In honor of the introduction of two-woman bobsledding to the Olympics, Laughton.org is pleased to announce its first team contest:

What is the object?
To predict which countries will win the most medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Who can play?
Anybody with an e-mail account.

What does it cost?
Nothing; games at Laughton.org are always free.

What do I win?
Not much more than the glory of victory itself. A small prize will be awarded to each member of the winning team. Winners of previous contests have received T-shirts, tea, or CDs. Occasionally winners have refused their prizes once they actually saw the T-shirts, tea, or CDs. Laughton.org does not guarantee satisfaction.

How do I play?
First, find a teammate. This is a contest for two-person teams. Each team member must send an email to contest@laughton.org no later than 11:59pm eastern standard time on February 8, 2002, in this form:

That's pretty simple. What's the catch?
Well, there are a few rules...

1. Find a teammate. This is a two-person team competition.
2. Select one of the team members to be the captain. The person who is selected as captain doesn't get to give any orders - that's my job - but the captain will have a special duty later, so don't forget who it is. The other person can have any title the two of you can agree upon. Creativity is encouraged, but it won't affect your score.
3. Name your team. Do not choose a vulgar or obscene name. Do not choose a name longer than 32 characters. Spaces are characters. Don't vex me or I'll disqualify you.
4. Each team member must make a list of ten countries according to the following scheme:
   • Select the countries competing in the 2002 Winter Olympics that you think will win the most medals. Total medal count is what matters, not whether the medals are gold, silver, or bronze. List the countries in a column, ordering them in decreasing number of expected medals. That is, put the one you expect to win the most medals at the top, the one you expect to win the second greatest number of medals in the second position, and so forth. The list must have ten entries, but not necessarily ten different countries (see The Nordic Exemption below). Be sure to read the scoring method before you decide how to compose your list.

5. Team members must compare lists and ensure that no country appears in the same position on both of their lists. A single country may appear on both lists in different positions, but putting the same country in the same position on both lists will result in immediate disqualification.
6. The captain must add one more item to his or her entry that will be used to break any ties. Predict the combined winning time (sum of 2 runs) of the winner of the two-woman bobsled competition. Since this is the first time women have competed in bobsled in the Winter Olympics, there are no previous times on which to base your guess. All bobsled courses are different, so previous times aren't much of a guide anyway. However, you may want to know that the combined time (sum of 4 runs) for the two-man bobsled winners in 1998 was 3 minutes 37.24 seconds (Canada and Italy tied).

   Here are examples of valid and invalid entries:

• The Heads of Skate have submitted valid lists. The captain's entry has a bobsled time prediction of 1 minute and 00.00 seconds. Although the team members have selected many of the same countries, no country appears in the same position in both their lists. The team captain has entered Switzerland three times on his list; this is perfectly legal.

• The Micro Moguls are disqualified because Russia appears on both lists in position #1.

7. Each team member must send his or her list individually by e-mail to contest@laughton.org; the entry must be in the body of the e-mail, not an attachment. You must include your team name and the list of countries, putting the name and each country on a separate line. The captain must also include a time prediction for the women's bobsled winner. If both entries for a team contain a time prediction, the team will be disqualified. If neither entry for a team contains a time prediction, the team will be disqualified. The team name on both entries for a team must be exactly the same - how else can I match them up? I'm not completely devoid of flexibility: you can put anything you want in the subject field of your e-mail (but if it's rude, I may disqualify you anyway).
8. Only one entry will be accepted from any e-mail address. However, if you have more than one address, you may join different teams and enter once from each address. If you want to use your multiple addresses to pretend to be both members of a single team, seek professional help.
9. If you want, you can add some text describing your team at the bottom of your e-mail; this text will appear on the webpage when results are posted. It may be fun to tell the world who the team members are, what inspired your team name, or what city you're from. Anything other than the required items described in #7 above may be considered descriptive text, so do not add extraneous comments to your e-mail. Each member of a team may add some text to his or her entry (make certain it does not look suspiciously like a second bobsled time prediction), but the webpage will look neater if you agree on what you want to say and just send it in one entry. Keep it short.
10. Send the e-mail so that it arrives at Laughton.org no later than 11:59pm U.S. eastern standard time on February 8, 2002. That's 3:59 in the afternoon to you folks in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and St. Petersburg, Russia, so don't dawdle.

The Nordic Exemption:
Ever since the Lillehammer Uprising of 1994, I have allowed Norwegians (and everyone else) to put the same country in as many positions as they like in contest entries. Go ahead, put Norway in positions 1 through 10 if you want. Just make sure that your teammate doesn't do the same, or I'll disqualify you both. If you're Norwegian, you may want to seek a non-Norwegian teammate.

The I-Have-To-Read-These-Things Decree:
Entries must be in English and must be clear. You may use abbreviations for the country names, but if I don't understand them, I'll disqualify you. If you send me an entry full of HTML gobbledegook, I'll disqualify you. If you send me more than two entries for a team, I'll disqualify you. If you send me only one entry for a team, I'll feel sorry for you because you couldn't find a teammate, and then I'll disqualify you.

Scoring:
As with all of my games, scoring is complicated.

Teams will score points according to how well they predict the FINAL medal standings. Although I plan to post interim results throughout the Olympic games as medals are won, scores are not cumulative: only the medal counts at the end of the competition will be used to determine the winner of this contest.

A team scores points when they correctly predict the position of one of the top ten medal-winning countries. The number of points varies by position: correctly predicting position #1 earns you 1 point, correctly predicting position #2 earns you 2 points, etc. The points correspond to the country's position in your list, not necessarily the same as its position in the official Olympic results, which are compiled according to medal type and may include ties. A team's score is the sum of all points on both its entries. You get no points at all for incorrect positions, not even if they're really close.

It's likely that, by total medal count, two or more countries will tie for a position. In such an event, all entries that have one of the tied countries in the correct position will score points. For example, if Sweden, Norway, and Denmark all tie for first place, they jointly occupy the first three positions in the ranking (the country that follows them is ranked fourth). An entry listing Sweden, Norway, or Denmark in any of the first three positions will score points in each of those positions; if the entry listed Sweden in positions 1, 2, and 3, then it would score points for all three positions.

No points will be awarded for countries that win no medals, even if they occupy one of the top ten positions. That is, if only nine countries have won medals, don't expect to score points for putting Fiji in position 10.

Highest team score wins. In the event of a tie, the team whose prediction is closest to the combined time (sum of 2 runs) of the winning two-woman bobsled team will be declared the winner. The smallest absolute difference between the prediction and the actual time will win; if you're a minute off, it doesn't matter whether you're a minute over or a minute under.

Confused about scoring? Here are some hypothetical examples.

Results:
I will post the current standings of all teams on this page as often as practical. Expect delays - I'll be traveling during the Olympics (but not to Utah), and I may not always have access to the internet.

Medal counts will be taken from The Washington Post website (www.washingtonpost.com). Shortly after the end of the Olympic games, I will post the final results and announce the winners and their prizes. Winners will be contacted by e-mail to arrange delivery of the prizes.

For your convenience, I have stored concise 1998 Winter Olympic results here.