Three keys to greater glory

The curtain comes down on the Vancouver Winter Olympics today and China's ladies and men of the snow and ice can take a bow for doing their nation proud.

The team in red claimed a national record 11 Winter Games medals, including five of the most prized hue.

If you want to rank countries by medals won, that tally puts China equal eighth with France overall. If your benchmark is golds won, then the country's handful sets it in a tie with Sweden in seventh place.