL,02NHJ2) (57.5/19,19,19,20,19.5)
1-20.0 Andreas Kofler (AUT,06LHQR) (58.5/19.5,19,19.5,19.5,20)
1-20.0 Roar Ljøkelsøy (NOR,06TmJ2) (58.5/19.5,19.5,20,19.5,19.5)
Note that most of these scores were given in 1994 and 1998 – the judges seem to have tightened up a bit, and no scores of 20.0 were given at Vancouver in 2010.
So does getting perfect style points guarantee you a victory or a medal? Not necessarily but it helps. In the above list Funaki won gold on the large hill in 1998 and Bredesen won the normal hill gold in 1994. But Andreas Kofler in 2006 lost out to his teammate, Thomas Morgenstern, and won “only” a silver medal. Janne Ahonen won two team silver medals, but his perfect scores never garnered him an individual medal. Kasai likewise never won an individual medal, his best finish a 5th on normal hill in 1994, but did get a silver in the 1994 team event.
We’ll have to see if the ski jumping judges in Sochi are tight or generous with their style points.
Speed Skaters in Multiple Events
In 1980 Eric Heiden stunned the Olympic and speedskating world by winning five gold medals in the five speedskating events then on the Olympic Program – 500, 1000, 1500, 5 and 10K. With skaters becoming more and more specialized as sprinters or distance skaters, this will never occur again. In fact, it has been fairly rare for any skater to skate in all the five individual events on the program – man or woman. It has not happened since 1988 for men and 1994 for women. More recently, it is uncommon for the specialist skaters to enter 4 of the 5 individual events. Following are the skaters to have entered the 5 individual events since 1980, or 4 individual events since 1998.
Year Name #IndEvents
Men
1980 Eric Heiden (USA) 5
1980 Pertti Niittylä (FIN) 5
1980 Hilbert van der Duim (NED) 5
1984 Michael Hadschieff (AUT) 5
1984 Lee Yeong-Ha (KOR) 5
1984 Hans van Helden (FRA) 5
1988 Michael Hadschieff (AUT) 5
1988 Hans van Helden (FRA) 5
1998 KC Boutiette (USA) 4
2006 Chad Hedrick (USA) 4
2010 Shani Davis (USA) 4
2010 Håvard Bøkko (NOR) 4
Women
1988 Han Chun-Ok (PRK) 5
1988 Seiko Hashimoto (JPN) 5
1988 Ariane Loignon (CAN) 5
1988 Andrea Ehrig-Schöne-Mitscherlich (GDR) 5
1988 Erwina Ryś-Ferens (POL) 5
1992 Mihaela Dascălu (ROU) 5
1992 Seiko Hashimoto (JPN) 5
1992 Cerasela Hordobeţiu (ROU) 5
1994 Emese Dörfler-Antal (AUT) 5
1994 Cerasela Hordobeţiu (ROU) 5
1998 Emese Nemeth-Hunyady (AUT) 4
1998 Jennifer Rodriguez (USA) 4
2002 Cindy Klassen (CAN) 4
2002 Maki Tabata (JPN) 4
2002 Varvara Barysheva (RUS) 4
2002 Anni Friesinger-Postma (GER) 4
2006 Cindy Klassen (CAN) 4
2006 Kristina Groves (CAN) 4
2006 Katarzyna Wójcicka-Bachleda-Curuś (POL) 4
2006 Maki Tabata (JPN) 4
2010 Kristina Groves (CAN) 4
In the above note that Seiko Hashimoto has done this twice (as have 4 other women and 2 men). Hashimoto is interesting as she has competed in more Olympics than any other Winter Olympian, with 7, even though the record for appearances at the Winter Olympics is 6. Hashimoto competed in speed skating in 1984/88/1992/1994 and in cycling at the Summer Olympics in 1988/1992/1994.
