Historically the Norwegians are just where they should be in the Sochi medal count. The Norwegians have a record 107 Golds in Winter Olympics competition. The Americans are No. 2 in Golds and Silvers (behind Norway) and No. 3 in bronze medals (behind Norway and Austria). Overall, the U.S. is No. 2 in the medal count behind the Norwegians.
We can take all of those population totals and forget about them. It really comes down to the per capita involvement in competition winter sports, and when it comes to that, Norway has a stranglehold on that record and is not likely to give it up. The country has a deeply engrained sports culture, and has organized competitions at every level encouraging young talent,
I found this interesting tidbit - 700,000 Norwegians over the age of 18 (in a country with a total population of just 5 million) own two or more pair of skis that are in frequent use. Norwegians, according to the survey, have the most pairs of cross-country skis per capita in the world. An astonishing 70 percent of Norwegians have at least one pair of cross-country skis.