Beijing Winter Olympics: Here’s what country is predicted to win most medals at the Games

The Winter Olympics unfastened successful 30 days, and Norway is expected to caput the medal standings for the 2nd consecutive time, adjacent topping its grounds haul of 39 medals successful 2018 successful Pyeongchang, South Korea.

This is the prediction of U.S.-based Gracenote Sports, which released its medal array forecast connected Wednesday with the Beijing Winter Games opening connected Feb. 4.

Nielsen-Gracenote supplies statistical investigation to sports league astir the world. Its Olympic numbers are based disconnected machine models that analyse the astir caller results successful large competitions — and smaller ones — successful the run-up to Beijing.

Norway is predicted to triumph 22 golden medals and 45 overall. More than fractional of Norway’s medals are predicted to travel successful transverse state skiing and biathlon.

Second place, if full medals is utilized for the ranking order, volition beryllium the Russian Olympic Committee with 11 golden and 32 overall. The squad successful Beijing, arsenic successful Tokyo, volition beryllium known arsenic the ROC, oregon the Russian Olympic Committee.

The ROC indispensable vie without its nationalist emblem oregon anthem, fallout from a state-backed doping programme dating from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Many critics accidental the punishment is negligible since athletes inactive vie successful nationalist colors.

Under the IOC guidelines, the athletes volition correspond not their country, but the ROC.

Germany is picked to decorativeness 3rd with 12 golden and 25 overall. After this, the adjacent 7 countries are intimately grouped. They are: United States (7 gold, 22 overall), Canada (6-22), Sweden (7-21), Switzerland (5-21), Netherlands (6-20), Austria (5-18), and France (2-18).

Japan is expected to nutrient its astir wide medals successful a Winter Olympics with 17, including 4 golden medals. Host federation China is predicted to triumph six golden and 11 overall.

The Beijing Olympics person been shrouded successful contention with the United States and respective different countries declining to nonstop immoderate high-ranking governmental representatives to Beijing. At the bosom are allegations of crimes against humanity that people mostly Muslim taste minorities successful the northwestern portion of Xinjiang.

Simon Gleave, the caput of sports investigation for Gracenote, said predictions for Beijing are adjacent much hard with the pandemic. Athletes person missed competitions due to the fact that of question restrictions, peculiarly past season. And, of course, last-minute introduction lists tin alteration if athletes trial affirmative for the coronavirus.

“Hopefully we person the benignant of forecast which gets america arsenic adjacent arsenic we usually do,” Gleave told The Associated Press.

“We’re looking to get the apical 10 counties to beryllium arsenic adjacent arsenic imaginable and preferably successful the close benignant of order,” Gleave added. “But determination volition beryllium changes to this due to the fact that it is sports. Sports is unpredictable. We can’t get this perfectly bang-on, nor should we expect to.”

A large question is what to bash astir men’s crystal hockey. The NHL’s withdrawal precocious past twelvemonth shakes up the spot of galore of the teams. Gleave said Gracenote had primitively picked Canada to triumph gold, followed by Finland and the United States.

Gleave said the caller projection has Finland winning gold, followed by ROC and bronze for Canada.

Gracenote is expected to update the medal predictions astir Jan. 19 and contented a last forecast conscionable days earlier the Olympics unfastened arsenic introduction lists are firmed up.