Winners and losers from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang
By Collin Guiliani // Sports Editor
From Feb. 9 to 25, the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea captured the attention of millions around the globe. With the two-week spectacle having concluded, it’s time to take a look at the winners and losers from the most recent Olympic Games.
LOSER: NBC
For the most part, NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics was a significant improvement on previous editions. Mike Tirico took over as the studio host, replacing longtime host Bob Costas, and did a fantastic job filling these shoes. Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports, stated, “He’s done a terrific job. He is a warm and welcoming host. He is facile with the facts, he is entertaining, and he is compatible with our announcers in the venue and the people who come to the headquarters to do interviews.” Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir took over as the lead figure skating analysts, as well as the analysts for the closing ceremonies, and made the viewing experience more enjoyable, mixing facts in with incredible chemistry and comedic moments.
However, despite all of this, the ratings for these Olympics were not good. Part of that can be attributed to the unfriendly time difference, as the 14-hour time difference between the East Coast of the United States and Peyongchang meant many events took place in the middle of the night for viewers in the States. Part of it can also be attributed to the fact that the two biggest sports historically, men’s hockey and figure skating, were duds, as the United States did not send its professional athletes to the Olympics. Whatever the reason, viewership dropped 17 percent from 2014, and the average primetime audience of 17.8 million was a significant decrease from 2014 (average primetime audience of 21.3 million). It was the least-watched Olympics, and things won’t be getting any easier for NBC anytime soon. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is a 13-hour time difference, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is a 12-hour time difference.
Even when factoring streaming into account, the total audience between 2014 and 2018 dipped seven percent. And even though some might attribute this dip to a plethora of factors outside of NBC’s control, it should be noted that in Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation saw an increase in viewership from the 2014 Olympics of nine percent, despite the fact that the country had disappointing performances in its two most prominent sports (hockey and curling). While NBC stated that these Olympics were profitable, if the network wants to continue to receive profits off of its multi-billion dollar investment, they will need to think of a solution to combat this problem for future Olympics.
WINNER: Women’s Hockey
The women’s hockey competition was a success. The gold medal game between the USA and Canada, which the USA won 3-2 in a shootout, was a success both on and off the ice; not only was the game a classic, but it drew 2.9 million viewers on NBC Sports Network, making it the most watched midnight-hour program in the history of the cable network. While the USA and Canada are still head and shoulders above the rest of the field (since the introduction of this event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, five of the six gold medal games have been played between the USA and Canada), there was more parity at these Olympics than previous years. Japan, a nation that had never won an Olympic game before, won twice in 2018, and the largest margin of victory by any team was eight goals (both Switzerland and Sweden defeated Korea 8-0 in the group stages). By comparison, in 2014, the largest margin of victory was nine goals (USA beat Switzerland 9-0), and in 2010, there were four games where a team scored 10 or more goals, including a game between Canada and Slovakia which the Canadians won 18-0.
This tournament was so promising for the growth of the sport that after the conclusion of this event, it was announced that the tournament would be expanding from eight teams to 10 for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Rene Fasel, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, stated, “I think the women are coming closer.” While there has not been any indication that other teams are dramatically closing the gap on the USA and Canada anytime soon, the gap between other countries is slowly but surely getting narrower, and the increased competition at these Olympic Games were an indication of that.
LOSER: Men’s Hockey
While the women’s tournament was a success, the same cannot be said for the men. For the first time since the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, the NHL did not allow its athletes to compete. This led to the United States getting eliminated in the quarterfinals, while Canada, the gold medalists at the previous two Winter Olympics, only got the bronze medal. Canada, a team that had lost just one game in the previous two Olympics, lost two in 2018. Unsurprisingly, the Olympic Athletes from Russia won, as the Kontinental Hockey League (arguably the second best professional hockey league in the world) allowed its athletes to compete, which led much of the Russian team to be comprised of KHL athletes.
Unfortunately for those who want NHL athletes to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, don’t expect NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to give the green light to this. After the Olympics, Bettman stated, “I don’t know that we want to go to China. I think the Olympics are incredibly disruptive to the season.” NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus admitted that the decision by the NHL to not send its athletes to the Olympics hurt the ratings, and that the decision “is bad for hockey everywhere.” One of the reasons people watch the Olympics is to watch the best athletes in the world compete against each other; with most of the best athletes not able to compete in this competition, however, the competition felt emptier than previous years.
WINNER: Germany
The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were a massive disappointment for the Germans. Since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, which was the first Olympics since the reunification of the country, Germany had never won fewer medals than their 2014 performance. In those Olympics, Germany won eight gold medals (the first time since 1994 in Lillehammer that the country was held to single digits in this category, and the fewest since the reunification), and won just 19 total medals (also the fewest since the reunification). The performance of Germany in 2014 was so poor that one writer for Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public international broadcaster, referred to it as a “historic Olympic debacle.”
However, Germany’s fortunes changed drastically in 2018. The Germans won 14 gold medals, which set the national record for most gold medals at a Winter Olympics, and won 31 total medals, which was the second most in the country’s history, only behind the 36 medals won during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. After not winning any medals in bobsleigh in 2014, Germany led the medal count in this competition in 2018, winning a gold medal in every single bobsleigh event. Germany won the four-man bobsleigh and two-woman bobsleigh gold medals outright, while Germany tied Canada for a share of the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh. After not even qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics and not finishing inside the top 10 since the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Germany won the silver medal in the men’s hockey competition. This was the first time that Germany advanced to the gold medal game, and was the team’s first medal in this event since the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, where Germany won bronze. After only finishing sixth in the overall medal count in 2014 (the first time Germany placed outside the top three since its reunification), Germany returned to form in 2018, finishing second, only behind Norway.
LOSER: Olympic Athletes from Russia
These Olympics were a catastrophic failure for Russia. In 2014, Russia led the way with 29 total medals, and tied with Norway for most gold medals (11). In 2018, however, the Olympic Athletes from Russia placed tied for 13th in the gold medal count with two gold medals, which was the fewest in the country’s history (including its time as the Soviet Union from 1956-88 and the Unified Team in 1992). The reason that Russia could not compete under its own flag this year was due to widespread doping. While the IOC briefly contemplated allowing the athletes to participate in the closing ceremonies under the Russian flag, this ended up not happening after two athletes, curler Alexander Krushelnitskiy and bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, tested positive for doping during these Olympics. From the doping scandal to the failure of the clean athletes that actually competed, it would have been hard for these Olympics to be much worse for the Russians.