It's done, the medals have all been awarded and around the world there are happy people, disappointed people and a whole contingent that didn't even know the winter olympics was a thing. After many dozens of hours spent watching, here is my overview of which of the top 5 medal count victors were the most impressive.
I should preface by saying that I don't really care that much about medal counts. More than any measure of skill, winning the most medals basically means you've been successful over decades in lobbying to get "your country's events" onto the schedule with lots of medals in areas you can win. As we've witnessed during these olympics, success in the medals race does not necessarily translate into interesting events or good viewing.
1 - Russia: Triumphant in the overall medal count. I'm sure they spent a bazillion dollars trying to develop athletes in every pointless event in order to claim victory at home. It was successful and helps people forget that:
-The cost of hosting their olympics went 400% or $40B over budget (Total cost of Vancouver was $7B)
-No amount of money spent could get everything ready on-time
-They were exposed cheating in figure skating (again)
-They stunk at hockey
Score B+
2 - United States: Things didn't turn out as bad as it was looking initially, but nobody is throwing parades for the speed skaters. If the speed skating results weren't embarassing, the fact that there were skaters who didn't finish in the top 20 blaming their suits was. There can't possibly be a person on the planet that believed going back to the old suits was going to fix the problem - and it didn't. There were some good performances in freestyle skiing and snowboard which were fun to watch. The hockey team looked good but ultimately sputtered and died. For some reason a disproportianate number of the medals came in bronze. Basically, the US performance was a lost opportunity to keep Russia from winning the medal count at home. The loss of nine expected medals in speed skating made it a failure, but not a really ugly one.
Score C
3 - Norway: Managed to win 22 medals in events that require the use of cross-country skis and four others in downhill skiing and snowboarding. I'm sure they're very excited. The rest of us are just awed that you can make up that many cross country skiing events. I managed to be completely absorbed in the olympics and barely saw a Norwegian compete because I'd fall asleep during cross-country skiing. Still, it's a small country, they do one thing extremely well and I'm impressed - just don't make me watch any of it.
Score B-
4 - Canada: I've been following Canadian coverage and they're quite disappointed that totals dropped off from the last olympics. As near as I can tell, Canadians mostly care about hockey and curling and they won men's and women's gold medals in both with 3 of those 4 teams going undefeated. Furthermore, Men's hockey is unquestionably the most important event in the olympics (at least for north americans and europeans) and Canada defended their gold. The other 21 medals are less important but add up to a respectable total. I don't really understand the disappointment. I think Russia would have gladly paid another $50B for that gold medal in hockey.
Score B+
5 - Netherlands: Wow! They won 64% of all speed skating medals, swept the podium in 4 events and didn't get a single medal in any non-speed skating event. One could argue that like Canada with hockey, the Dutch only really care about speed skating and it's therefore a huge success. But that would overlook the fact that it's among the most boring events in the olympics. Good for them, but nobody else cares - except US skaters who are still re-thinking the suit technology.
Score B-
2 more years until Rio!
I should preface by saying that I don't really care that much about medal counts. More than any measure of skill, winning the most medals basically means you've been successful over decades in lobbying to get "your country's events" onto the schedule with lots of medals in areas you can win. As we've witnessed during these olympics, success in the medals race does not necessarily translate into interesting events or good viewing.
1 - Russia: Triumphant in the overall medal count. I'm sure they spent a bazillion dollars trying to develop athletes in every pointless event in order to claim victory at home. It was successful and helps people forget that:
-The cost of hosting their olympics went 400% or $40B over budget (Total cost of Vancouver was $7B)
-No amount of money spent could get everything ready on-time
-They were exposed cheating in figure skating (again)
-They stunk at hockey
Score B+
2 - United States: Things didn't turn out as bad as it was looking initially, but nobody is throwing parades for the speed skaters. If the speed skating results weren't embarassing, the fact that there were skaters who didn't finish in the top 20 blaming their suits was. There can't possibly be a person on the planet that believed going back to the old suits was going to fix the problem - and it didn't. There were some good performances in freestyle skiing and snowboard which were fun to watch. The hockey team looked good but ultimately sputtered and died. For some reason a disproportianate number of the medals came in bronze. Basically, the US performance was a lost opportunity to keep Russia from winning the medal count at home. The loss of nine expected medals in speed skating made it a failure, but not a really ugly one.
Score C
3 - Norway: Managed to win 22 medals in events that require the use of cross-country skis and four others in downhill skiing and snowboarding. I'm sure they're very excited. The rest of us are just awed that you can make up that many cross country skiing events. I managed to be completely absorbed in the olympics and barely saw a Norwegian compete because I'd fall asleep during cross-country skiing. Still, it's a small country, they do one thing extremely well and I'm impressed - just don't make me watch any of it.
Score B-
4 - Canada: I've been following Canadian coverage and they're quite disappointed that totals dropped off from the last olympics. As near as I can tell, Canadians mostly care about hockey and curling and they won men's and women's gold medals in both with 3 of those 4 teams going undefeated. Furthermore, Men's hockey is unquestionably the most important event in the olympics (at least for north americans and europeans) and Canada defended their gold. The other 21 medals are less important but add up to a respectable total. I don't really understand the disappointment. I think Russia would have gladly paid another $50B for that gold medal in hockey.
Score B+
5 - Netherlands: Wow! They won 64% of all speed skating medals, swept the podium in 4 events and didn't get a single medal in any non-speed skating event. One could argue that like Canada with hockey, the Dutch only really care about speed skating and it's therefore a huge success. But that would overlook the fact that it's among the most boring events in the olympics. Good for them, but nobody else cares - except US skaters who are still re-thinking the suit technology.
Score B-
2 more years until Rio!
