The Colorado medal count so far: three

As the Olympics roll into their final week, it looks as if things have settled down -- nobody's dying anymore, Bode rose from the dead, and the US has been racking up the medals (we lead the field with 25 total). But with 19 Colorado Olympians, how many Rocky Mountain...

By Ted Alvarez

February 24, 2010

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As the Olympics roll into their final week, it looks as if things have settled down -- nobody's dying anymore, Bode rose from the dead, and the US has been racking up the medals (we lead the field with 25 total). But with 19 Colorado Olympians, how many Rocky Mountain athletes are responsible for bringing home the cheddar?

A grand whopping total of two Coloradans have brought home the bacon. Lindsey Vonn alone is responsible for two of them -- a gold in downhill and a bronze in Super G. This fact is diminished slightly when you consider this year's golden girl is technically from Minnesota.

That leaves Steamboat's Johnny Spillane as our other metallic closer, with a silver in the Nordic Combined. He gets extra points, though, because it's the first Nordic Combined medal ever won by an American athlete, and only our third for any Nordic sport. Not bad for a boy who grew up ski jumping near Howelson Hill.

There's still a week left, so maybe Colorado can catch up and add some medals to the tally. Our best hope probably comes from Avs players Paul Stastny and Peter Forsberg (famous flameouts so far include Aspenites Gretchen Blieler and figure skater Jeremy Abbot).

This National Geographic article posits that Western skiers can't close the deal because they're too busy freeskiing and chasing wide open spaces, but that's bullsh ... gotta go! My ride to Wolf Creek is here!

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