Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
1988 was actually our second best medal year, ever, to that point. Everything Canada has done since in international winter sports is a direct consequence of the 1988 Olympics.
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The biggest reason for Canada's improved performance at the Winter Games is that Canada does well in the sports that have been added to the Olympics since 1988.
In Sochi, Canada took home 10 gold, 10 silver, and 5 bronze. If you take out every sport that wasn't a full medal sport in Calgary, that number drops to 1 gold (hockey), 3 silver (1 speed skating, 2 figure skating), and 2 bronze (alpine & speed skating). The one gold medal would be for Men's Hockey, and even that wasn't the same type of tournament in Calgary as Sochi (both the structure of the tournament was different and Sochi had the inclusion of NHL players).
The addition of freestyle skiing, snowboarding, short track, and curling, plus adding women's competitions for hockey and bobsleigh, as well as NHL participation have all been the main cause of Canada's improved performance at the Winter Games since 1988.
The only two sports where Canada has directly benefitted from the facilities in Calgary are bobsleigh and speed skating. Prior to Calgary, Canada had only one medal in bobsleigh and 11 medals in speed skating (with 5 coming in 1932). Since Calgary, Canada has won 6 medals in bobsleigh and 24 in speed skating. Those numbers pale in comparison to the number of medals Canada has won in the new sports (28 in short track alone).