In all these are how many skaters have competed in all available individual events at the Winter Olympics:
Men IndEvents Women IndEvents
1924 11 4 — —
1928 — (no full startlist for 10K available)
1932 8 4 — —
1936 17 4 — —
1948 12 4 — —
1952 7 4 — —
1956 10 4 — —
1960 11 4 13 4
1964 6 4 13 4
1968 8 4 11 4
1972 7 4 5 4
1976 2 5 8 4
1980 3 5 11 4
1984 3 5 8 4
1988 2 5 5 5
1992 0 5 3 5
1994 0 5 2 5
1998 0 5 0 5
2002 0 5 0 5
2006 0 5 0 5
2010 0 5 0 5
So you can see how rare this has become. Nobody will compete in all 5 individual events at Sochi. The speed skaters have become too specialized, with most of them either sprinters, such as Korean female Lee Sang-Hwa, or distance specialists, such as Dutchman Sven Kramer, or in the case of Shani Davis, a mid-distance specialist.
Olympians with a disability – Part Two
Part two in a series on people who have competed at the Olympic Games despite suffering from a physical disability.
1952-56
Lis Hartel (DEN) – Equestrianism
2 silvers
In the 1930s Lis Hartel was coached by her mother Else Holst, but when she reached a national competitive level, Gunnar Andersen, a professional horseman, took over. In the early part of her career she competed in both jumping and dressage, and was Danish champion in dressage in 1943 and 1944. Later in 1944, she was struck by polio. At that time she was pregnant with her second child, and no one thought that she ever would be able to compete on horseback again. But through her determination and strong will she gradually regained function in most of her muscles, although she remained paralyzed below her knees for the rest of her life.
In 1947 she started to compete in dressage again, and she improved her dressage skill together with her excellent horse Jubilee and was selected for the Danish team in the 1952 games. Although she needed help to get on and off her horse, she surprised everybody by winning the silver medal in the dressage competition in Helsinki. Four years later she won another dressage silver medal at the Equestrian Games in Stockholm, also this time together with her favourite horse Jubilee. She won the unofficial world championships in dressage in 1954, and was Danish champion in dressage in 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956 and 1959, the last time with a new horse, Limelight.
Lis Hartel’s equestrian achievements caught interest among ordinary sport interested people in Scandinavia, where equestrian among many was regarded as an upper-class sport. She was a charming and charismatic woman, extremely popular not only among followers of equestrians, but also among people outside the horse circles. She also became a role model of other victims of polio, showing what was possible to achieve through training and determination. She was invited to do dressage exhibitions in several countries in Western Europe, and raised funds for treatment of polio victims. In Doorn in the Netherlands, a centre for disabled was named after her, the Lis Hartel Foundation.
2008-2012
Natalia Partyka (POL) – Table tennis
Natalia Partyka was born without a right hand or forearm. She began to play table tennis at the age of seven and four years competed in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. At eleven years of age, she became the youngest Paralympian in history. By 2004 she was clearly the Paralympic table tennis player and began to make an impact in able bodied competition by winning the European Cadets title. Partyka has gone on to win three consecutive Paralympic titles, compete in both the Beijing and London Olympics and win medals at the able bodied European Championships.
1996
Paola Fantato (ITA) – Archery
At age 8, Paola Fantato was diagnosed with polio, and has been wheelchair-bound since. She picked up archery in her twenties, and quickly became quite successful at archery events for disabled. She won a Paralympic bronze medal in 1988, upgrading that to gold in 1992. She was then invited to join the Italian Olympic team and qualified for the Atlanta Games. While eliminated in the first round, she became the first athlete to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics in the same year, winning team gold and an individual bronze. Her successes have only increased, adding two golds in Sydney and one in Athens, as well as two world titles to her tally.
1948
Jack Dearlove (GBR) – Rowing
1 silver
Jack Dearlove was 12 years old when he lost the lower part of his leg. He was hitching a lift to cricket practice on a friend’s bicycle when the wheels of the bike stuck in some tram lines. The two boys were thrown into the path of a steam wagon and his friend was killed outright. By the time of the London Olympics of 1948 Dearlove had twenty years’ experience as a coxswain which included steering the Thames Rowing Club to a victory at the Henley Regatta. He refused to wear an artificial leg, walking with the aid of crutches instead, and this proved problematic for the British Olympic Association who forbade him for taking part in the opening ceremony of the London Games.
