Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

[HVC]

Two questions, why does Denmark suck? Sweden, Norway, and Finland all finished top 20, Denmark got zilch. Also, why are there a million speed skating events.

[garbon]

Canadians care a lot about hockey.

And the Dutch care a lot about long track speed skating, the Norwegians care a lot about cross country skiing -  I wonder if you notice a trend here?

It was just a note on how excitable you all seem in the last few posts.

[Tonitrus]

Two questions, why does Denmark suck? Sweden, Norway, and Finland all finished top 20, Denmark got zilch. Also, why are there a million speed skating events.

Why are there a million track & field events in the Summer games?

But still, I am sure there is ultimately some amount of "medal-inflation" involved.  But also, the more events out there, the better the chances are for some smaller country to win some medals.

[Zanza]

Closing ceremony:


Well played

[sbr]

Two questions, why does Denmark suck? Sweden, Norway, and Finland all finished top 20, Denmark got zilch. Also, why are there a million speed skating events.

NBC paid a thousand billion dollars for broadcast rights and wants needs more content.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm glad the US sorta fell on its face this Olympics.

Seems we're doing better, used to be a dozen medals was a good winter haul.

[viper37]

I'm glad the US sorta fell on its face this Olympics.

Seems we're doing better, used to be a dozen medals was a good winter haul.

just this year, there are 12 new events...

[Eddie Teach]

For comparison, in Calgary the Soviets won 29 medals without the home advantage. We got 6.

[alfred russel]

For comparison, in Calgary the Soviets won 29 medals without the home advantage. We got 6.

The Soviets had the Soviet system. Also, so many of the new events that have been added are US oriented events. All the snowboarding and freestyle skiing, for example. Plus adding women's events really helps us because we foster women's sports better than almost anyone.

It would be interesting to see what our medal count would have been if we only had the events that were in Calgary.

[alfred russel]

Because I have too much time on my hands, I checked the records.

Had the event list been the same as Calgary, the US would have had 8 medals in Sochi. Broken down as follows:

Alpine Skiing: 5 medals
Bobsled: 2 medals
Luge: 1 medal

We had the following medals in Sochi in post Calgary disciplines:

Freestyle skiing: 7
Snowboarding: 5
Skeleton: 2
Short Track: 1

We had the following medals in new competitions in Sochi in post Calgary disciplines:

Bobsled: 2 (both new women's event)
Figure Skating: 2 (ice dancing, and team event)
Ice Hockey: 1 (new women's event)

[crazy canuck]

It was just a note on how excitable you all seem in the last few posts.

Thats what happens when you win gold in dominating style in the most important event at the Winter Olympics.

[Eddie Teach]

And all 6 of the medals we had there were on ice skates- this year was indeed really bad for our speed and figure skaters. But why focus solely on those events?

[Eddie Teach]

Thats what happens when you win gold in dominating style in the most important event at the Winter Olympics.

What, I think we've kept it in check in talking about our country's glorious women's slalom win. 

[crazy canuck]

Thats what happens when you win gold in dominating style in the most important event at the Winter Olympics.

What, I think we've kept it in check in talking about our country's glorious women's slalom win. 

[alfred russel]

And all 6 of the medals we had there were on ice skates- this year was indeed really bad for our speed and figure skaters. But why focus solely on those events?

I wouldn't focus on just the old events. I don't think snowboarding is in any way less valid than speed skating. I just think that if we are comparing medal counts we have to take into account that in 1988 the sport list was much smaller and the sports added have more of an American focus.