The medal count: U.S., China creating 'parallel Olympics'

BEIJING -- U.S. athletes are doing well in the sports their country traditionally cares about.

Chinese athletes are doing well in the sports their country traditionally cares about, plus some in which they have created instant tradition based on success.

“What we have here is a parallel Olympics,” said David Wallechinsky, author of “The Complete Book of the Olympics.”

“We in the United States are focused on swimming, track and field and basketball, and we hardly notice that China just won five gold medals in sports like badminton, shooting and women’s weightlifting.”

While pool swimming (as opposed to open water) and track have by far the most medals at stake, U.S. dominance there likely will not be enough to keep China from topping the gold medal count.

“A lot of people are saying China is traditionally not as strong in the second week, but traditionally they don’t win xx gold medals in the first week,” said Steve Roush, chief of sports performance for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“I’m not sure tradition is the best predictor of the future where China is concerned.”

China led 35-19 in the gold medal tally after Sunday’s action, the final day of pool swimming, in which the U.S. won 12 of 32 golds and China just one.

It is no surprise that Chinese media are among many worldwide that list the medal standings by gold rather than total medals, where the United States leads 65-61.

Roush and other USOC officials long had predicted that China would have exceptional results based on its Project 119, which identified 119 potential medal events and focused time and money on them.

“For the non-believers, it is reality that the Chinese investment over the past six or seven years has proved to be successful in events where they typically had not succeeded on the international level,” Roush said.

While U.S. athletes should win several gold medals in team sports that end later this week, their only hope to surpass China depends on doing better in track and field than seems reasonably possible — especially after failing to win the men’s shotput and both the men’s and women’s 100-meter dash.

An everything-goes-right view would have the United States winning 31 gold medals in the second week of the Olympics, which would make the total 48, or a whopping 12 more than the total four years ago in Athens.

China won 32 golds in Athens. While many sports they have dominated here are over, the Chinese should add to their current total with three more golds in table tennis, three more in diving, and one or more in boxing and gymnastics, with others possible in canoe-kayak and track and field.

These are possible places for the United States to add to its gold total.

Beach volleyball, two; baseball, one (unlikely); basketball, two (expected); BMX cycling, one; gymnastics, two; equestrian, one; sailing, one; soccer, one; softball, one (expected); taekwondo, one; volleyball, one; and water polo, one.

The United States has a shot at 16 gold medals in track and field, but its athletes are favored for only seven: men’s and women’s 400 meters, women’s 200, men’s 400 hurdles, decathlon and both 1,600-meter relays.

“Our Olympic team is performing well,” Roush insisted. “This isn’t a matter of the United States losing the gold medal count but of China stepping up and winning it.”

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Lin Dan of China during the men's gold medal match in badminton. Lin won. Credit: Indranil Mukherjee / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[David Drapeau]

Perhaps the individual performances (or those of particular teams, in team events) are the most exciting stories of the Olympics?

E.g., it sucks for Mark Spitz that due to "medal inflation" in swimming he didn't get a chance to compete in as many races as Michael Phelps (since they had fewer similar events in his day). Now Phelps bumps Spitz even though their intra-Games sweeps were similarly remarkable.

I don't know what the ranking is for just Gold medals, but the US is leading China on medals per capita just now, the two countries ranked 41 and 58 respectively, out of 72 countries that have so far won medals. I'm talking per capita, of course, since simple totals are bound to favour richer, bigger countries. Perhaps similar for just-golds?

Source for medals per capita: http://tinyurl.com/5m34tn

[Irfon]

It astonishes me that the American media, having found that the U.S is second by a massive margin in the medal tables invent their own way of calculating it to put their country on top. The U.S lead only marginally in the 'total medals won regardless of type count', what will the media do if China overtakes them in this count too? Count the relay as 4 medals? Disregard sports they don't like?

[Dean Wilson]

It's funny how the U.S. is the only country in the entire world to count accumalitive medals and therefore come out on top of the medal standings. There is a very simple reason why this should not be the case, if some-one has a bronze medal they would be just as equal as some-one with a gold, ludicrus.