Dearlove went on to have a successful career in business with the Sainsbury’s organization. His son, Sir Richard Dearlove, served as head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 to 2004.
Figure Skaters in Singles and Pairs
In our Figure Skating Factsheets we gave a list of the Olympic figure skaters who have competed in both singles and pairs at the same Olympic Winter Games, since World War II.
In that list we noted that it used to be much more but it has been done only 12 times since 1948, and only three times since 1972, the last by Australian Stephen Carr in 1994. It has not been done by a woman since West German Tina Riegel in 1980, and prior to that, the last women did it in 1952
But prior to World War II it did occur a bit more often. In all it has been achieved 44 times, 19 by women and 25 by men. Here is the entire list of figure skaters who have competed in singles and pairs at the same Olympic Winter Games, all-time.
Year Gdr Name NOC ###
1908 F Madge Syers GBR 1
1920 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 1
1920 F Phyllis Johnson GBR 1
1924 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 2
1924 F Andrée Brunet-Joly FRA 1
1924 F Ethel Muckelt GBR 1
1924 F Cecil Smith CAN 1
1928 F Elvira Barbey SUI 1
1928 F Theresa Weld-Blanchard USA 3
1928 F Melitta Brunner AUT 1
1928 F Andrée Brunet-Joly FRA 2
1928 F Beatrix Loughran USA 1
1932 F Constance Wilson-Samuel CAN 1
1936 F Maribel Vinson USA 1
1948 F Grazia Barcellona ITA 1
1948 F Suzi Morrow CAN 1
1948 F Yvonne Sherman USA 1
1952 F Sissy Schwarz AUT 1
1980 F Tina Riegel FRG 1
1920 M MacDonald Beaumont GBR 1
1920 M Nathaniel Niles USA 1
1920 M Basil Williams GBR 1
1924 M Pierre Brunet FRA 1
1924 M Nathaniel Niles USA 2
1924 M Jack Page GBR 1
1924 M Melville Rogers CAN 1
1928 M Sherwin Badger USA 1
1928 M Pierre Brunet FRA 2
1928 M Jack Eastwood CAN 1
1928 M Nathaniel Niles USA 3
1928 M Jack Page GBR 2
1928 M Robert Van Zeebroeck BEL 1
1928 M Ludwig Wrede AUT 1
1932 M Bud Wilson CAN 1
1936 M Ernst Baier GER 1
1936 M George Hill USA 1
1948 M Wallace Diestelmeyer CAN 1
1948 M Carlo Fassi ITA 1
1948 M Ede Király HUN 1
1948 M Helmut Seibt AUT 1
1952 M Kurt Oppelt AUT 1
1972 M Ken Shelley USA 1
1994 M Stephen Carr AUS 1
It has never happened that an ice dancer has competed in singles at the Winter Olympics. If we suspect the above combination of singles / pairs may never happen again, I’ll state categorically that no figure skater will ever compete in singles and dance at the Olympics – the dancers don’t do enough jumps.
In the above list two skaters did this 3 times and they were partners – Nathaniel Niles and Theresa Weld-Blanchard skated pairs at the 1920/1924/1928 Winter Olympics, and both also competed in singles at those Olympics. This was also done twice by the husband/wife team of Pierre Brunet and Andrée Brunet Joly at the 1924 and 1928 Winter Olympics.
Finally British skater Jack Page did this twice as well in 1924 and 1928, skating both times with Ethel Muckelt. Muckelt competed in singles in 1924 but not in 1928.
