How Garlic Girls and bobsledders helped Olympic host country South Korea set medals record

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – The final medal count at the Pyeongchang Games features no major surprises among the top five. Norway may have cleaned up, exceeding even its own internal baseline for success with 39 total medals, but Norway has long been a Winter Games powerhouse.

The Norwegians were followed Germany, Canada, the USA and Netherlands. The USA claimed 23 medals, nine of them gold, and the total could have been more: More than two dozen Olympians finished between fourth and sixth.

Then came host Korea, tied with the Olympic Athletes from Russia in sixth overall with 17 medals – the country’s best showing in Winter Games history. Beyond the raves earned for its performance as host, Korea asserted itself as an Olympic contender in speedskating, on the sliding track and even, in a surprise, in curling.

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Korean teams took two additional medals during Sunday’s competition. In women's curling, Korea finished in silver, with the team’s torrid run into medal contention ending with an 8-3 defeat against Sweden. Even without a gold, the team known as the Garlic Girls because of what their home region is known for, capture the country's imagination.  A bobsled piloted by Won Yun-jong tied for silver in four-man competition.

Most medals came in long-track and short-track speedskating, long Korea’s strongest Winter Games events. Koreans accounted for six medals in short track, three of them gold, and another seven in long track.

Snowboarder Lee Sang-ho won silver in men's parallel giant slalom and slider Yun Sung-bin dominated the men’s skeleton competition in taking gold.

Every host country tends to see an uptick in performance at the Olympics, whether in the summer or winter, and Korea was no different. Russia won 29 medals at the 2014 Sochi Games, 15 more than four years earlier. And Canada paced the medal count with 14 golds as the host at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Yet those two nations are established Winter Games frontrunners. For Korea, on the other hand, success here in Pyeongchang – even for those Olympians who merely exceeded expectations without landing on the medal podium – could carry over to the 2022 Beijing Games and beyond.

“When we first started the bobsled we didn’t expect this score at all,” said Won Yun-Jong. “We thought that the western players would get the medal and they got all the good scores and that Asians could not even compete with them. But now, we have been improving a lot.”