Last Chance for Gold

Day 16: Checking up on the medal count on the Games last day

Feb 19, 2022

The final competitions of the 2022 Winter Olympics will take place Sunday morning in Beijing, which for us means today is the last day of the Games. Though there are still 11 events to conclude today, over 90% of the medals have been awarded already.

Olympic medal quality control testing at Shanghai Minting Corporation. ChinaNews.com

Let’s check-in on some pre-Games predictions, starting with the predicted medal tables from before the Olympics and as of Friday. (Note: Both charts are predicted FINAL medal counts, not current counts.)

As expected, Norway is dominating. They not only lead the medal table, but have also set a record for the most Gold Medals at a single Winter Olympics. However even the mighty Norsemen have been humbled by COVID-19, falling short of their predicted total medal haul.

France (-5), Germany (-4), Switzerland(-4) have also stumbled, while Team USA (+3) and Canada (+3) have outperformed expectations. Further down the table, Italy (+4) and Slovenia (+4) have also done well.

All of these comparisons are based on ranking countries by total medals, using Gold Medals only to break a tie; this is how most American publications display the Medal Table. But in most of the world the Medal Table is ranked by Gold Medals first, with Silvers breaking any ties. Regardless of what method you use to weigh the value of different color medals, Norway comes out on top.

As for other pre-Games predictions and odds, the over/under for Team USA Gold was 8.5 and total Medals was 22.5. With a current 8 Golds and 23 Medals, Vegas nailed that one. Canada was the favorite in Men’s CURLING! but settled for Bronze. Close behind them though were Gold Medal finalists Team GB and Sweden. Another win for oddsmakers. Unfortunately the same can not be said for the Mikaela Shiffrin-Petra Vlhova rivalry in Women’s Alpine Skiing, which turned out very one sided. The same goes for all of the non-curling British athletes, who failed to garner any medals (despite help from McLaren in the sliding sports).

As Norway (likely literally) cruises to a commanding Medal Count lead in the final two Cross Country Skiing events, remember it’s country with a population smaller than metro Atlanta.

What You Missed Last Night

Catch the final medal events in Speed Skating, Biathlon, and Figure Skating.

(Reminder: How to Watch)

What To Watch Today

Men’s Hockey Medals and the conclusion of Bobsled are the final medals of these Olympic Games.

The Closing Ceremony will air live at 7am EST on tomorrow morning on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com. NBC will also re-air it in primetime at 8pm Sunday night.