A most unusual scenario, however, has occurred more recently in the case of Japanese-American figure skater Rena Inoue. Born in Japan, Inoue competed in both singles and pairs in her native country. She skated pairs at the 1992 Winter Olympics alongside Tomoaki Koyama, placing 14th. Inoue then returned to the Olympics at Lillehammer in 1994, but competed in singles, finishing 18th. She moved to the United States in 1996 at her father’s urging after he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Inoue herself developed cancer in 1998 but it was cured by chemotherapy and she returned to figure skating in 2000. In 2006, by then skating with John Baldwin, Inoue competed in her third Olympics, again in pairs, and they finished 7th. Baldwin and Inoue became engaged in 2008 and later married.
Don’t look to see anything like this happening in Sochi. But hey, they gave the singles skaters a team trophy for 2014 so they’ll have something else to do.
Olympians with a disability – Part One
For a few days this week it appeared that legally blind cross-country skier Brian McKeever was to win a place of the Canadian team at Sochi. Unfortunately for him an eight place finish in the last Canadian trial race means his chances of becoming an Olympian this time round are now extremely slim. McKeever did make the team for the Vancouver Games but was left on the side lines by the team coaches and did not take part in the Olympic races. So it looks like we may have to wait a little longer for an athlete with a disability to take a full part in the Winter Games. The Summer Games is an entirely different matter and the list of competitors who have triumphed over disability is a lot longer than you might think. Read on…
1904 St. Louis
George Eyser (USA) – Gymnastics
3 gold medals, 2 silver, 1 bronze
Born in Germany, George Eyser arrived in the US as a child. It is believed that he lost most of his left leg in an accident either with a train or a trolley car – there are conflicting reports. To compensate for this loss he developed his upper body strength and became a gymnast. Competing at the 1904 Olympics he won 6 medals in a single day and won gold in the vault, parallel bars and the now obsolete rope climb.
1912
Bobby Bridge (GBR) – Athletics
The first person with a disability to compete in Olympic track and field, Bobby Bridge qualified for the Stockholm Games despite the handicap of his left arm being amputated at the elbow. A competitor in the 10,000 m race walk, he had the misfortune to be disqualified for running. In one race at Stamford Bridge in 1914 he broke the world record for every distance from 11 miles to 16 miles. He was a qualified dentist.
1960
Brian Pickworth (NZL) – Fencing
Brian Pickworth was a promising rugby player until he lost his left arm above the elbow in a shooting accident when he was 21 years old. He then switched to fencing and represented New Zealand not only in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome but also in the Empire (Commonwealth) Games in 1958 in Cardiff and in 1962 in Perth fencing all three weapons.
1984
Neroli Fairhall (NZL) – Archery
Originally a track & field athlete, Neroli Fairhall became paralysed from the waist down following a motorcycle accident. She continued her athletics career, competing in the 1972 Paralympic Games in various events in track and field. She then switched to archery, winning the gold in the 1980 Paralympics. She started competing with able-bodied athletes, from her wheelchair. When archery made its only appearance at the Commonwealth Games in 1982, she won the gold medal. Two years later, she became the first paraplegic to compete at the Olympics. Fairhall did not return to the Olympics, but competed twice more in the Paralympic Games, in 1988 and 2000. She retired after the latter event, switching to coaching. She passed away at the age of 61, of an illness related to her disability.
1928-1936
Olivér Halassy (HUN) – Water Polo
2 gold, 1 silver
Olivér Halassy was eight years old when he lost his left leg from the knee down following an accident as he attempted to jump on board a tram. 25 times a Hungarian national champion in swimming and European champion over 1500 m freestyle in 1931, Halassy was even better known as a water polo player. He was a vital part of the Hungarian team that dominated the sport in the 20s and 30s and won Olympic titles in 1932 and 1936 as well as silver in 1928 and three Olympic titles. Halassy was being driven home one night in 1946 when his taxi was stopped by a Soviet military patrol. An argument broke out between his driver and the soldiers and both driver and passenger were shot dead. He was just 37 at the time of his death.
