Does anyone else think that the ratings on the homepage are messed up? ?

Question

Really the Olympics are ranked based not on how many TOTAL medals a country has but the gold medals that it possesses. I think that the US (or specifically yahoo) does this to show the US in first place. However, China is number one at this point. I am kind of confused about this. Could someone clarify?

Answer 1

Actually, there is no official ranking of medals won by the IOC.  They do give results of who won what within each Olympiad, but there is no official criteria listing a country "winner" from each year.  Here is the disclaimer they put on their results database:

DISCLAIMER

The Olympic medal winner database is compiled using data taken from official publications containing Olympic results produced by the Organising Committees at the end of each edition of the Games. As the information is not yet fully standardised, we recommend that you search by nation, sport, Olympic Games, etc.

Answer 2

Some people consider total medals more important than only gold one (if you must keep score).  It really is a better indication of who has the better athletes.  However, again, the Olympics aren't about the countries, it's about the individuals!!

Answer 3

The Olympics aren't ranked by the gold medals. There are different opinions on whether total medals or gold are more important. People that are really competetive usually see the number of golds more important. And it's not just yahoo the sets it up like that. Many websites do it that way, and many do it the other way. Again, it's based on opinions, what people want to see more. What country has the best athletes or simply which country is most athletic. You can't say china is number one at this point because that is based on opinion that you think more golds is important.  

Answer 4

The media in the United States has always ranked the countries by total medals. But everyone else in the world ranks by gold medals won.

There is no official way of doing it since the International Olympic Committee claims they don't care which country wins more, they promote the individual athletes.

Answer 5

No country "wins" the Olympics.  There is no special award for most total medals or most gold medals.  The U.S. is extremely competitive so they've always used a medal table that includes all medals.  But according to the Internation Olympics Committee, any medal table is unofficial and it defeats the purpose of the Olympics.

Answer 6

yeah it does show US in first and it makes me happy. so keep it that way nbc and yahoo. medals across the board makes more sense anyways. really all of china's golds are coming from weightlifting and gymnastics sports that are easy to get golds in when people are torn away and forced to train for since childhood.

whats wrong with being competitive ....it just sport people relax. all this holier than thou bullshit about individuals. you want to see your countrymen suceed...be real.