Who is winning the Olympics?
I am sure most athletes only care about their individual performance, but for the billions of people of people watching their country everyone is keen to see how their country is doing.
Winning a gold medal does not usually come without a cost, either through sponsorship or government funding, so it is not surprising they want to see a return on their investment.
I noticed on the NBC Olympic website that the United States is leading the medal table, with China coming second. On our own medal table we have China on top, which is the same as the official Olympic website. We are ranking country by the most number of golds, while the NBC table counts countries by the most number of medals.
I thought this might be just NBC’s way of keeping US viewers interested in the Olympics, but I found this article which posed the exact same question, as to who is winning the Olympics.
The article says:
The split has its roots in the early days of the Olympics and reflects the movement’s evolution, from an organization that sought to eliminate nations’ victories over one another to one that celebrates them. And while it’s primarily a quirky point for most people, the difference in the medal tables arguably has its serious side too. Some see in the gold-first ranking — which is unofficially endorsed by the International Olympic Committee — one reason why countries have become increasingly ruthless in cutting funding for sports where they don’t have a clear shot at a gold.
Perhaps for the US any Olympic medal is a victory. In China however, as a Chinese sport’s historian said: “One gold is worth a thousand silver.”
What do you think is the right way to rank countries and is it simply a reflection of how much a country invests in sports, rather than ability?
Hi,
I think it’s important not to forget that the Olympic Games are just that, Games, it’s nice to see your Country doing well it adds a bit of spice to the conversations in the office, especially when you work abroad like I do. I work in France and I’m a Brit so you can image the temperature of the conversations at times, we are currently in the middle of a topic close to the subject in your article “who is winning the Games” in my situation I say to my French colleges that Britain is in front of France because we have more Gold’s (for the moment that is) but they come back with France has more Medals in total… so you can see it’s not easy to call it. I have a simple suggestion, 1 Gold = 10 Points, 1 Silver = 7 Points and finally 1 Bronze = 5 Points after you can do the Math your self. If this were the situation China would have a small lead over the state but also France would be leading Britain, never mind as I said it’s just a game….
Cheers,
Ian.
south Korea is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
‘ . ‘
Except for NBC, Yahoo and other US sites, all other countries in the world follow the IOC rule that Gold is worthy more than Silver and that is worthy more than Bronze. It is obvious that China is winning the games by a large margin, regardless of what the media tries to make us believe with contortionist efforts to put the US on top of the list.
It’s so typical of China that they would rank themselves in first place based solely on the Gold Medal Count but, realistically, we all know that it’s the number of medals that truely matter. The color of the medals is irrelevant.
How can you say a bronze medal can equal a gold medal? In some sports there are 2 bronze medals awarded. Ranking by total medal count is just stupid and the only way the US can put themeselves in front.
Of course it is ranked by Gold medal! ie The country who has won the most events. But if you want to think that being the first and second loser is better than actually winning then go right ahead. What ever helps you sleep at night. 
As opposed to simply stating opinion, I decided to check the factual history of the Olympic summer games.
In every assessment of which country dominated the games, both the total golds and total medal counts are considered.
In every summer games, the country that won the most golds also had the most total medals. To do both, signified a strong cross-section of dominance within the world of sports/athleticism.
Whether it was the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, the international community recognized their Olympic superiority because they had both the highest total and gold medal count despite being nations’ with horrific human rights abuses and oppressive ideologies.
In all of the games that it was considered the best, the USA also lead in both total medal and gold medal counts.
If China does not lead in both total medals and gold medals, it should not be recognized as the best in this Olympics. At the end of the games, it will simply be a draw between the US and China. It will also probably be a disappointment for the Chinese government which has invested more in these games than in ending genocide within Darfur/Sudan or brutal oppression within its own borders.
Considering China has over 1billion more people in its country to choose from and the US still has more medals, its hilarious. USA all the way, as usual. L0L.
Itsx actually quite simple. A gold is worth 3, a Silver is 2 and bronze is one. Currently, U.S. is winning by 10 points…
You must be logged in to post a comment.