2000-2004
Marla Runyan (USA) – Athletics
Being legally blind (due to Stargardt’s disease), runner Marla Runyan initially focussed on competing in events for visually impaired athletes. She was highly successful, winning three sprint events and the long jump at the 1992 Paralympics, while also competing in cycling. She added a fifth title at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics, winning the pentathlon and a silver in the shot put. But Runyan also aspired to compete in the Olympics, and had tried to qualify for the heptathlon at the US Olympic Trials, placing 10th. Her good 800 m in that competition convinced her to switch to middle distance running. This switch proved a good choice, and in 1999 Runyan won the 1500 m at the Pan American Games, and reached the World Championship final in the same event. She repeated that performance in Sydney, placing 8th in the Olympic final. She then turned her attention to long distance running, eventually competing in the 2004 Olympic 5 km, and placing 4th in the 2002 New York Marathon.
Part two of this article will follow soon.
Individual Medal Sweeps
We described yesterday how nations have swept the medals at various Winter Olympic events. An individual can never do that at one Olympics, obviously (although see below re Beckie Scott), but an individual medal sweep is possible, if an athlete can win a full set of Olympic medals – gold, silver, and bronze.
Now this is not so uncommon, but it is rare when an athlete achieved an individual medal sweep in the same individual event. In fact, it has only happened 10 times at the Winter Olympics, as follows:
Athlete Gdr NOC Sport Event Meds
Claudia Pechstein F GER SSK 5K 3/1/1 – 5
Silke Kraushaar F GER LUG Singles 1/1/1 – 3
Karin Enke-Kania F GDR SSK 500 m 1/1/1 – 3
Claudia Pechstein F GER SSK 3K 1/1/1 – 3
Christa Rothenburger-Luding F GER SSK 500 m 1/1/1 – 3
Kari Traa F NOR FRS Moguls 1/1/1 – 3
Armin Zöggeler M ITA LUG Singles 2/1/2 – 5
Knut Johannesen M NOR SSK 10K 1/1/1 – 3
Ådne Søndrål M NOR SSK 1,500 m 1/1/1 – 3
Bob de Jong M NED SSK 10K 1/1/1 – 3
Note that German Claudia Pechstein has actually done this twice, in the 3,000 and 5,000 metres speedskating events, with 5 medals in the 5,000. Italian luger Armin Zöggeler has also won 5 medals in one individual event, in men’s singles luge.
Pechstein’s record would likely be more impressive except that she missed the 2010 Winter Olympics because of a suspension due to suspicion of blood doping due to abnormal reticulocytes in her blood sample. She returned in 2011 and continues to compete and should be in Sochi. In 2013 she won bronze medals in both the 3,000 and 5,000 at the World Single-Distance World Championships, so she could certainly extend these records. She also won bronze medals in the 5K at that tournament in both 2011 and 2012, making her a strong threat to medal in the 5K in Sochi.
Five athletes have won 5 Olympic medals in the same event at the Winter Olympics. In addition to Pechstein and Zöggeler, this has been done by the following:
Ricco Groß M GER Biathlon Relay 4/1/0 – 5
Georg Hackl M GER Luge Singles 3/2/0 – 5
Harri Kirvesniemi M FIN X-Country Ski Relay 0/0/5 – 5
Kirvesniemi is the only Olympian to win 5 bronze medals in the same event, Winter or Summer. Except for Pechstein, all are long since retired and will not be winning a sixth medal. But if Pechstein can win a medal in the 5,000 metres at Sochi it would give her 6 medals in the same event, which would be a new best for the Winter Olympics, and equal the record for the Summer Olympics.
Both Aládar Gerevich (HUN) in fencing team sabre and Hans Günter Winkler (FRG) in equestrian team jumping won 6 medals in the same event. Gerevich’s performance is even more remarkable because all of his medals were gold medals.
If she can win a 6th medal in the 5K, Pechstein’s performance would surely outshine Gerevich and Winkler, because hers would be in an individual event.
