Canada Likely to Win Gold Medal Count

Thursday, 25 February 2010 | by Pat's Picks

All week on NY1, we’ve been showing countries on our “Medal Count” graphic in the order of the total number of medals, regardless of color. After realizing that Canada finished the day tied for the most golds, I suggested a change this morning.

“Let’s go with a ranking by the number of golds,” I shouted to my American-born colleagues. “And when there’s a tie then it should be alphabetical.”

Because if we did that, Canada would be the first on the list right now.

In fact, Canada may end up first on that list. The Wall Street Journal has been analyzing the remaining events, and has been aggregating medal predictions from some other reliable sources. With several strong Canadian contenders in the remaining events, the Journal says Canada is likely to lead the gold medal count. Journal writer Matthew Futterman says “Suddenly, the gloom and doom over the home team’s underperformance would be an afterthought.”

The 1-2 finish for the Canadian women in bobsled helped boost Canada’s total. Men’s and women’s curling and hockey contests all feature strong Canadian teams.

Worth noting as well that the same medal count predictions show there’s almost nothing that will stand in the way of a US win for overall medal count.