The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia was a success for Russia, United States and Norway, and not a single country walked away without at least winning a single medal. All of the countries had a fair spread between the medal winnings besides the Netherlands. The Dutch came in fifth place for overall medal placing, and 23 of their medals came from speed skating.
Russia took the overall win in the Olympics, taking home 33 medals. They achieved 13 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze. Figure skating, short track speed skating, snowboarding, bobsleigh, cross country skiing, biathlon, luge, skeleton, speed skating and figure skating.
In second place, the United States brought a total of 28 medals back home; nine gold, seven silver and twelve bronze. The United States won medals in: freestyle skiing, snowboarding, alpine skiing, figure skating, bobsleigh, skeleton, ice hockey, short track speed skating and luge.
Norway slid into third medal position after receiving 11 gold, five silver and 10 bronze, totaling 26 medals in all. They placed in the top three of cross country skiing, biathlon, nordic combined, alpine skiing, snowboarding and ski jumping.
The Olympics didn’t run as smoothly as expected; the skiers and snowboarders ran into major issues. The weather in Sochi turned out to be warmer than expected, causing the snow to become sticky and too powdery. This caused many athletes from different countries to become injured, but not too seriously. There were no major injuries, but according to rt.com, there were quite a few “heroes” that will be remembered.
If winter ever ends, the next Olympics will be held during the summer of 2016, most likely in Brazil.