Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Three factors helped the U.S. more than double its mark for most medals at a Winter Olympics.
By JOHN ROMANO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 26, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY -- Americans never have heard the Olympic theme -- with its resounding Citius, Altius, Fortius chorus -- at so many medal ceremonies.
The 34 medals won by the United States in Salt Lake City nearly tripled its previous best (13) for a Winter Olympics.
Yet that Olympic ideal -- Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger -- was not the only impetus behind America's performance.
The United States was working with a more practical theme.
Richer, Larger, Fairer.
The medal haul was aided, in large part, by increased spending by the United States Olympic Committee, the addition of American-friendly sports and the most diverse group of athletes to ever represent the United States in the winter.
"We really had a plan. We worked on it for seven years," USOC president Sandy Baldwin said. "This is not serendipity."
This all goes back to the 1988 Calgary Games when the United States won only six medals, trailing Finland, the Netherlands and Austria, among others. George Steinbrenner, the man born on the Fourth of July, proclaimed loudly something needed to be done to capitalize on America's strengths.
"That was when we said, "What the heck is going on?' " Baldwin said.
Steinbrenner was put in charge of a commission to determine the best methods of producing Olympic champions.
The commission came up with numerous recommendations, but more than anything, it convinced the USOC more money was needed.
Since the '98 Games in Nagano, where the United States won 13 medals, the USOC has pumped $40-million into the winter program.
From state-of-the-art body suits for speed skaters to newly designed bobsleds to better training facilities, U.S. athletes were given as many advantages as possible to succeed.
Corporations, such as Home Depot, also pitched in. Numerous athletes, including speed skater Derek Parra, worked at Home Depots around Salt Lake City in 2001 so they could earn money and still train at Olympic sites.
"When you sit there and plan and try to figure and think ahead, and then it all works right, it's a beautiful thing," U.S. assistant speed skating coach Tom Cushman said.
It also helped when the International Olympic Committee, with some lobbying by the USOC, agreed to increase the number of sports.
The United States remains woefully behind in traditional winter sports such as biathlon, cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping. Americans went 2-for-108 in those medals.
Yet the United States cleaned up in the so-called extreme sports that have been added in the past decade, such as snowboarding, short-track skating and freestyle skiing.
Of 34 U.S. medals, 16 were earned in events that did not exist in Calgary in '88. That's 47 percent of the United States' haul.
Even speed skating, which has been a sport since 1924, received a boost from Generation X. The United States had a record eight medals, and five were earned by former inline roller skaters.
The snowboarding crowd spawned plenty of slacker jokes, but Olympic and broadcast officials have the widest smiles.
Ratings for television viewers in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34 were up 23 percent compared with Nagano.
"I guess you can call them extreme sports, but they're really just what people are doing today," said J.J. Thomas, who won a bronze in the snowboard halfpipe. "Snowboarding and freestyle are part of the future. I think what you saw here was just a preview."
Another factor in America's success was diversity. For the first time, a U.S. Winter Olympics team truly reflected the country's many cultures.
Parra was the first Mexican-American to win a gold medal. Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers was the first African-American to win gold. Jennifer Rodriguez was the first Cuban-American to win a medal. The United States also had Asian-Americans (Apolo Anton Ohno and Michelle Kwan) and additional African-Americans (Garrett Hines and Randy Jones) on podiums.
"This really shows that anything is possible," Parra said. "For me to be a Hispanic-American in a European sport, a sport of giants, and do this, it shows if you really believe in yourself and people support you, you can fulfill your dreams."
The USOC produced snickers last year when it predicted it could come away from Salt Lake City with 20 medals. Having shattered that mark, the new challenge is to remain successful.
The United States is not likely to repeat a 34-medal outburst in Italy in 2006 if for no other reason than the athletes do not have the advantage of training at the Olympic site and performing at home.
But USOC officials say the plan recommended by Steinbrenner's committee and implemented should keep the United States near the top.
"The athletes at these Games created aspirations across America," USOC chief executive officer Lloyd Ward said. "You can look for more outreach efforts from the USOC."
-- Staff writer Gary Shelton contributed to this report.