USOC chief keeping silence about Olympic medal prediction

RICHMOND, British Columbia – At long last, Mike English is making a prediction for the Olympics: He won’t predict the medal count for the upstart but underdog Americans.

The U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief of sport performance remained mum Monday about the chances of 216 Americans against heavily favored Canada and battle-tested Germany heading into the Vancouver Games, which begin Friday.

English has followed protocol established by his predecessor, Steve Roush, who declined to put a number on U.S. performance at his final Olympics, in 2008 in Beijing, where the Americans beat China 110-100 in the total-medal count and lost 51-36 in the gold-medal tally. The USOC’s new chief executive officer, Scott Blackmun, also has kept quiet.

It might not be a bad strategy, considering the U.S. probably needs at least 30 medals for a victory over Canada, which invested $110 million in the Own the Podium program, and Germany, which took home the most medals (29) and the most golds (11) in 2006.

English said, “We’ve got a range of numbers. … It would be foolish to say we haven’t. We do. We have some estimation of where we think we’re going to fall.”

To avoid falling on its face, the U.S. must bring its best in its strongest winter sports, like skiing, where Lindsey Vonn of Vail is a gold-medal favorite in two events; speedskating, where Shani Davis could have two golds to his name; and snowboarding, where it would be major upsets if Gretchen Bleiler and Shaun White don’t claim gold in the halfpipe.

English is most encouraged by breakthroughs in Nordic combined, led by Billy Demong, and biathlon, sparked by Tim Burke. Plus, U.S. bobsledders and lugers have proven to be contenders, and the Americans always have been powerful in figure skating and women’s ice hockey. “The other nations certainly know we’re here,” English said.

“It’s really performance,” English added. “When it comes down to it, the Olympic Games and the theater of the Olympics, a lot of different things happen than what normally does. As long as the athletes stay focused on performance, it will come.”