41 medals: the numbers behind Norway's Milano Cortina
Eighteen gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze. The final table confirms Norway's place atop the Winter Games, with the United States second and the Netherlands third.
OSLO: The final medal table from the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics confirms what the fortnight in Italy suggested throughout: Norway finished first with 41 medals, 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze, the most successful national performance of the Games.
The United States finished second with 33 medals, 12 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze, and the Netherlands third with 20 medals, 10 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze. Host nation Italy finished with 30 medals, 10 gold, 6 silver and 14 bronze.
The 18 gold medals set a Winter Olympics record for a single nation, according to reports on the final table. Norway's strength ran across the program, with the country's development system producing podium finishes in cross-country skiing, biathlon and the alpine disciplines.
The table is ordered by the International Olympic Committee's conventional sorting: gold medals first, then silver, then bronze. By that method Norway's margin over the United States, six golds, is decisive rather than close.
For the Norwegian winter sports establishment, the result extends a pattern: the most successful nation in Winter Olympic history adding its most successful single Games. The closing ceremony in February formally ended the Italian fortnight; the numbers have been the reference point for every winter sports debate since.
The next Winter Games are scheduled for the French Alps in 2030. Norway's task there will be the one it has set itself at every Games since the streak began: defending a standard it keeps raising.
None to date. The Tribune corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