[Reginald]

Chris is absolutely right-- the official IOC rankings are based on whichever country wins the *most gold medals*, and this is the international standard.

Every country in the world, and media throughout the world, therefore rank the countries based on gold medals won-- always has been that way, always will be. Look at the BBC, Australian and NZ news services, India, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, aka the entire world, the ranking are done by gold medal. (There are a couple news outlets in Canada that use total medals but even there, gold medals are the standard-- as is the case for more respectable publications in the USA.)

The reason for the gold medal-based rankings is obvious-- when we rank teams or individuals in any sport, do we use 2nd/3rd/4th-place finishes? No, of course not, we rank based on wins. One could make up all kinds of dumb ranking systems in the Olympics to favor the USA-- since we have the most athletes and the longest continuous "big-money sports" tradition, we also have the most 4th-place finishes, most 5th-place finishes and so forth. So why stop with 2nd/3rd places giving silver/bronze medals? Why not use Top 5 finishes? Top 10 finishes? USA looks even more dominant them.

Obviously, that's just ludicrous-- the entire world ranks countries based on the gold medals. This is not in any way to denigrate the accomplishments of athletes with silver and bronze medals, or 5th-place finishes, or 9th-place finishes. It's obviously something impressive just to make the Olympics.

But in comparing countries, there is one and only one international standard, and that's whoever wins the most gold medals. Anything else is just pathetic Enron-style number juggling to make our performance look better than it actually is.

The hard truth is that the Chinese are demolishing us in this Olympics, winning 39 gold medals to the USA's 22 golds. The margin's gargantuan-- it's not even close. So China is the new international sports power. No big deal-- in a couple weeks, we'll be looking forward to football season anyhow.

Seriously, if you all at the LA Times want to consider yourselves a respected newspaper, you should use the international standard for things like this rather than some number-massaging that NBC uses to attract advertising. You just look like fools using overall medals or any other system. Just rank based on the gold medals and adhere to the standard.

[you've got to be joking!]

Every medal table in the world except the US has China leading with the US second....it's so obvious what the US media is doing by changing the counting method to pretend they are first. Please....by the US counting method, a country with 25 bronzes comes ahead of a country with 24 golds. Give me a break. Admit it - China has thumped the US well and good in this Olympics so far.

[SL]

I believe the Olympics count (at least in the past) is calculated as follows: 3 points for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze. The country with the most points win, which is why China, based on the latest count, is currently ahead 159 - US 140.
Why be pessimistic? There's still another week of competitions, and the US may still win honestly, or at least, make the race more interesting.

[Uncle Sam]

The United States wins a gold medal in:

Freedom of Press
Freedom of assembly
and democratic elections

[Nick]

Who cares.

I've been watching the Olympics, I find the competition interesting, and if China wants to spend billions to dominate all the lesser-known "sports" competitions for the sake of national pride, I say go for it. With athletes shopping countries to find one with which they can qualify for the games in their sport, all the subjective amateur bad judging, age scandals, drug scandals, gender scandals, silly "sports", etc, the games could use a little less emphasis on national winning totals and more emphasis on real athletic competition. I say let China revel in their national champion female badminton program (for example), and we'll be happy for our basketball dominance, and everyone can be proud of their accomplishments.

[Andy]

Have to hand it to China, they have really blown away the US in Gold. However, I don't see how other countries can talk about the US and how bad suck though. Having lived in several other countries other than the US, life opportunities are limited everywhere else. You can accomplish anything you want in the US generally speaking. It always has been, and will always be the land of opportunity. That's something all the gold in the world can't buy.

[Nancy]

I'm glad that Google has been following the rest of the world's example in their medal count.

[Eric]

What's with all of the America bashing? Of course this has an American slant, it's an American article. And it's not like we're talking about a big outlet like USA Today, MSNBC, or CNN. This is the Los Angelas Times. I'm not sure why somebody in Britain is reading this. I don't read the Dover Daily.

