Which olympic record would you rather have?

[Sports Guy]

This year, Canada set a winter Olympic record by having 14 gold medals.

Also this year, the USA set a record with 37 overall medals at the winter Olympics.

So, which record would you rather have?

Would you rather be the country that was the best more than anyone else or the country that was the deepest across the board?

[Mackus]

Most golds.

[elsid]

Most golds.

I definitely see your point, but my thing with the most golds is that it could all be (or nearly be one person). Granted it wasn't for Canada. However, in a Michael Phelps sort of way, you could dominate golds and not have very much else to show for it. That wouldn't necessarily mean that your country was better, due to the golds, but it would mean that one person was (could be) extraordinarily better. The rest of the country could be, meh.

[DuffMan]

I definitely see your point, but my thing with the most golds is that it could all be (or nearly be one person). Granted it wasn't for Canada. However, in a Michael Phelps sort of way, you could dominate golds and not have very much else to show for it. That wouldn't necessarily mean that your country was better, due to the golds, but it would mean that one person was (could be) extraordinarily better. The rest of the country could be, meh.

Using that same logic you could make the same case for total medals. I mean look at Ohno the guy picked up 3 medals and not one was gold.

[TGO]

I said most overall.

My reason is that the difference between first and second in so many sports is often so slim that the slightest factors can swing the result. You can easily lose by .03 seconds or an eighth of a point or something like that, with the difference in time sometimes being entirely due to environmental conditions. Two skiiers could ski the exact same line and finish 5 hundredths apart because one went before the other when the snow was fresher. Same with the sliding sports and the ice.

Yes, these slim differences can also separate third place from fourth place, but I think certain countries prove themselves time and again to be capable of getting onto the podium more than anyone else, and that is definitely due to skill.

[Dr. FLK]

As long as I get the gold in Curling, I don't care what else happens.

[Don Quixote]

I was pretty incensed at how that turned out. The U.S. really needs to step it up in 2014.

(That would be the curling.)

As far as the medal count goes, of course I would want it both ways, but if forced to choose I would lean towards overall, especially if the gold count was still relatively close.