There is also the unique case of Canada’s Beckie Scott, who can claim a full set of medals from the same event at the same time. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Scott finished third in the pursuit race, behind Russians Olga Danilova and Larisa Lazutina. But both Russians then tested positive for PEDs after the 30 km race, however, they were allowed to initially keep their medals for the pursuit. It was then revealed, however, that Lazutina had tested positive twice at World Cup events prior to Salt Lake City, so she was disqualified from all 2002 Winter Olympic events and Scott moved up to the silver medal. The Canadian Olympic Committee then appealed against Danilova, stating that she should be disqualified from all Olympic events if she tested positive in any event at the Olympics. This was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and Scott then was moved up to the gold medal position, receiving her gold medal on 25 June 2004.
Now in team events, it is much more common to win a full set of Olympic medals in the same event. Here are the 23 Winter Olympians who have done that – 10 women and 13 men:
Name Gdr NOC Sport Event Meds
Galina Kulakova F URS X-Country Ski Relay 2/1/1 – 4
Angela Ruggiero F USA Ice Hockey — 1/2/1 – 4
Jenny Schmidgall-Potter F USA Ice Hockey — 1/2/1 – 4
Kati Wilhelm F GER Biathlon Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Andrea Henkel F GER Biathlon Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Albina Akhatova F RUS Biathlon Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Alevtina Kolchina F URS X-Country Ski Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Marina Klimova F EUN Figure Skating Dance 1/1/1 – 3
Tricia Dunn-Luoma F USA Ice Hockey — 1/1/1 – 3
Katie King F USA Ice Hockey — 1/1/1 – 3
Igor Kravchuk M RUS Ice Hockey — 2/1/1 – 4
Jan Behrendt M GER Luge Doubl. 2/1/1 – 4
Stefan Krauße M GER Luge Doubl. 2/1/1 – 4
Wolfgang Hoppe M GER Bobsledding Four 1/2/1 – 4
Fritz Fischer M GER Biathlon Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Eugenio Monti M ITA Bobsledding Four 1/1/1 – 3
Eugenio Monti M ITA Bobsledding Two 1/1/1 – 3
Markus Zimmermann M GER Bobsledding Two 1/1/1 – 3
Eero Mäntyranta M FIN X-Country Ski Relay 1/1/1 – 3
Sergey Ponomarenko M EUN Figure Skating Dance 1/1/1 – 3
Darius Kasparaitis M RUS Ice Hockey — 1/1/1 – 3
Aleksey Zhamnov M RUS Ice Hockey — 1/1/1 – 3
Hannu Manninen M FIN Nordic Comb. Team 1/1/1 – 3
Note that Eugenio Monti has done this twice, in two-man and four-man bobsledding.
Are any 2014 Olympians in position to achieve an individual medal sweep in an individual event? There are a few who could do this, but the biggest threats are Marlies Schild, Austrian alpine skiier who has a silver and a bronze medal in women’s slalom; and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Norwegian biathlete who has a gold and a silver in the biathlon pursuit, and needs only a bronze to complete his medal sweep. Schild needs a gold medal in slalom, but she has already won 2 World Cup slaloms in December 2013, and she was the World Cup slalom champion in the last 2 seasons.
Bjørndalen’s is looking after bigger game. If he wins any medal in Sochi, it will give him 12 Winter Olympic medals, tying Bjørn Dæhlie’s Winter Olympic record for most medals won. Can he do it? Can he complete the medal sweep in biathlon pursuit? Can Pechstein win a sixth Olympic medal in the 5,000 metre speedskating? Stay tuned.
Olympic Medal Sweeps
Winning an Olympic medal is a major accomplishment, and a nation usually exults in response. But sweeping all the medals in an event, with all athletes from one nation standing on all steps of the podium, is much rarer, especially at the Winter Olympics.
This has happened 260 times at the Summer Olympics, but only 39 times so far at the Winter Olympics. This has been done by 10 different nations. The entire list of all Winter Olympic medal sweeps is given below.
