Who really won the medal count for the Olympics?

Question

China say they won, because they only count gold. Its the only medal that matters to them. Since they have the most gold, in their eyes they won. The US counts all medals and have the highest when considering all three, but lags behind China when it comes to gold. In the US eyes, they won. Who really won?

Answer 1

outside of the US, every other country counts gold as a way of determining who wins.  Its didnt matter in the past as much cause US would usually win the medal count and the gold medal count, usually the country with the most gold medals also has the highest medal count.  I think this olympics was a split decision, but if you want to determine a winner I say china cause they just dominated the gold count.  

Answer 2

Unfortunately, gold medals assert more than others.

100 silver medals have the same assert than 1 gold

100 bronze medals= 1 silver

Answer 3

its china who won the 2008 olympics and america is the sore loser, they cant accept defeat, no sportsmanship from america.

Answer 4

The United States won the total medal count.  I believe that China only looks at the gold medal count because they think their athletes are only good for gold.  Anything less would probably be an insult to the country after all the money and time spent in training them.

I could care less who is on top, because total medal count means that everyone that won a medal is a champion, no matter what color it is.

Answer 5

neither country won, the olympics isn't about who wins or loses, but rather who competes!  If China wants to say "hey we have the most gold, therefore we have the best athletes in the world" the US can counter with "yea you might have a few good athletes, but you have no depth as witnessed by our massive volume as well".  Neither country won, neither country lost,  same as UK, same as Argentina, same as Australia, same as every nation that competed...all 208 of them.  

Answer 6

How about we try this?

gold-3

silver-2

bronze-1

USA- 220

China- 223

Guess China still won.

Answer 7

If you want to see who  won..it depends on who u ask.Id love to see them go back to the days when a winner  got a wreath of flowers on head and  nothing else, then and only then will you see who  WON..its all a money thing anyways China spent 40 BILLION on this   can  LONDON   or  INDIA  afford to compete?  

Answer 8

No one. In the eyes of China, they won. In the eyes of the USA, they won. In the eyes of the body that actually matters (the IOC), no one officially 'wins' the Olympics. The medal tally is simply there for referencing purposes. The countries don't win the medals, the individuals do.

Answer 9

There is no such thing as an OFFICIAL table and any poster who tells you there is doesn't know what they are talking about.  The IOC charter expressly forbids rankings and the IOC only releases informational listings based on the 'gold first' standard used by many International media sources.  US media sources have used the 'total medal' count for decades now and there is little likelihood they will change anytime soon.

The 'gold first' standard is under criticism by many as causing problems for the Olympic movement and sports in general.  It results in countries underfunding programs in which they have little chance of getting a gold and instead concentrating on a few specific programs--'cherry picking' as it is known.  The Olympic movement has a goal of fostering sports and participation in many fields, not just the ones you might win.  

The real winner is suppose to be the athlete, not the country.

Answer 10

'''China won''' according to the medal table but in the IOC eyes everyone wins. It is not measured in quantity but the type of medal. The ranking is sorted by the number of golds then silver then bronze. So even if a country wins 1000 silver medals a country with just 1 gold would still beat them. If the number of golds are equal they look at the silver, if silver is also equal they look which country has more bronze. If they have the same number of gold, silver and bronze they are seen as equal. China won 51 golds, 21 silver and 28 bronze which is a total of 100 medals. USA won 36 gold, 38 silver and 36 bronze which is a total of 110 medals. China automatically wins because it has 15 more gold than America. This system has been used for years. Every country in the world recognizes that China won except America which doesn't want to admit they were beaten. Once again, its not about the number of all the medals you won but the type of medals.

Answer 11

China won.

According to official IOC standing, as well as the rankings by every other country other than the US, China won by winning the most gold metals.  Only in the US are there any controversies.

Unless you are colorblind, there are differences between gold, silver, and bronze.  Gold is a lot better than silver.

Answer 12

China did

Answer 13

China Got the most golds.

USA Got the most medals.

It's simple. That's it. There is no such thing as an 'olympic winner'. It's spelled out very clearly in the IOC charter:



http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_rep...

(page 104, section 58, 'Roll of Honour') "The IOC and the OCOG shall not draw up any global ranking per country. A roll of honour bearing the names of medal winners and those awarded diplomas in each event shall be established by the OCOG and the names of the medal winners shall be featured prominently and be on permanent display in the main stadium."

All we have is arbitrary stats. Those are the stats we have. That's really all there is to it. There is no 'winner' or 'loser'.

Need more from the horses mouth?

“If you read the Olympic charter, we actually see the Games as between athletes, not countries,” Giselle Davies, an I.O.C. spokeswoman, said in an interview Monday.

still not satisfied?

The I.O.C. does compile and present on its Web site a final medal table with a disclaimer at the bottom: “The I.O.C. does not recognize global ranking per country; the medal tallies are displayed for information only,” it reads...

I don't think the US has ever claimed to have 'won'. I would like you to point me to a news organization that has claimed  we have. The US media isn't the best, but they are not so naive to think there is such a thing as an 'winner of the Olympics'. Please show me a publication from the US that claims that ANY country 'won' the Olympics in ANY year and I will show you an unreliable news source.

Answer 14

China won US by 15 gold medals. U.S. won China by 10 non-gold medals. Any rational person will tell you that China had a more impressive showing than the U.S. at the games.

Only losers claim there are no winners.