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China: Who's winning the Olympics so far?

Posted 16 August 2008 14:24 GMT
Written byJohn Kennedy
Countries China
Topics Sport, International Relations
Languages English
Special Olympics

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Español · China: ¿Quién está ganando las Olimpiadas hasta ahora?

Blogspot blogger Johnny Ong looks at Chinese and US media Olympics coverage and poses an interesting question: what does constitute “winning” the Olympics: number of gold medals, or number of medals overall?

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  • William Ray Cummins

    I believe the real winners are the individuals, not the nations. Take gymnastics, for instance, we had a woman born in America of Chinese parents, competing for our diving team. Does her medal count for China or the U.S.
    She was coached by a Chinese man who immigrated to the U.S. to coach athletics. Are his students who win counted for him or for his nation?
    The NBA is made up of international players. In some way, the impact of the U.S. on sports influences several different national teams. Should the U.S. share in the medals of those teams as well as those won by its own national team.
    Why is Michael Phelps’ team golds count toward his overall total, when it is the individual golds that are his alone?
    I like the fact that athletes blend from all over the world. We should look at the Olympics as a global event and count only national medals for nations who field teams that represent them. The indidivual medals should not be counted toward national standings.
    Could the emphasis on which nation is winning the Olympics fuel the fire of political sentiment that precedes the olympics and make us doubt the judging in sports that are judged.
    Maybe it is the actual keeping of totals that lead to your question

  • Kim Soong

    I’ve read a couple of your blogs here. Now I tell you the answer, Olympic value is the participation, how comes the “win” or “not win” ? Every one is No.1 in the game. I really feel so shame of you, you have no rights to talk sports here, you’re more like a politician. Sorry, I bashed you.

  • chris mccabe

    In China’s view, the only thing that matters is the total number of Gold. US Media tends to focus on the total medal tally and individual record breakers, like Phelps’ incredible 8 gold medal run.

    The reality is, China’s argument for total Gold resonates pretty easily. On the other hand, the greater number of medals hows real meaning, too.

    Looking at it objectively, if one assigns a relative ranking scale to these medals: 3 points for gold, 2 points for silver and 1 point for bronze, and sums them up, you get a more objective total number. Using this calculation, the US has led for most of the games until just recently.

  • http://twitter.com/feng37 John Kennedy

    @Kim,
    Don’t flatter yourself into thinking you’re bashing me for that; I put the word winning in quotations for what I still think is a pretty obvious reason. Feel free to go on, though.

    @Chris,
    Interesting proposal. I just read that they changed the scoring system for gymnastics where they now start at 10.00 and deduct down, whereas before it used to be bottom up. Actually, I have no idea how the other sports calculate scores.

  • wei

    IOC ranks nations by Gold…

    http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=2004

    To be honest, I don’t think it is important…

    Waking up at 5:30 am and watch GuoJingJing win however is ;)

  • Olympicsrock

    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.

  • Daniel NZ

    I think it should be decicded by the total points system: Gold 3 points, Silver 2 and Bronze 1. But also take in the amount of medals per capita, so a small country like Togo getting 5 gold medals would be quite and achievement, whereas the USA or China are expected to get lots of different medals because of the size of the country and the amount of people..

  • wei

    @Olympicsrock

    Way to go to turn this into a political thing…

    That is why you guys are rather hated by ordinary Chinese even though you claim you want to speak for them.

    Don’t blame the ccp for this one, look in the mirror.

  • Will Thelema

    To Who Ever Listens
    The judges robbed Alicia Sacramone of points only to give the Chinese competitor who fell on her nees a higher score. The Chinese must have paid the judges very well for the judges to cheat that way with the whole world watching. Additionally Shawn Johnson was never give the level of difficulty she deserved before her performances. The robbed Shawn of the Individual Floor Excercises also and gave it to the Romanian. girl. Why didn’t the American couches protest the judges kissing the Chinese asses.

  • asdfal

    @ will thelma

    lol paid the judges…
    what a hater

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