How the US tripled its Winter Games medal count in 12 years
By: Joseph Russell
Issue date: 3/4/10 Section: Other Stories
The longer Billy Demong stares at the gold medal he won last month at the Olympics, the more he thinks about how he felt at his first Winter Games, in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.
"We still felt like kind of one of the outsiders," said Demong, a Nordic combined skier.
Twelve years later, he's one of the pacesetters, a key cog in the high-powered American machine that cranked out a Winter Games-record 37 medals in Vancouver and shows no signs of losing steam, thanks to a proven model for success with strong financial backing.
The U.S. didn't simply flip the switch in nearly tripling its medal haul of 13 in Nagano. It prevailed in the total-medal count for the first time since 1932 through a long-term focus - designed to build depth in typically strong sports, such as Alpine skiing and short-track speedskating, and drum up contenders in weak sports, like luge and cross-country skiing.
Eight Olympic national governing bodies of winter sports combined for $55 million from the U.S. Olympic Committee the past four years - $62 million less than Canada's bill for 26 medals, including a Winter Games-record 14 golds, five more than the U.S. won. And the funding level should remain the same - if not increase - before 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
"We all recognize in the United States," USOC board member Mike Plant said, "these are not just four-year programs. ... It's not just a four-year grind. It's a long-term strategy."
That explains how Demong jumped from being a nobody in Nagano to an Olympic gold medalist in the individual large hill in Vancouver, how Alpine skier Bode Miller still had gas in the tank for a gold, a silver and a bronze, how ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero stood beside teammate Jenny Potter in grabbing her fourth Olympic medal, a silver.
The USOC thinks its approach is working, evidenced by breakthroughs in Nordic, where Johnny Spillane joined Demong on the podium with three medals, the first for the U.S. in the sport mixing cross-country skiing and ski jumping, and in bobsled, where Colorado Springs resident Steven Holcomb propelled the U.S. to its first four-man gold in 62 years.
"We still felt like kind of one of the outsiders," said Demong, a Nordic combined skier.
Twelve years later, he's one of the pacesetters, a key cog in the high-powered American machine that cranked out a Winter Games-record 37 medals in Vancouver and shows no signs of losing steam, thanks to a proven model for success with strong financial backing.
The U.S. didn't simply flip the switch in nearly tripling its medal haul of 13 in Nagano. It prevailed in the total-medal count for the first time since 1932 through a long-term focus - designed to build depth in typically strong sports, such as Alpine skiing and short-track speedskating, and drum up contenders in weak sports, like luge and cross-country skiing.
Eight Olympic national governing bodies of winter sports combined for $55 million from the U.S. Olympic Committee the past four years - $62 million less than Canada's bill for 26 medals, including a Winter Games-record 14 golds, five more than the U.S. won. And the funding level should remain the same - if not increase - before 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
"We all recognize in the United States," USOC board member Mike Plant said, "these are not just four-year programs. ... It's not just a four-year grind. It's a long-term strategy."
That explains how Demong jumped from being a nobody in Nagano to an Olympic gold medalist in the individual large hill in Vancouver, how Alpine skier Bode Miller still had gas in the tank for a gold, a silver and a bronze, how ice hockey player Angela Ruggiero stood beside teammate Jenny Potter in grabbing her fourth Olympic medal, a silver.
The USOC thinks its approach is working, evidenced by breakthroughs in Nordic, where Johnny Spillane joined Demong on the podium with three medals, the first for the U.S. in the sport mixing cross-country skiing and ski jumping, and in bobsled, where Colorado Springs resident Steven Holcomb propelled the U.S. to its first four-man gold in 62 years.