It would be remiss of me to begin commenting on the Closing Ceremony without first acknowledging that Canada triumphed today in the last event of these Games, Men’s Hockey. By defeating Sweden (3-0), it repeated its Vancouver feat of winning gold in Women’s and Men’s Hockey, affirming my claim that, when it comes to Hockey, Canada rules!
Apropos of countries ruling a particular sport, I also feel obliged to acknowledge the historic success the Netherlands had in Speedskating. Dutch skaters won 23 of the 36 medals awarded, including 8 of 12 gold, dominating this sport like no other country has dominated any sport in Olympic history.
That said, there was so much media scaremongering about the prospect of terrorist attacks that the mere fact of a Closing Ceremony being held today punctuates the success of the Sochi Olympics.
Unfortunately, reporters and pundits trade on making provocative statements and predictions they know even gnat-brained critics in the mainstream media, let alone selfie-obsessed twits on social networks, will never call them on.
But I urge you to recall those who were all over TV and the Internet, warning about impending doom in the run–up to these Games – complete with U.S. congressmen and senators declaring the potential for danger so great that they would not let any of their loved ones attend. After all, it wasn’t terrorism, but the eyesore of empty seats because of such scaremongering that marred these Games.
By instructive contrast, try to recall any reporter or pundit on TV or the Internet who offered the informed and sobering perspective I provided about media scaremongering, noting that Americans faced more danger from gun violence at home than from terrorism in Sochi.
In any event, try as host countries might to make them interesting, closing ceremonies invariably take on the spectacle of a gathering where most people would rather be elsewhere, like home already. Lord knows I could do without watching any more pantomimes about Russia’s glorious history and significant contributions to mankind (to boost national pride) or staged commercials about its rich culture and natural beauty (to boost tourism).
Except that I must give kudos to the Russians for making obvious fun of that glitch with the Olympic Rings in the Opening Ceremony; not least because this made the Western media look even more petty and self-righteous than usual.
No doubt you recall how far too many commentators reacted as if that glitch portended doom for these Games. Not to mention the nuts who accused the Kremlin of a conspiracy because Russian state TV did not make as much of it as their TV stations back home.
Really, the only thing left to be said is to congratulate Russia (and its vainglorious president, Vladimir Putin) for putting on a successful Olympics … against considerable geographic and geopolitical odds.
What took decades in other parts of the world was achieved here in Sochi in just seven years.
(IOC President Thomas Bach, Huffington Post, February 23, 2014)
And, of course, winning the overall medal count by beating out the United States, its quadrennial nemesis, must make success for Russia in this context especially sweet.
OVERALL MEDAL COUNT
Russia: 33 (13 gold, 11 silver, 9 bronze)
United States: 28 (9 gold, 7 silver, 12 bronze)
Norway: 26 (11 gold, 5 silver, 10 bronze)
Mind you, the United States will be in fourth place on some medal charts – behind Norway and Canada (10 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze). Because some media organizations will choose to list winners of the overall medal count according to the number of gold, not the number of all, medals won.
Anyway, for a little perspective, the United States (or Canada depending on how you count) won the overall medal count at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with 37 medals (9 gold, 15 silver, 13 bronze); Germany was second with 30 (10 gold, 13 silver, 7 bronze); and host country Canada was third with 26 (14 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze). To appreciate how truly successful these Games were for Russia, compare its first-place haul at these games with its sixth place in Vancouver with 15 (3 gold, 5 silver, 7 bronze).
See you in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018 for the next Winter Olympics!
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