Sports Update Monday: USA Finishes Second in Overall Medal Count in Winter Olympics. What Went Wrong? What Went Right?
If you like parity, you loved Sochi. Five countries won more than 20 medals, signifying the strength of the Olympic movement worldwide. The U.S. team held its own, winning more medals that it ever had in a Winter Olympics outside North American soil, but the Americans, with 27 when this story was published, still will end up with fewer than the 37 it won in Vancouver.
“We may not be winning in some sports as we’d like to,” said Alan Ashley, the chief of sport performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee, “but we’re still doing extremely well.” Ashley said the USOC would conduct a thorough review of all its successes and failures in Sochi. But it’s pretty clear, no matter how they look at the numbers, these are the top three in both categories.
What went right?
Extreme sports: We owned the slopestyle, dude – and if you didn’t know what “slopestyle” was before these Olympics, you’re not alone. But give Team USA credit: They knew it was a matter of time before these X-Games sports were added to the Olympics, and it put a system in place to develop and train athletes. Plus, the medalists were always an entertaining breath of fresh air. Party on, dudes.
Alpine skiing: Five medals might not seem like a big haul, but given the competitive and fickle nature of this sport, it was. Ted Ligety became the first American man to win the giant slalom, while 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin became the youngest ever champion in the women’s slalom. That both athletes will be back for 2018 gives Team USA two faces for its Olympic movement.
Sliding sports: Erin Hamlin won the first ever women’s singles luge medal. U.S. bobsledders came away with three medals in the two-man events (with the men’s four-man yet to be decided). And Noelle Pikus-Pace climbing into the crowd to hug her family after winning silver in the skeleton is one of the more lasting U.S. images from Sochi.
What went wrong?
Speedskating: Man, it was a rough Olympics for U.S. speedskaters. Team USA won one medal, in a short-track relay. The competitors blamed their suits, their leadership, even team spirit. The Dutch blew away the world, and then even their coach piled on, ripping American football. Put it this way: The Broncos had a better trip to New Jersey for the Super Bowl than the speedskaters did to Russia for the Olympics.
Figure skating: True, Charlie White and Meryl Davis won gold in ice dancing, a first for Team USA. But not since 1936 have the Americans failed to reach the podium in either men’s or ladies’ individual figure skating. The competition was good and the judging for the Russians a bit generous, but this is the marquee event for many Americans watching at home, and they watched athletes from other countries celebrate.
Hockey: Well, on the bright side: It is good that the U.S. teams are disappointed with losing in the Olympic finals and semifinals. Still, that’s not much consolation when the women had a 2-0 third-period lead on Canada and blew it, and when the men thought they had the team to beat and still lost to the Northern nemesis. Meanwhile, the Miracle on Ice will be 38 years old when the Games arrive again in South Korea.