2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics are almost over, just one more Cross Country Ski Race today, and then the final showdown of the games, U.S. vs. Canada in Hockey. The U.S. grabbed one more gold medal yesterday in the 4-Man Bobsled race, led by driver Steve Holcomb. It marked the first time that the U.S. won the 4-Man Bobsled event since Francis Tyler drove the U.S. to gold at the 1948 St. Moritz Games.
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(steve holcomb, with beard, and teammates on the u.s. bobsled team)

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Whether or not Bobsledding is a real sport, we'll get into in a couple of days, but for now, we're taking a look at the overall medal count and the changing face of world-wide sports. Much has been made of the lack of medals won by former sports juggernaut Russia, and the changing of the guard in certain sports. The 2010 Vancouver Games marked the first time since 1960 that Russia didn't win the Pairs Figure Skating, it marked the first time since 1964 that a American woman didn't medal in Ladies Figure Skating, it marked the first time ever that the U.S. won medals in Nordic Combined Events, etc., etc. An obvious answer as to why some countries are "catching up" to other formerly dominant countries in some sports is because our world is simply becoming more open.
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(francis tyler driving the u.s. to 4-man bobsleigh gold in 1948)
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With the internet and an ever-growing world-wide media, even third world countries can now watch these sports for the first time and take an interest in participating in them. And as those third world and industrially developing countries find the capital, they can begin to assemble teams for these new sports. But a bigger, and maybe uglier, answer is the fact that with the break-up of the Soviet Union, many of the athletes who formerly won medals for the Soviet Union now compete for other countries. The ugly part comes in the knowledge that the Soviet Union used to dope the hell out of their athletes. Remember the monstrously huge East German women of the 1970's? With better doping tests and therefore fewer juiced athletes competing at the Olympics, it certainly levels the playing field for all the athletes.
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(the gold medal winning u.s. 4-man bobsled)