Which Country Came in Last Most Often?

Maybe Italian athletes don't like the pasta in Canada. Italy is taking home only five medals this year, its worst winter performance since the Olympics were held in Calgary in 1988. To add insult to injury, Italy's competitors came in dead last in six different events, more than any other country besides Canada, which at least walks off with 14 gold medals.

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Reuters

But as we've continued our tally of last-place finishes, awarding less-precious "metals" to athletes bringing up the rear—lead medals to those who finish last, tin for second-to-last and zinc to the third-to-last—it was Russia that clunked home with 19 total medals, more than any other nation. Sadly, this is four more than the number of real medals it earned. (In our tally we didn't count anyone who didn't finish or was disqualified, and score differential was used for team tournaments.) But at least Russia can blame a sizable delegation at the Games for its poor showings. Ukraine, Latvia and Poland have no such excuse—all three were in the top 10 in last-place finishes despite having 60 or fewer athletes each.

For some countries—especially those in warmer climates—scoring these dubious medals was still quite a feat. Iran earned two lead medals, thanks to Marjan Kalhor, who finished last in two Alpine-skiing events. And Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, nicknamed the "Snow Leopard," earned a tin medal in the men's slalom. Let's cut him some slack: He's Ghana's first-ever Winter Olympian.

Write to Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@dowjones.com

Dubious Medalists

Here are the countries that had the most last-place finishes (lead), second-to-last (tin) and third-to-last (zinc).

Country

Lead

Tin

Zinc

Total

Russia

2

6

11

19

U.S.

4

8

5

17

Canada

6

5

3

14

Czech Republic

4

2

8

14

Italy

6

3

4

13

Japan

5

5

1

11

Poland

4

2

5

11

Ukraine

4

3

2

9

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