Year Sport Event NOC Gdr
1952 X-Country Skiing 10 km. Finland F
1960 X-Country Skiing 10 km. Soviet Union F
1964 Alpine Skiing Downhill Austria F
1964 X-Country Skiing 10 km. Soviet Union F
1964 Luge Singles Germany F
1964 Speed Skating 500 m Soviet Union F
1972 Luge Singles German Demo. Rep. F
1984 Luge Singles German Demo. Rep. F
1984 Speed Skating 3,000 m German Demo. Rep. F
1988 Luge Singles German Demo. Rep. F
1988 X-Country Skiing 20 km. Soviet Union F
1998 Alpine Skiing Combined Germany F
2002 Luge Singles Germany F
2006 Luge Singles Germany F
2010 Luge Singles Germany F
1908 Figure Skating Singles Sweden M
1924 X-Country Skiing 50 km. Norway M
1924 Nordic Combined Individual Norway M
1928 X-Country Skiing 15 km. Norway M
1928 X-Country Skiing 50 km. Sweden M
1928 Nordic Combined Individual Norway M
1932 Nordic Combined Individual Norway M
1932 Ski Jumping Large hill Norway M
1936 X-Country Skiing 50 km. Sweden M
1936 Nordic Combined Individual Norway M
1948 X-Country Skiing 15 km. Sweden M
1948 Ski Jumping Large hill Norway M
1956 Alpine Skiing GS Austria M
1956 Figure Skating Singles United States M
1964 Speed Skating 5,000 m Norway M
1972 Luge Singles German Dem. Rep. M
1972 Ski Jumping NH Japan M
1992 X-Country Skiing 30 km. Norway M
1992 Speed Skating 5,000 m Germany M
1994 Alpine Skiing Combined Norway M
1998 Speed Skating 10,000 m Netherlands M
1998 Speed Skating 3,000 m Germany M
2002 Snowboarding Halfpipe United States M
2006 Alpine Skiing Slalom Austria M
A couple things are immediately obvious – first of all, Germany or the former German Democratic Republic, is/was really good at sweeping Winter Olympic medals. Germany has had 7 medal sweeps, 5 by women and 2 by the men. The former GDR swept the medals 5 times, 4 by the women, all in luge. Either Germany or the GDR has swept the medals in women’s luge 7 times in all (out of only 13 times the event has been held).
In fact, German dominance of women’s luge approaches that of the Chinese in Summer Olympic diving, or the United States former dominance in that sport. German women have swept the medals in singles luge at the last three Winter Olympics (2002-10). Can they do it again for a four-peat in Sochi?
That’s pretty good, but Norway is the national leader in medal sweeps, with 11 at the Winter Olympics, all by their men in five different sports / disciplines. Here is the national breakdown:
NOC Men Women Totals
Austria 2 1 3
Finland 0 1 1
German Demo. Rep. 1 4 5
Germany 2 5 7
Japan 1 0 1
Netherlands 1 0 1
Norway 11 0 11
Soviet Union 0 4 4
Sweden 4 0 4
United States 2 0 2
Totals 24 15 39
Another thing to note is that the United States does not show up much on this list – only 2 medal sweeps by American men – one in 1956 men’s figure skating and one in 2002 snowboarding halfpipe. By contrast, of the 260 Summer Olympic medal sweeps, fully 150 of them were done by the United States, many of them in the early days of the Modern Olympic Games.
One of the most dramatic medal sweeps occurred in 1972 at Sapporo, when the Japanese ski jumpers, who had never won an Olympic medal in that sport / discipline previously, swept the medals in ski jumping on the normal hill, led by Yukio Kasaya.
Only 4 times have the home nations swept the medals. In addition to Japan in 1972 in ski jumping, this was also done in 1964 by the Austrian women in downhill alpine skiing at Innsbruck, the Norwegian men alpine skiiers in the 1994 combined at Lillehammer, and the aforementioned American sweep of men’s snowboarding halfpipe at Salt Lake City in 2002. Russia has never done this at the Winter Olympics, although it was done 4 times by the former Soviet Union, all in women’s events. Can the Russians sweep any of the medals in Sochi?