Emery Lehman

Which Jew has won the most medals in the Winter Olympics? Obviously, no one is gonna come close to matching the summer record of 11 by Mark Spitz, but surely someone is gonna be up there!

Nope. Not even close. It doesn't help that the vast majority of winter sports (biathlon, ski jumping, whatever the hell Nordic combined is, etc, etc) have never had a Jewish participant medalist. Even skiing, in both the cross-country and alpine variety! (Okay, we expected alpine.)

What does that leave us with? A four-way tie with... two. (Unless one counts Mikaela Shiffrin, but, alas, we only got her as "Barely a Jew".) The list: American Irving Jaffee, two speed skating golds back in 1932. Hungarian pair figure skaters Emilia Rotter and Laszlo Szollas, bronzes in 1932 and 1936. Speed skater Rafael Grach of the USSR, silver+bronze (1956+1960). That's it!

Or is it? Meet speed skater Emery Lehman. He is skating in the 1500 meters, where he finished 11th four years ago. So Lehman is unlikely to medal there, but, for him, it's all about the team pursuit. He won a bronze four years ago, and the Americans are favored to get gold this time around, since they are two-time defending world champions and current record holders.

So, Lehman has a chance to become... (drumroll) THE GREATEST JEWISH WINTER ATHLETE EVER (tied)! Stay tuned to the profile update during the Olympics!

(Editor's update: He got a silver, so now... tied.)