2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count

Hehe - I remember the bun fight over this during Beijing. Apparently the US are just about the only country to rank on the basis of total medal count with no difference in value being assigned between gold, silver and bronze

 

Yes, but we've been consistent that way for a long time.

 

So Switzerland in first-place then...

 

Canada ranks them by whatever system ranks them higher It's really lame. I've always understood it to be, the country with most golds is ranked #1. Any other way rewards failure. Why not count 4th and 5th place finishes as well?

 

Any other way rewards depth.

Surely 2-2-4 (USA) is more impressive than 3-0-1 (Switzerland).

 

take a look at the 500m mens speedskate.. you think japan feels any better that they took home the silver and bronze..?? you think korea cares that japan took 2 medals over koreas 1..??

gold gets your anthem played.. silver and bronze are great achievements but it means you have to stand on the podium and listen to someone elses national anthem..

 

Depends on the context and the athlete(s). In some cases its all about the gold (e.g. women's ice hockey for USA and Canada).

In seriousness, the best ranking would weigh gold heavier than the rest.
G: 5 pts
S: 3 pts
B: 1 point.

Or something like that.

 

I don't see why you Americans are so suprised at winning so many medals considering your population size. You win so many medals through the law of averages.

Here in Britain (where we are woeful at Winter Sports) we treat each medalist as a hero, whether it is Gold, Silver or Bronze. Saying that, we still rank medals by number of Gold medals rather than total medals. Only the US ranks by total medals because they know they have the most athletes and therefore are guaranteed the most total medals- that way they see themselves as #1 even when they aren't.

 

The US hasn't won the medal count in the Winter Olympics since 1932...

 

Oh man, we're cleaning up now. Its not even fair.

Bill Archer must be having a party right now considering we doubled up Canada on medals already....and in their own sports.

 

It's been 78 years since they were.

 

That's true but very few people in the U.S. play those winter sports. Only people in the very northern part of the U.S. like Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin participate in speed skating and curling. When you add up participation numbers for various winter sports, it's about the same as Canada.

 

I find that hard to believe. Michigan and New York (two northern states) already combine for almost the same population as Canada.

But money is certainly a factor. Most athletes are amateur at these games but many of the Americans seem to be corportate millionaires. So they can focus on their winter sports full-time.

It's early days yet though. I doubt the USA will be on top at the end.

 

i believe the usa is the only country with athletes in every sport in these games.. but then again because of certain sports participation numbers they are not very good at them.. the usa has pretty much gathered the majority of their medals.. the germans should shoot past them with the bobsleigh and biathlon events..