And I'm not totally getting the "if America didn't have Michael Phelps, they'd be doing terrible" argument. It's like saying "if Hitler had gotten accepted into art school, World War 2 would have never happened." Both arguments arn't relevant to reality. Michael Phelps is one of the greatest Olympians of all time. Not the greatest in my opinion, but 8 gold medals is unquestionably outstanding.

[Prime Customer]

So I guess China is the place athletes should head to in the pursuit of excellence ... ?

It seems 50-70% of the time, athelete X trained in the U.S., or is coached by U.S. coaches, went to college at Auburn/USC/Duke, whatever, then pops up in the Olympics "representing" some other country.

The ability of athletes to compete under the flag of a country other than that responsible for their development undercuts the significance of "national" results. Same for US athletes who hire foreign coaches.

Talk of representing countries is fine, but most athletetes would (and do) trade their countries in an instant if it gives them a personal advantage. Modern athletics is egocentric narcissism.

China is a hell-hole; like all totalitarian systems, they feel compelled pursue extravagant symbols to cover up this fact. The Olympics is just easily engineered and controlled propaganda to them. Pocket change to create a false image of China.

[MNPundit]

The American Media counted by total medals in Athens too. Personally I say time we face facts, our empire is crumbling and China is beating us. Give up? No! Do better? Be smarter? Yes! Because let's face it, when it comes to America there's a lot of room for improvement in the area of intelligence.

[give it a break!!]

When I think of the olympics, I think of an opportunity to bring countries together and to celebrate those individuals who are truly gifted in their skills. The article above was simply one American's interpretation as to the success of a country. In America, we are entitled to our opinions and can freely express them to the public. Personally, I never considered the medal count to hold some significance as to which country is better than another. Let us just celebrate the hard work all of our oplympians have done. A gold is obviously better than a bronze, but on the magnitude of an individuals ranking in the world, 3rd is not bad right? Let us not belittle the meaning of winning a medal.

[james]

I'm rather surprised by the numbers of international readers of the LA Times that have posted. I wouldn't have thought there were 1) so many international readers or 2) so many would have posted.

Jia Yo!

[Don]

The current Olympics reminds me of the ones in the 60's and 70's in which the Soviet Union dominated, and the U.S. was always a distant second. China, like the pre-fall Soviet Union, targets and then manipulates the natural system. So good for them, hope they like the ROI they're getting for the upteem millions of dollars they are spending to win the most gold. But like the Soviet Union, the system will crash under its own weight at some time in the future (probably like its economy will as well!). You can spend an infinite amount of money to show the world a new face; but if 99% of your population is still dirt poor, is your face any prettier?

[Jack]

I congratulation on Chinese team. But I also see a bunch of European losers here. They can't complete with USA team and just put hope on whoever can beat USA.

[Nathan]

Wow, I have to say it's interesting to see the Anti-American reaction here. To lump all Americans together on a poor point of veiw clearly displays your "open-mindedness" as well. To hate Americans simply because the American media presents medal count leaders differently is rediculous. I'm American, have I seen China doing better in the Olympics?...absolutely. To think all americans are dumb, deaf, and blind because of our media is truly upsetting. This is not an entire nation of sick-minded egomaniacs who simply want to dominate. I see a friendly country pride that I'm sure your countries display as well. To the person who commented that American dominance in the Olympics is a "bore", I understand that, but don't dismiss the great things America has done because of it. I'm not proud of recent actions by our government, please understand a lot of Americans aren't. Everyone I know cares about this planet and the people in it. We don't sit at home everyday and high-five American accomplishments so before you bash Americans understand that your perceived "American dominance" does not mean we are blind!

To the person who said "Roll on the day America fails", shame on you. I'm sorry but as I hope your country would be there for us I'm willing to bet we would be there for you. China, in it's splended glory during this Olympics still has a government of extreme oppression. You are blinded by the wonderful fireworks and the mass of brilliant performers, get a grip!!! Once these Olympics are over there are still a huge amount of oppressed Chinese under a goverment that even you should be concerned with. By lumping all Americans to views the media displays means you are just as guilty with your thinking. You have fallen to media perception without truly knowing and it's a shame.

