It doesn’t matter whether you sort by most medals or most golds, Norway established itself as the Kingdom of Winter.

Their total is a bit deceptive in that 20 Norwegians took medals in Biathlon. That’s 14 different events, two of which were 4-person team victories. Who even knew that many Biathlon medals were available? Maybe next Winter Olympics they can add 20 different herring-eating events, and pad that count even more.

But I’m not deprecating their achievement. To win that many medals, with such a small population to draw from, is a truly impressive achievement. In fact, I believe every single Norwegian citizen won an Olympic medal.

In the last analysis, a medal is a medal. Pickleball and badminton are not grueling sports and I don’t have to get up at five AM for running and weight training, but my medals in the Senior Olympics count just the same as the ones earned in the really demanding sports like triathlon. (Believe it or not, beach volleyball is the hardest senior sport, not because it’s so demanding, although it is demanding enough. The reason it is so grueling is that one can only defeat a single team at a time. Triathletes basically compete in a single race, establish their time, and then it’s over, while beach volleyball teams have to keep playing opponent after opponent in a short stretch of time, and they have to do that on sand, which is really hard work. I get sore just thinking about it.)

Anyway, getting back to the point, an Olympic medal is a tremendous achievement, and many Norwegians are flying home with them.