Through Saturday (95 total events)

Russia United States Norway Canada Netherlands Germany Austria France Sweden Switzerland China South Korea Czech Republic Slovenia Japan Italy Belarus Poland Finland Britain Australia Latvia Ukraine Slovakia Croatia Kazakhstan

G11 9 11 9 8 8 4 4 2 6 3 3 2 2 1 0 5 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

S10 7 5 10 7 6 8 4 6 3 4 3 4 2 4 2 0 1 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 0

B8 11 10 5 9 5 5 7 6 2 2 2 2 4 3 6 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 29 27 26 24 24 19 17 15 14 11 9 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 1 1 1 neck with several countries for the final overall medal haul and total golds until sagging at the end. (Saturday was the first day of the Games that the U.S. didn’t win a single medal.)

Not that many years ago, it seemed like any U.S. medal at a Winter Olympics was a big deal. In Sochi, we’re complaining about fallen stars and underachieving hockey teams. Yet an American, Erin Hamlin, won an Olympic singles luge medal for the first time. A terrific ice dancing team, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, won the first U.S. gold in that event. Alpine stars Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso stayed tough and found their way to the podium, again.

And so the stage in Pyeongchang, South Korea, four years from now, is set for Shiffrin, Gracie Gold and others just now starting to realize their dreams.

“It has been a dream,” said hockey player Julie Chu, who will carry the U.S. flag tonight in the closing ceremony. “Our women’s team won in 1998, and I was hooked for life. At that point I don’t know if I had the belief that I would make it to the Olympics because they seemed like people who were untouchable.

“A lot of things fell into place, and I made my first Olympics in 2002. The athletes on the 1998 team were suddenly my friends and I was blown away by how humble they were. They taught me to appreciate what the Olympics was all about.”

That doesn’t sound like a loser to me.