How are the olympics won?

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This is really the first year I've been watching it and was kind of into it thinking the USA was winning with it's higher medal count as of now. Then a friend told me only gold medals count and that China was technically the winner. I did a bit of searching online and pretty much no matter how I phrased it I couldn't find the information on how a country "wins" an olympics. So how does it work?
 

alpinepaul

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oh come on. Athletes win in different sports medals for their own and for their country. There are some team competitions. But there is no Winner of the Olympics!

Medal Statistics is only a game for media.

If there would be an Olympic Winner, we would have to count medals per capita. And then the tiny but successfull delegations (like Latvia, Bahamas and so on) would win ...
 

B_Artful Dodger

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There is no one official country that wins the Olympic Games. But the medals table does represent which countries have won the most events.
Gold medals are counted first, then if there is a tie in golds, the silvers are taken into consideration, and if there is a tie in silvers too, the bronzes are used to even things out. If the bronzes are also tied then there is a shared placing on the medals table.
The actual number of medals doesn't mean anything as 50 bronzes are not equal to 1 gold...
Hope that helps a bit. :smile:
 

cockoloco

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It also depends on how many competitors represent each country. If say, Panama has 5 competitors and they all win a medal, then Panama's level will be quite high. However, they will be nowhere near in the Medal Chart against China, the US, Russia, etc who might present say, one hundred competitors each and therefore have more chances of beating those five medals.

The medal count means nothing. It really comes to how and in which competition they were won for each country, individually.
 

jason_els

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I don't care which countries get the most medals. It's a false measurement of anything. What I truly enjoy are the small countries that send an athlete who wins any medal at all. You hear an anthem you've never heard before, see a flag you don't recognize, and you just think, 'This must mean a lot to them.' Meanwhile US and other athletes from big nations are arguing about who has the biggest pile of gold medals. It's kind of absurd.

It's also great to see the underdog win sometimes. Someone who wasn't considered to have a chance gets into the medal standings and I find it heartwarming.

It's obvious athletes represent countries, but I see them more as individuals. After all, they put in the work themselves that got them to where they are. It's a lot easier to be a top athlete from a wealthy country so that's another reason why I love it when the medal winners come from the smaller, maybe less affluent countries.

Medals counts don't matter to me, which is why I would make a horrible Olympic athlete. I know how much gold medals mean, but I've always thought that being bronze or silver or just coming in the top 10 would be wonderful. The worst spot in the Olympics has to be fourth place. I'd rather be lower-ranked than fourth. Everyone looks at your score and thinks, 'Oh if only! So close!' and you'll hear that from your friends and family for the rest of your life!
 
D

deleted213967

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Medals counts don't matter to me, which is why I would make a horrible Olympic athlete. I know how much gold medals mean, but I've always thought that being bronze or silver or just coming in the top 10 would be wonderful. The worst spot in the Olympics has to be fourth place. I'd rather be lower-ranked than fourth. Everyone looks at your score and thinks, 'Oh if only! So close!' and you'll hear that from your friends and family for the rest of your life!

Noble thoughts Jason but as you so eloquently pointed out, it is competitiveness that drives individuals and groups to victory. Ergo medal counts count.

I seriously doubt that China sank tens of billions of our hard-borrowed WalMart dollars into the event because they buy into the idea of "l'important c'est de participer".

While I wholly agree with you that Phelps's medals are his medals, I have a notion that by representing us in such a positive way, he miraculously managed to restore some of the prestige the country has lost over the past 8 years.
 

rbkwp

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Same as Jason.. Medals count not overly important to me
fr inst Great? NZ has got NONE..yet' ha'
I LOVE the Real Smiley Faces of everyone
The Perfect Healthy Bodies
I love the Competitors & the Name Olympians'
Happenings like
-the Swimmer in the Aussie Olympics..who persevered and finished MINUTES behind his fellows
--or the little bit of Humour/Drama..when Sally Robbins of Aussie .. just GAVE UP. in the final seconds of the Rowing 4,s.(exhaustion/womens probs/whatever)
The Clever Aussies dubbed her
Lay Down Sally..> aaaah still crak up at that
---and these Olympics .. with the guy from Togo .. in the Kayak/Canoe Rapids..came 3rd .. WONDERFUL
enz
 

cockoloco

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A real competitor trains hard to be first. You don't train whole days and lead a specific lifestyle and think: I might be first or second... maybe third. If you finish second or third though, they will admit that the winner was more appropriately trained and will, therefore, train harder for the next time.

That's why I think that medals ARE important, but only on an individual level since it is the hard working athlete who earns them. Of course, you can keep a count by countries for general information purposes, but a country having more gold medals (or ANY medals for that matter), does not mean that they are more valuable than the other gold, silver or bronze medals won by athletes from other countries.