American medal table?

Question

Why do all American news outlets always rank the medal table by total medals won? All other countries (and the IOC) rank it by gold medals won, then silver and if there's still a tie by Bronze?

Answer 1

They do it just to try and say that they are the best country in the world at the olympics....i think they are just sore losers!

Answer 2

this may just be my opinion but it is simple whoever wins the most is at the top in this case the usa so they are at the top china won more gold but not as many. they are just different systems    

Answer 3

jeez   know it all  (see above)

you seem to have a huge chip on your shoulder about this... and from what I can see of your answers are throwing more 'whiny' self absorbed tantrums than any of the 'foreigners' you are pointing your finger at regarding this....

from the many threads re this on these boards perhaps one of the most sensible explanations I have seen, cant remember the people who said it to give credit sorry... is that it is an USA media based phenomenon with corporations such as NBC preferring the USA to be seen at the top of the tally boards as this generates more interest in their coverage (=$) as they feel Americans like to be seen as winning...  many from the USA coming here seem to like this method of counting but there have also been many from the USA that have come to YA saying they do not..

personally I reckon its been bad PR for the US, as many outside that country have seen it as an inability to accept 2nd spot on the tally boards with grace and dignity and to give the Chinese due credit....

Answer 4

that's the way it's ALWAYS been done. it's NOT to try to make ourselves look better you losers. we already know we ARE better than any of the sh*thole countries you haters comer from. the US media has always ranked countries by total medals won, and that's the way it should be. it's called a medal count, not a gold medal count. this is not something new we just started doing this year just to put ourselves in front, so all of the haters on here can kiss my red white and blue @ss

i'm fully aware thast the rest of the world exists chump, but since the US runs this planet, the stars and stripes is the only red white and blue flag that matters. if anyone looks stupid, it's you whiney europeans who are so jealous of the world's only superpower that you have to constantly come into forums like this and cry about things as petty as how the US media ranks countries on the medal count in the olympics. the US was on top of the medal board as usual, ok? so dry your eyes and get over it. now, if there were some system put into place that valued medals as gold-3, silver-2, bronze-1, as someone else suggested, i'd be all for it

you suspect wrong skate. the US media would continue to rank countries by total medals just as they've always done regargless of the outcome. they have been ranking them like this for decades. thed lone exception is the USA today newspaper, which always ranks by gold medals alone, which is stupid. and yes, they ranked them by gold again in 2008 despite the fact that the US wasn't on top in that category.

Answer 5

To make themselves look good to their own population.

It looks rather different to the rest of us though.

Answer 6

It is simply a way of counting medals so that the US comes out as the overall winner.  Small countries with low populations like Jamaica or New Zealand use a tally based on medals won per head of population.  People just count in ways that make them feel good. I suspect that if the US had won the most Gold Medals but not most overall the count used would be gold medals only just like the IOC.