Medal Count or Gold Medal Count?

Question

In china, there is gold medal count, in which China tops USA.

But in America, we can see medal count where America is the top.

So which one do you think makes more sense in comparing different countries?

Answer 1

Gold medal count.

Answer 2

would say metal in this case because chinas judges are biased in every event when it comes to judging.be it boxing, gymnastics or weightlifting or what other sport where it has to be judged.i vote metal count.shouldnt have an asian judge judging for your own country nor should usa judge there own country.or any other country shouldnt judge for there own country

Answer 3

It's about Olympic champions so obviously Gold medals have the most prestige. I think the reasons why the US has a preferance for overall medal tally is obvious- they want to be seen as winning but in reality the winners are the country with most Gold medals.

Answer 4

Olympics is about Champions. Imagine 3 nations competing in 3 disciplines. Who wins? Exactly, the nation with the gold medal, even though each nation has won the same number of medals! So the answer should be clear. Winner (not 2nd or 3rd) is the one with the most gold medals. Besides, this system is used in every single other country in the world - and was so including the US before - just now USA changed this - wonder why ;).

Answer 5

US media had been using gold medal count for the Olympic medal tally.  But they conveniently changed to use total medal count for the Beijing Olympic Games to make US look better.  Check out the USA Today ranking for the Athens Olympic Games(see URL below).  Pay particular attention to China and Russia's positions.

http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/...

Answer 6

This should answer it

this is sports navi, a japanese website (100% japanese) this is their medals standing



http://beijing.sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/me...



China is first.



This is elnorte.com a Mexican newspaper website. top right is their medal count.

china is first



http://gruporeforma.elnorte.com/suplemen...



This is eurosport (great britain or other european countries)

on their list, china is first.



http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/



Official site of the olympics (it's not chinese, it's the official site of every olympics) China is first



www.olympics.com  



BBC (england)  China is first



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics...



TSN (canada sports leader) china is first.



http://www.tsn.ca/



If you type "olympics" in google it automaticaly gives you the medal standings and China is first



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=...





Argentinian news website (probably a newspaper) China is listed first



http://www.jjoo.clarin.com/

websites from all over the world listing China as #1 but newyorktimes.com and nbcolympics.com (and the american media, like TV etc...) count it by total medal count.... looks a bit convinient doesn't it?

So to answer your question, it's done by who has more gold medals, 10 superbowl finals but no victories don't make a team better than one who's only made 2 finals but won both. silver and bronze are just first and second loser and gold is the only winner.

Answer 7

If I have 30 quarters   it's probably worth more than 40 Dimes and 80 pennies.

Answer 8

the gold medal count.

Answer 9

Gold count. The reason is simple. One gold is not equal to one silver. Silver is loser and only the gold is the winer.  

Answer 10

I would say Gold Medal. Basically just a rehash of what others have said: If you look at an event, a Bronze medal winner cannot say that the event was theirs because obviously, the Gold medalist was better. Hence, counting gold shows which countries won that particular event.

I would also like to add that just because the Olympics are held in china, it DOES NOT mean that they have more Chinese/Asian judges. There are international judges that aim to prevent bias.

Answer 11

Gold medal count. It´s better and fair.

Answer 12

Simply the Gold Medal Count as it was in previous occasions.

Answer 13

gold medal count

some countries have fewer athletes and it isn't fair because they don't participate in all the events.

the total number does matter to a certain extent but it is the quality of the team that matters. so gold medal count makes more sense since it compares the quality of the team.

Answer 14

medal count

Answer 15

In every other country in the world they go by Gold medal count, and in USA should be second.

In the end it comes down to the point system

Gold - 3 points

Silver - 2 points

Bronze - 1 point

And if you do the math, since China has almost twice as many gold. They are way up ahead in points.

technically, China is winning because the only reason America is in first is because they have like 20 bronzes. And bronzes are not worth near as much as a gold

USA = 102 points

China =  113 points

Answer 16

Clearly, the system that should be used worldwide to evaluate Olympic Medal Performance is the system that is already in use within Olympic Team Sport Competition, namely, the point system:

First Place (Gold Medal) = 3 Points

Second Place (Silver Medal) = 2 Points

Third Place (Bronze Medal)  = 1 Point

This Is Fair.

It acknowledges that a First Place (Gold Medal) performance is better than a Second Place (Silver Medal) performance and so on, which the so-called Total Medal Count does not.

It also acknowledges Second Place (Silver Medal) and Third Place (Bronze Medal) performances, which the so-called Gold Medal Count does not.

Answer 17

I think both counts have their pros and cons.

I would go with the points system, but instead of 3 for gold, 2 for silver, and 1 for bronze, the "more official" system is 5 for gold, 3 for silver, and 1 for bronze, which I think is more fair since I think 1 gold should be slightly better than a silver and a bronze together.

But I think the total medal count is kinda ridiculous in a way and is only used by Americans which would give them first place.  

Answer 18

Total medal count

Answer 19

Gold is much, MUCH more important than Silver or Bronze. So if a country wins 2 Gold medals, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze that eclipses a country who wins 0 Gold medals, 0 Silver and 10 Bronze.