Each day during the Winter Games, THE DAILY offers our take on the business performances of some of the people, sponsors, broadcasters and other entities around Sochi.
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GOLD: NHL -- The NHL cannot get enough credit for being willing to shut down its league and allow players to participate in the Olympics. That cannot be an easy decision. It is one thing for the NBA to offer up players during the offseason, but it is a completely different prospect for a multibillion-dollar sport to shut its doors for more than two weeks so players can represent their countries.
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SILVER: TRACY BARNES -- Tracy is the U.S. biathlete who gave up her spot on the Olympic team to her twin sister Lanny, who was sick during qualification. Tracy, an '06 Olympian, felt Lanny, who this week makes her third Olympic appearance, would be more competitive in Sochi. This type of sportsmanship, sacrifice and love defies words.
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BRONZE: GUINNESS -- Fantastic job by the brewer to tap into the story of the Barnes sisters with its "Made of More" campaign. The Guinness spot featuring the two only lived 48 hours because of the IOC's Rule 40 limitations, but it still attracted 600,000 views and more than 4 million media impressions. It also continues to have a life on YouTube. Good, nimble work.
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TIN: IOC -- Russia should not be the only one getting a black eye for how much these Games are costing and how ill-prepared the region was to host them. An equal amount of blame should rest with the IOC for awarding the Games to Sochi in the first place. It was an ill-advised decision, and with Rio reportedly behind even further than Sochi in its preparation, these types of decisions should be viewed as black marks on the entire Olympic movement.
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