Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Game

The IOC Can't Take Away Doper's Medals, But We Can!

Feb 26, 6:00 PM MST - It took the FasterSkier.com Olympic Game Jury quite a while to decide how to score the final results of the game. They were faced with a huge decision: Do we award medals based on the Official IOC Medal Standings? This method would give points for doper's medals to those who picked Spain and Russia. Or should we award the points based on the real race winners, giving points only for medals won by clean athletes? Morally, we wanted to do the latter. But on the other hand, what if someone had factored in the IOC's lack of a spine regarding doping issues when they chose their countries? They can't be faulted for that.

So, following the lead of the International Figure Skating Union, we decided to have two sets of results: The Real Results and the Legal Results.

We then decided that the Official Winner of the game should come from the Real Results, where all of Muehlegg, Lazutina, and Danilova's medals have been taken away and given to Scott, Alsgaard, Estil, etc. If the IOC can't do it, we decided that we should. That means that Linda Blumberg staged a last second victory, leapfrogging over Peter Dufault due to Per Eloffson's Bronze medal in the Pursuit. Hans Sjulstad came in third. For the win, Linda's prize is a coveted Roots Team USA Beret.

But in recognition of his accurate guessing according to the IOC's Legal Results, Peter Dufault also gets a prize. He won the legal results, ahead of Blumberg and Sjulstad. He wins a Bjorn Daehlie Technical Wear Fleece Hat, given out at Bjorn's press conference on Feb 7.

Of course, there are still rumors that more positive tests might be revealed. In that unfortunate case, we will recalculate all the results based on the findings.

Congratulations to all and thanks for playing!

See the Official "Real" Results

See the IOC's Legal Results

Here is how the game works. Each nation participating in the game has been assigned a penalty based on their chances for winning medals. This penalty was determined using medal counts from the 1992, 1994, and 1998 Olympics, plus consideration of medal potential for this year.

To participate in the game, you choose three countries you think will gain you the most points. Points are awarded as follows:
For each medal awarded during the games to one of your countries, Five (5) points will be awarded for a Gold Medal, Four (4) points for a Silver, and three (3) points for a Bronze. Then, your total medal points for each nation will be multiplied by the respective penalties to come up with your total points.

For example:
If you choose the United States as one of your countries and the USA wins 5 gold, 5 silver, and 5 bronze medals, your points for USA would be calculated as follows:

Whoever has the most points at the end of the games wins! Good luck. You can enter at any time until Monday February 11, but you will only get credit for medals in events that START after you submit your entry.

A scoreboard with current results will be posted every day or two during the games. Check back then.

Disclaimer: Though we will try to make this game as fair as possible, this is our first time trying something like this, so please bear with us. We can accept a maximum of 50 entries. In special circumstances, we might have to adjust penalties after the game has started (we will try not to). We will post updates points lists as often as possible, probably every other day.