Historically, the United States is the greatest Summer Olympic nation. That is not quite the case in winter sports.
The United States has led the medal count at the Winter Games only twice — once as host at the 1932 Lake Placid Games and again at the 2010 Vancouver Games. (Canada actually won more golds as the host nation in 2010 while the United States enjoyed comfortable circumstances as a neighboring nation.)
In the Summer Olympics, the U.S. has topped the medal chart 19 out of 29 times (excluding the 1980 Games, which the U.S. boycott). The U.S. has led the medal count 66 percent of Summer Games compared to about about eight percent of Winter Games. The discrepancy in dominance is significant.
In winter, it is the nation of Norway that has imposed its will on the world.
Norway has the most gold medals (148) and total medals (405) in Winter Olympics history. Going into these Games in Italy, Norway leads both categories by a wide margin, with 75 more total medals than the U.S. in second place and 34 more gold medals than the U.S.
| Rank | Country | Gold/Total Medals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | 148/405 |
| 2 | United States | 114/330 |
| 3 | Germany | 105/267 |
| 4 | Austria | 71/250 |
| 5 | Canada | 77/225 |
Considering the country of Norway has a smaller population than 23 individual states within America, the Nordic country's dominance is especially impressive.
Historically, the United States has struggled in more endurance- and technical-based Winter Olympic sports, such as ski jumping, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and curling. The U.S has less than five gold medals in all these events combined. However, the U.S. has enjoyed plenty of success in the skiing, snowboarding and sliding sports. The United States is the most dominant nation in snowboard disciplines (17 gold medals) and is in the upper echelon of nations in sliding sports such as bobsled, luge and skeleton (11 golds).
For the United States, hosting the 2002 Salt Lake City Games served as a long-term catalyst for development and growth. The legacy of those Games led to increased revenue for training venues and increased popularity of winter sports in the United States. The Olympic Games are set to return to Salt Lake City in 2034, providing another opportunity for the United States to sharpen its winter-sport sword on home turf.