| The USA are the winners?! | |
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| Aug 23, 2008 21:24 |   |
 | If you look on any US news website, they put themselves at the top of the medal table! It seems they can't stand losing, and will twist the facts to make sure they are seen to be the winners. So what they have done is to disregard any recognition that a gold medal is worth more than a silver, and a silver is worth more than a bronze. Instead they have decided to just count all medals as the same value, which then puts them at the top of the table. Who do they think they are kidding? Clearly only themselves, as no one else in the world is so stupid. So to all you Americans who think you are the winners, let me explain to you like this. If I have 3 quarters in my pocket and you have 4 nickels, who has the most money? If you believe you have won the Olympics medal table then you must also think that having 4 coins is better than having 3, regardless of their value. Too bad there isn't an Olympic medal for lack of common sense - The US would win that hands down. |
| Aug 23, 2008 22:11 | #1 |
| Ah... if only freedom of speech in this website is absolute. LOL! I am not an American but here are some American viewpoints. Of course, not all Americans share the same opinion. I am just sharing those that I heard. 1. America has always counted the medals by total. I don't know if it is true. I don't follow medal tallies. Is it so obvious? :P The rationale is that they don't want to disregard the efforts of those who won silver or bronze. Unlike in some countries, they don't trash silver and bronze medal winners. 2. They believe every medal counts for every country. For example, there is a reason why China is celebrating if they have more golds. Same rationale for the US. Every country values being the best. US, China and other countries are the same. Nobody can/want to stand losing. It is natural. 3. You don't have to explain anything. They don't have to explain anything. They are not trying to kid you. 4. You think they don't have common sense. Well, the thing is... they don't care what you think. Yea, they know you hate them for it. The bottomline is still: They don't care. Let it go. I don't know why people are so obssessed with this. LOL! |
| Aug 23, 2008 22:13 | #2 |
| GUESTZAZZZZZZZZ | Goodness, who cares? |
| Aug 23, 2008 22:33 | #3 |
| What was the practice of ranking in the previous Olympics? IOC's ranking criteria is gold counts more than silver. American olympic athletes didn't perform as well in Beijing Summer Games as in Athens. Phelps is an exception. USA athletes lost several gold medals in the 100 meter sprint (both men and women), 4*100 meter racing (men and women). Traditionally, these events are American's dominance. In track events,Jamaica overshadowed USA. |
| Aug 23, 2008 22:44 | #4 |
| All right, let's take a look at who really won the most medals. Based on medals won, any color, Canada has a medal for every 1.94 million people; America has a medal for every 3.2 million people; Australia has a medal for every 0.45 million people; and China has a medal for every 13.5 million people. Just on Gold medals, Canada has a Gold for every 11.6 million; the U.S. a Gold for every 10.2 million; Australia has a Gold for every 1.5 million while China has a Gold for every 26.5 million. Of these 4 countries, Australia wins hands down. So, why don't we just say that a great time was had by all, and forget about who did what. Everybody won. |
| Aug 23, 2008 23:34 | #5 |
| Hooker, the Australian winner of the pole vault was almost disqualified at one point in the competition for giving another competitor advice on wind direction. Perhaps a demonstration of the camaraderie that exists between world class athletes. Very few people really understand just what needs to be done to be able to perform at that level. The jingoism that is created by the media to feed the masses is just that, bread for the circus. Anyone with the smallest grasp as to the history of the modern Olympics would understand why it was re-launched in the last centenary and it wasn’t to give oxygen to any nationalism movement. I choose to ignore any sort of medal tally on that very basis. I applaud and salute all of the athletes no matter where they are from. Why don’t we all just do that. Now, I’m off the church, who’s coming? Dodger. |
| Aug 24, 2008 01:06 | #6 |
| If you don't mind, I'll leave the church to you Dodger. That's one reason I like living in China. |
| Aug 24, 2008 05:38 | #7 |
| Ok, so I’m just back from church where I managed to pick up a nice bottle of château 98. While waiting for it to breath I found this three day old article on an Ozzie sports site…… Will America concede defeat? America, like the rest of the world, has traditionally measured the Olympic standings according to the most gold medals attained. But as they appear increasingly unlikely to win enough gold medals to depose China from the top, America has taken to a different way of judging the leaderboard. The new system takes into account the overall medal tally to judge the leader, and has been adopted throughout the American media. Using this method, which can be seen on NBC.com and on The New York Times website, the US would be first with 82 medals, while China’s 79 medals (at the time of writing) would put them in second place. But the official way of calculation, set by the IOC and which is adopted by the rest of the world, is developed according to the number of gold medals attained, followed by silver and then bronze. It could be argued that the overall medal tally is a perfectly reasonable (or fair) way of measurement. However USA has never used this system in the past and shouldn’t start now just because it suits them. With three days of competition remaining, it is highly unlikely that they will pick up enough gold medals to surpass China. America has won every Summer Olympics since Barcelona in 1992, although it looks like their 16-year reign is about to come to an end. But whether they (the Americans) have the balls to concede defeat is another question. Looks like they don’t. Dodger. |
| Aug 24, 2008 06:58 | #8 |
| China won in my book, yes to US won 10 more medals in total but the table is decided by the most golds so well done China. I'm also proud of team GB although they are back in 4th place, it's still higher than I thought they would finish. The thoughts of a non-whinging pom, he he Alan |
| Aug 24, 2008 10:34 | #9 |
| The modern Olympics has not been created as a country versus country event. It is to celebrate individuals. However, country tallies have always been a part of the media circus. When someone runs a marathon and comes in First I know that it is the person that won the medal not the country. I feel happy for that person and for the citizens at home watching the victory. I have read that some countries will not support a team or individual if they do not think they would win Gold. For these people it is all or nothing. What do you tell a person who is one-hundredth of a second behind another? What do you tell a team that made it through all the preliminaries only to lose by the bounce of a ball? Silver or Bronze medals honor their achievements. Good sportsmanship means honoring your opponent and recognizing that he/they gave it their all. I honor and admire all athletes. They have done much more than I could ever do. China has a right to be proud of its athletes. So does Kenya, England, Etc. Lets not bicker over medal counts and just give credit to the champions! |
| Aug 24, 2008 20:44 | #10 |
| Another issue in counting is that some sports dole out medals like lollies/sweets/candy (choose your preferred 'English'). How many medals are there in athletics (field and track to those who speak American), swimming, diving etc, yet in hockey there is just one medal. So if you want to head the medals table spend your money on the multi event sports not team sports where you have so many players for one measly gold! The most important thing is that all the participants won. If only we could get rid of the nationalism and comemrcialism....haha, some chance. |
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