What medal count do you use?

[Sig Saucer]

Internationally most publications use the gold medal count as a marker for who's winning, while here in the US a lot of publications use total medal count.

I like the gold medal count because it's used on Google and I have developed a hatred for Yahoo!'s blogging on the Olympics.

So is China getting that elusive 50th gold medal before closing? (They have 49 as of this posting).

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I think we (USA) are using the total medal count because that's what we are leading in.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Gold > Silver > Bronze

 

[*smb]

I think we (USA) are using the total medal count because that's what we are leading in.

Yeah they mentioned that on one of the news programs here in the UK.

 

[IconBasser]

hey, when do the olympics close, anyway?

 

[Sig Saucer]

Tomorrow night I believe.

It's going to be a great show. I've waited 6 years for these Olympics and these are two great weeks of my life.

 

[iamlowsound]

I use medals per capita, if that is the case Australia is winning followed by Canada.

lowsound

 

[heroincredible]

I refuse to believe that the Soviet Union broke up, and am going by total medal count. By my count, the USSR has the most medals.

 

[Sig Saucer]

I refuse to believe that the Soviet Union broke up, and am going by total medal count. By my count, the USSR has the most medals.

Tell that to the IOC

 

[L-A]

I use medals per capita, if that is the case Australia is winning followed by Canada.

lowsound

I always thought that, following this criteria, our 44 medals in Los Angeles were out of the charts.

Quick count, that's like China getting 1716 medals

 

[heroincredible]

Tell that to the IOC

I actually go by gold medal count. Silver and bronze are good and all, but you only really win gold.

 

[Sig Saucer]

Are Catholic priests allowed to compete? The Vatican doesn't have an Olympic team.

Damn, China really needs that last gold medal to reach 50. They literally let a gay Australian to beat them in diving.

 

[brem]

The official olympic way of counting medals is with the total of gold medals.

 

[peterbright]

Both ways. Hong Kong & Taipei are listed separately from China.

 

[ulrich]

I'd like to see it scored like MotoGP.

Points Scoring - MotoGP Class Position
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Points
25 20 16 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

 

[TheDarkReaver]

Gold Medal, it is the official way I believe. We came 4th on both counts though. Woo!

.

 

[seanm]

Gold Medal, it is the official way I believe. We came 4th on both counts though. Woo!

.

It seems to be for this Olympics. But I never remember this being an issue before, it was always *total* medals. When did they switch to golds only?

And, FWIW, the Canadian Olympic Committee uses total medals.

 

[TallLankyBastyd]

Are Catholic priests allowed to compete? The Vatican doesn't have an Olympic team.

Damn, China really needs that last gold medal to reach 50. They literally let a gay Australian to beat them in diving.

"Not that there is anything wrong with that..." but I thought all divers were "gay"?!?

Gold medal count is the only one to go by... you're either a winner or a g@wd@mmed LOSER!!

 

[TheDarkReaver]

It seems to be for this Olympics. But I never remember this being an issue before, it was always *total* medals. When did they switch to golds only?

And, FWIW, the Canadian Olympic Committee uses total medals.

From the IOC's site:

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognise global ranking per country; the medal tables are displayed for information only.

Furthermore, the results that we publish are official and are taken from the "Official Report" - a document published for each Olympic Games by the Organising Committee. However, for the first Olympic Games (until Antwerp in 1920), it is difficult to give the exact number of medals awarded to some countries, due to the fact that teams were composed of athletes from different countries.

The medal tables by country are based on the number of medals won, with gold medals taking priority over silver and bronze. A team victory counts as one medal.

All the tables of past games I looked at were in order of gold medals. Therefore I would have to conclude that it was the official system of the IOC.

 

[mike_v_s]

I use medals per capita, if that is the case Australia is winning followed by Canada.

lowsound

Always bringing up the rear, eh?

Seriously, I think the "medals per capita" is a decent and overlooked system. The fact that China was able to generate 49 gold medal athletes out of the billion or so citizens it has isn't really amazing. Don't misunderstand me: the performances are, but the fact that the country is leading the gold medal count shouldn't be surprising. They should be leading the medal count, as well.

Mike