Inward-looking U.S. blasé about Pyeongchang

As with every Olympics, the Americans expected to own Pyeongchang. From the size of their team to the size of their gloves, the United States would be first among rivals.

The 243 American athletes were the most any country has ever sent to the Winter Games. Their heated parkas, designed by Ralph Lauren at US$2,500 each, would keep them a few degrees warmer; their cartoonish, fringed suede gloves would dissolve the poetic distance between reach and grasp.

Lindsey Vonn would dazzle as the world’s greatest woman alpine skier. Her youthful usurper, Mikaela Shiffrin, would win an unprecedented three — maybe four — gold medals. Nathan Chen would perform his revolutionary series of quadruple jumps in men’s figure skating.

But Vonn settled for a single bronze medal, smiling gamely through tears. Shiffrin withdrew from one race and came fourth in another, earning one gold and one silver medal. Chen tumbled spectacularly, landing far from the podium.

Chen’s fall, Vonn’s farewell and Shiffrin’s failing were the emblem of America’s underwhelming Olympics. The U.S. finished in fourth place with 23 medals, its worst Winter Games since 1998.

While the U.S. does not dominate here as it does in the Summer Games, it is reliably high in the medal count. In 2014, it was second with 28 medals. In 2010, it led with 37 medals. In 2006, it was second with 25. In 2002, it was second with 34.

Its fourth place in South Korea was behind Norway (39 medals), Germany (31 medals) and Canada (29 medals). Privately, the Americans hoped for 37 medals and expected at least 25.

Strangely, though, in a country as competitive as this one, its showing scarcely matters. Americans are less interested in the Winter Games, which is why television ratings were down.

A more telling measure of this Olympic ennui: Over 16 days of competition, Donald Trump virtually ignored the Games on Twitter — other than to congratulate the U.S. women’s hockey team for beating Canada.

How could this be? Is sports-obsessed America cooling on the Winter Games? Is it global warming ? Unlike Canada, which convenes a Royal Commission if it loses a hockey game, there is no hair-pulling or pearl-clutching here.

In a way, the new indifference reflects the rise of nativism, protectionism and isolationism in this country. Americans are becoming as blasé about winter sports as their president is about foreign trade, which is economically so insignificant to the U.S. that it can leave NAFTA with a shrug and a wave.

It’s also about being big, confident and parochial. Baseball, America’s national sport, boasts the World Series ( but does not invite the world). Football calls its championship the Super Bowl, the superlative of superlatives.

When Trump promises to “Make America Great Again,” though, the Winter Olympics is his opportunity. When he welcomes Norwegians ( but not Haitians) to the United States, he surely means their world-beating athletes.

Trump should love the Winter Games. They’re the real thing. You cannot fake it (assuming you’re not doping). You win, place or show. Period. In a world of ersatz, the Olympics are authenticity; in world of mediocrity, they are excellence.

Certainly the United States had its moments in Pyeongchang: its dogged victory in women’s hockey; its surprising triumph in men’s curling; its cast of quirky snowboarders. (Every time a blissful dude boasted that he’d “put down” another run, I wanted to be put down, too.)

In Canada, like other lesser countries seeing themselves in the world, our commitment to international sports grows. In sports, in fact, we’re becoming less North American and more Nordic. Our inspiration here is Norway, as it should be in social welfare, income equality, women’s rights, development assistance and infrastructure.

For the Americans — big, loud, swaggering — international legitimacy matters less in sports.

The Winter Games are a nice show, but Trump’s America is just as happy to play at home.