All this is said with love and I appreciate hearing your point of view. I do ask you consider that the majority of Americans are kind and to me it's silly to create such a void with us. Enjoy the Olympics because I certainly have, even if we do lose!

Nate

[Ralph]

Winning at all costs. That's the mantra of the US news media. Its all about money and ratings. This is why NBC and other US news organizations are pushing the Total medal count as opposed to the Gold medal count. Here's how the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo medal count is reported (Wikipedia): USA G36 S26 B28, Total:90; Rank 1st. Then we have Soviet Union G30 S31 B35, Total: 96; Rank 2nd.

So how is it that before it was ranked by Gold and now (supposedly) it is ranked by Total? Seems rather convenient eh? You can also check the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 where the same system is used.

NBC and the US media want to keep Americans in perpetual darkness and ignorance as regards their fall from the top of the Olympic heap. Where's the proof that the medal count in the past was based on Total?

[antarctica]

It is absolutely and ridiculously pathetic for the American media that they rank countries according to the total number of medals instead of "gold" medals, which is the official method and applied everywhere in the World except in The Glorious Super Nation of United Wonderful States of Marvelous America! China is kicking some serious butt, and it seems like it is hurting someone very much! So, they decided to twist facts and distort realities, just like they did with Weapons of Mass Destruction/Distraction in forcefully occupying Iraq. Oh yeah, the rest of the World so stupid that we did not realize this cover-up. Maybe, they will rank countries according to the number bronzes in 2012, so that they would be ranked first.

[silvia]

so much for all those soar grape comment, pls!! China is doing pretty good in this Olympics while USA sucks this time. Just take a look at the Track and Field. How many gold do we have so far?

At least have the decency to admit that we didn't do well this time and catch up next time!

[Steven]

Didn't you realize that the US is the best proponent of propaganda the world has ever seen, lying or twisting truth comes easily to them. Imagine...A country wins 19 bronze medals and the US announces that this is more successful than a team that only managed 18 GOLD. hahaha. They have no shame, not one ounce. nada. So hilarious. CHINA is the worlds superpower now, the Olympics was simply announcing it to the world. Still, people laugh when I say this. Dumb hyenas. You will see.

[Steven]

Didn't you realize that the US is the best proponent of propaganda the world has ever seen, lying or twisting truth comes easily to them. Imagine...A country wins 19 bronze medals and the US announces that this is more successful than a team that only managed 18 GOLD. hahaha. They have no shame, not one ounce. nada. So hilarious. CHINA is the worlds superpower now, the Olympics was simply announcing it to the world. Still, people laugh when I say this. Dumb hyenas. You will see.

[wh]

To James,
You are not alone when comparing the now China to the then USSR. Mind you though, if you think China will collapse like the Soviet, you might be disappointed. While China is portait in the U.S. as a backward, cheap labor filled country which is run by a crule government that has no regard to human right, the majority of the Chinese people actually do support their government. We don't need a voting system to prove this, just look at the faces of their people and the waves of Chinese flags during the Olympic games. The reason is economy. Who'd overthrow a government that has lead their country in double digit economic growth for 30 years?! Like the old say goes: it's the economy, stupid!

China is a country with 1.3 billion possed people who seem to have only two things on their mind: make more money and win Olympic gold. They might actually get some of that:)

[bluemoon]

Don,

You're so wrong because you don't know anything about China. The Chinese (not just the government but also the people) are very driven and very motivated these days because they want to be competitive in the world after being an irrelevant country for a century. The Olympics are just one example of their determination to succeed. Get yourself better informed/educated. China has already moved away from a state-controlled economy to capitalism. There is an emerging middle class in that country and their government has some 3 trillions in reserve. How is that the same as the Soviet Union? I'm more worried about the American system crashing under its own weight with so many deadbeats in our society who just want government handouts. Let's face it, times have changed and this is no longer the 20th century. If Americans don't better themselves, Asia will bury us.