Total medal count as of 8-23-08
1 United States 34 37 36 107
2 China 49 19 28 96
3 Russia 22 21 27 70
4 Britain 19 14 15 48
5 Australia 14 15 17 46
6 Germany 17 10 15 42
7 France 6 15 17 38
8 South Korea 13 10 8 31
9 Ukraine 7 5 16 28
10 Italy 7 10 10 27
Source: http://scoreboards.aol.com/olympics/medals.asp
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Go Russia!
Out of Georgia!!
I never heard about an overall counting, when the USA won the gold medal count. In former times, I am sure, others had the overall, but no american had interewst about that. It’s a shame of great arrogance.
okay
Wrong. The way the countries are ranked by overall medal count is the way they have always been counted in the press, on TV, etc. in the USA.
The arrogance comes from those who demand that others do it their way.
Let Aussies order their tables by medals per population. Going to throw a fit over that too?
Jamaica wins by Gold medals/head, US in overall, China on Golds, and Britain if you only count cycling…
Go GB?
“The arrogance comes from those who demand that others do it their way.”
Actually the I.O.C. and the rest of the world have always counted Gold medals first. This is all about America being psychologically unable to come second to anyone. A young nation with a lot of growing up to do…
Whats the count without cheating?
Without cheating: China comes first with 51 gold medals; USA in second with 36; then Russia with 23; in fourth, Great Britain with 19 golds.
If the US had most golds but not most medals you’d be complaining how all the Americans care about is winning and being #1 and how they should count silver and bronze and how shallow and how arrogant…somehow that doesn’t apply when it’s another country.
Somehow it’s gold only that counts now and all those silver and bronze medals mean nothing now. Funny how they hand them out sparingly though.
It’s not hard to see through the posters here. Bigoted and anti-US. Petty and small minded.
Olympics are over now so you can return to how wonderful Russia is.
Both systems (gold medals first / counting every medal the same) is unfair.
Give it a point system (like bronce 1, silver 2, gold 3 or 4) that would be fair.
One silver and one bronce medal should be worth one gold medal shouldn’t they (they aren’t in the actual system)? But they shouldn’t be worth two gold medals (as they are in US counting system).
But… who cares. 🙂
Greetings from a land far behind in both counting ways. 🙂
Jochen
“If the US had most golds but not most medals you’d be complaining how all the Americans care about is winning and being #1”
No we wouldn’t, because thats the way it has always been counted, since the very beginning. The I.O.C. counts it that way, as does every other country.
The point is that the U.S. have to find a way to manipulate the numbers so they look like number one. This makes a whole nation look like a petulant child who can’t abide coming second.
I am not disparaging the great effort by U.S. Athletes, they performed fantastically, as they always do, but just for once, don’t try to rain on someone else’s parade because you cannot handle appearing below another country.
Congrats to China for winning the olympics via winning the most gold medals.
For those of you trying to defend the total medal system, I’m sorry, but athletes do not go to the olympics saying “I want to win the silver/bronze medals” Furthermore, would Phelps feat even be historic if he won 8 bronze medals vs 8 gold?
People go to the olympics to win, not be second fiddle…nobody remembers the silver/bronze medalists, its all about the gold.
Bronze/Silver does NOT equal Gold. If you were to say it does, then why doesn’t the NBA say that both the Lakers and Celtics were NBA champions this year? The olympic dreams are of gold, and that is the standard that IOC and majority of the countries (except the US) use.
“For those of you trying to defend the total medal system, I’m sorry, but athletes do not go to the olympics saying “I want to win the silver/bronze medals” Furthermore, would Phelps feat even be historic if he won 8 bronze medals vs 8 gold?
People go to the olympics to win, not be second fiddle…nobody remembers the silver/bronze medalists, its all about the gold”
You haven’t been reading the posts and you haven’t been watching the Olympics.
No one is saying a silver equals a gold. What they are saying is that silver and bronze have value too, and they do. Haven’t you seen and heard the silver and bronze medal winners? They have big smiles on the podium and they exult in their “worthless” 2nd and 3rd places. Even many of the favorites who end up with silver and bronze have that attitude, and when interviwed they describe their joy (for those who can’t detect it visually I guess lol).
Too much pissiness and silliness by posters here.
sometimes i hate being american when i see the arrogance of this country. lets say you do a 3-2-1 system, which is fair for both sides. China wins this way so lets just congratulate China on winning the olympics.
Well aren’t you a delicate flower lol.
No, it is not a matter if China or USA or whoever is first on the list.
It’s all about that the IOC and the whole world ranks the nations by gold, then by silver, and then by bronze.
It’s just stupid and very self-centered if one country wants to be something special in this aspect.
No, it’s stupid and arrogant to throw a fit because the media of one country rank standings differently while listing accurately and clearly which country has won most gold, silver, and bronze.
I’m sure some are ashamed at such “monumental arrogance” and are ashamed to be from the US. There must be some who are so stricken by this self-centered malady that they are ashamed to be human.
I wouldn’t trust such people to babysit a goldfish.
The IOC says there is no official country-ranking system, but ranks prioritising most golds, then silvers, then bronzes.
You can order the countries differently with a weighting system, say 3-2-1 or 5-3-1.
What I’d prefer to see is a ‘contribution to the Olympics’ table, leaving aside the hosts’ capital investment which is separately recognised.
You should score points for your country for achieving the Olympic qualifying standard, and if you get a season’s, personal, national, area record, and you should score points for proceeding though the rounds to the finals.
These are all achievements of which I would be proud.
I don’t think National Olympic Achievement is proportional to population or funding – maybe there’s a square root in there somewhere? Any mathos out there who can rule on this?
Jamaica really contributed to the Track and Field, and Great Britain set the standard in cycling, sailing and rowing. The US dominated Beach Volleyball and Chinea dominated Gymnastics (though there are issues there) and Table Tennis which is their national sport. Kudos to all.