Canada famously invested a ton of money and effort into making the Vancouver Olympics the country’s “best ever,” and now, with the games officially concluded, the prolonged analysis of our success in achieving that goal begins.

Most Canadians consider the men’s gold medal in hockey the most important prize of all, so that’s a huge check in the scorecard (the women’s gold too, though to a much lesser extent). We also won impressive gold-medal victories in curling, figure skating, speed skating, and skiing.

The games brought an unprecedented amount of intention attention on Vancouver and Canada, most of it positive, and the influx of foreign visitors was predictably lucrative for the city’s local merchants (with their $8 hot dogs). The abundance of over-the-top, drunken patriotism that filled the streets has also been warmly praised by much of the Canadian commentariat, who view it as an inspiring manifestation of optimistic 21st Century national pride.

The only real sticking point amid all the positive spin is the uncomfortable fact that Canada did not win the most medals, placing third overall (26), behind the USA (37) and Germany (30).

OR DID WE? Even though the overall medal count has been the traditional way to determine Olympic success, there’s now a growing counter-consensus that argues the country that wins the most golds is the true winner. And by that standard Canada is indeed number one, with 14 to Germany’s 10 and America’s 9. So in a way, it’s a double-blessing. Not only does Canada still have a way to claim victory, but the way in which we claim victory involves lots of traditional Canadian nit-picking and semantic squabbling!