Is China's performance at the Olympics a sign of US decay?

Question

China won 51 gold medals compared to America's 36. Even if China were to lose 2 because of the gymnasts, they would still be ahead of us by 13 medals. We were only 10 medals ahead in the overall count.

Or is it just because the Olympics were held in China, and they don't want to look bad at their own Olympics?

Answer 1

  China picks many of there athletes at a very young age and those kids live to train, and i'm sure failing is not an option

Answer 2

The chinese did very well and the gymnast where no younger than the rest of the little kids doing that sport as for decay I think we lost fair and no one is to blame,the host country China was wonderful and perhaps its that greatness that brings on the word US Decay....chow dino

Answer 3

China cheated, used steroids, bough referees and committee members, and used fake birth certificates and passports to get everything it wanted.  I wonder how many political prisoners they executed during the games?

Answer 4

No, Usually the country that holds the Olympics does really well, and a lot of the gold medal china places in were weird events. Also i heard China had a huge train program they put billions into when they found out they were hosting the 2008 games.

and don't forget they have a huge population.

and as for the US decaying? did you see Micheal Phelps????????

8 for 8 gold medals

Answer 5

No. it is a sign that America isn't number one in everything all the time.  It will do us well to learn humility in the community of the world.

Answer 6

More like NBC/MSM decay it was for ratings and was delayed sometime up to 24 hours before airing. This is 2008 they could have streamed every event live,

Answer 7

You don't think that the Americans dominate the Olympic all the time?  I think the USA is pretty consistent near the top most of the time.  

Answer 8

No, the reason the USA has been doing so well in the last few Olympics is due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was only a matter of time before a new sporting power took it to the US. But usually before a country hosts an Olympic they put alot of money into Olympic sports, for example China did well in Athens and in Beijing. Greece did relatively well (according to there size) in Sydney and Athens and Great Britain did extremely well compared to previous performances in Beijing and they are hosting the next Olympics. It wil be interesting to see how well China does in London.  

Answer 9

I know the americans like to think they're the best, so it's only natural for them to feel that way.

Still, it is somewhat curious that the host nation is winning so easily - perhaps this is what the olympics is really about these days... whoever can make best use of the available advantages....

Answer 10

Which area are you talking about when you mentioned decay? Winning medals is about how good you are and not about which country you belong to. The judges are supposed to be from different countries.

Answer 11

We still did win in the overall medal count 110 to 100, which is a new record for the United States.  Until the IOC ruling allowing professional athletes to compete in the games, western nations were at a disadvantage to eastern bloc nations.  Their athletes were professionals trained, in many cases, from childhood, to compete in the Olympics, our athletes were always amateurs.  Even with the addition of professional athletes we are still at somewhat of a disadvantage.  Professional athletes have their own sporting career to concentrate on, and can't afford to spend much time training for the Olympics.  Another distinction between the  U.S. and China is that China has a state sponsored, team, where our team is privately sponsored.  

Answer 12

No, you forget China has over 1.2 Billion people.  So outta 1.2 Billion people I'm sure you're bound to find some spectacular athletes.