The U.S. is 6th in the medal count. That wouldn’t seem to be so bad ... except that we have double the population of numbers one through five combined. Maybe they’re all too stoned in Colorado to compete anymore.
If someone added up the US population in the areas where decent winter sports facilities are available, it would probably be about 1/4 of our total population, if that. But still, several nations with smaller populations no matter how we view it, have always done better in the Winter Olympics.
I think the relative popularity of winter sports in different nations is a major factor in how many good competitors they produce for the Winter Olympics. There are all sorts of sports in US to take up kids’ time, sports developed here and those imported like soccer.
The Nordic countries... throw in Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Italy... look at the mix of sports. Luge? Bobsledding? Not much there for Americans not living in the Rockies or Sierra Nevadas.
How many medals has India won?
The Winter Games are primarily made up of sport Americans aren’t interested in. When a population isn’t interested in a sport their best athletes don’t play it, when the best athletes don’t play it the country does poorly in international competition, which helps retard interest in the sport. We stink at these sports the other 3 years too.