Country – Gold – Silver – Bronze – Total medals
United States of America 22 24 26 72
China 39 14 14 67
Russia 8 13 15 36
Australia 11 10 12 33
France 4 11 13 28
Great Britain 12 7 8 27
Germany 9 7 7 23
South Korea 8 9 6 23
Japan 8 5 7 20
Italy 6 6 6 18
Ukraine 5 3 8 16
Netherlands 3 5 4 12
Source: ESPN
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Sounds good. But the Chinese got 17more Goldmedals than the Americans. Be fair and rank them on No 1!
okay
That’s how ESPN show it.
Not only ESPN, but also NBC, CBS, CNN, NY Times, etc. In the U.S.A. the list has commonly been in order of medal count rather than gold count for many decades (and perhaps longer). For Susan to change the order to put China on top would be silly.
I have never been much of a fan of medal tables – if only that it encourages the sort of nationalism that can detract from the true original mening of the games.
Traditionally the UK has published tables that rank by gold medals. On this basis we are looking great this year – twelve gold and more to come.
A much truer picture of relative achievement, however, is a very clever table produced by Channel 4 TV in the UK. It shows ranking by population size, by GNP and even by human rights. You can find it here http://c4news.com/livepages/olympics2008/c4/olympicsResults.html
Applied to chess, the same approach can make us celebrate the achievements of some of our GMs more fully – not least of a certain Danish player energing from a small country!
Oh dear! In my earlier post I referred to a certain Danish GM. My reference was, of course, to a certain talented Norwegian!
Yet another blunder by me. Sadly, they are increasing for this aging Welshman!
Please tell me: What is meant by ESPN? And: Aren’t you free to be fair beside the announcement by others?
;.)
yeah china is leading but the american media will manipulate it however they can to show that they are the best.
right, that would be how espn show it… thats not how it really is tho.
We already established that Americans don’t want to order the list like the rest of the world does.
To list by number of golds is fair but to list by total number of medals is unfair? What a peculiar notion!
No, it’s not a matter of fair and unfair, it is a matter what it is internationaly agreed. And the agreement is that the list should be ordered by gold medals, then silver and then bronze, and never by total medals.
Americans just want to be something special and order the nations differently than the rest of the world does.
As I mentioned in some other post, the Americans are really quick to set up international agreements (and demand from tothers to follow them) when it suits them. When it doesn’t they don’t give a damn about international organizations and agreements.
Here, from the Wall St. Journal, is an article explaining the history of medal tables. As I’ve also explained here and three comments further down that page, the North American practice (Canadian CBC too) came from the “original Olympic spirit” and is not propagandistic.
I learned from the article that the 5-3-1 system goes back to the 1908 London Games. Under that system the table right now is
CHN 43 – 14 – 19 (76) giving 215+42+19 = 276
USA 26 – 26 – 27 (79) giving 130+78+27 = 235
Under the 4-2-1 system it’s China 219, USA 183. Under 3-2-1 it’s China 176, USA 157. So of course I agree China is really ahead.
However, the balance of the US tally better conforms to Confucian ideals of harmony. No jesting here, and I’m speaking as a statistician: the true sign of maturity, equality, and balance of individuality with sponsorship is recognized by achieving a normal distribution of performance.
No weighting of medals is used.
If country A wins only one gold medal and Country B wins no gold medal but 100 silver medals, then country A will be listed ahead of country B.
It’s better to have one winner than 100 losers 😉
The U.S. media are breaking an “international agreement” to list medal counts by gold order? Curiouser and curiouser gets the discussion! Not to mention absurd, ludicrous, AND ridiculous at the same time…
The rule is: Whatever the US does is wrong.
Keep that in mind and all those foolish posts begin to make sense.
Of course it is not against the law, however it is stupid and very self centered.
It’s like you would use some other calendar and/or year numbering instead of the worldwide accepted anno domini system.
It’s just stupid that one country want to be something special in that aspect.
U.S.A. medal tracker is ridiculous
Real Medal Tracker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics_medal_count