Olympic Gold

With the Vancouver Olympics now in the books -- capped in terrific fashion by the gold-medal hockey final -- the overall medal count revealed some interesting numbers.

Team USA had a fantastic Olympics by all accounts, breaking the all-time record for medals won by any country in a Winter Olympics with 37. Of those medals, 28 were silver and bronze. The U.S. excelled across the board, especially in sports such as alpine skiing and speed skating, not to mention the total surprise in Nordic combined.

As for Canada, the host country's financially-backed attempt to "Own the Podium" received a lot of scrutiny, and was mocked heavily when the Canadian team got off to a slow start. But Canada cleaned up in the last week of the Games, finishing with 26 total medals, good for third behind the U.S. and Germany. However, 14 of those medals were gold, breaking the record for most gold medals won by any country in a Winter Olympics. Canada clearly redeemed itself with the latter statistic, although it does raise an interesting question -- which is the more significant achievement? Is it the 37 total medals for the U.S. or the 14 gold medals for Canada? It could be argued that, in a way, Canada did "own the podium" based on head-to-head competition. What do you think?

One other noteworthy item from the medal count (aside from minor breakthroughs by countries such as Belarus and Latvia) was the disappointment of the Russian team, which happens to be the host of the next Winter Games in 2014 in Sochi. Russia won only 15 total medals and only 3 gold, placing them sixth in the overall standings. Russian athletic officials took a lot of heat for their performance in Vancouver, and they have 4 years to fix their internal and structural problems to avoid being embarrassed on home soil.