A Proposal for Calculating Medal Standings

[Cachoo]

I sometimes wonder if Vladimir Putin counts up the medals with countries formerly in the Soviet Union to see if they would be on top. He seems like a fairly competitive guy.

[BlueRidge]

Someone else is concerned about US state numbers of medals! But only two states.

Ouch:

Olympics medal count: It’s Maryland over Virginia
(Washington Post)

Urgh, Maryland 7, Virginia 3. Or Maryland 5, Virginia 3 (depending on your choice of method)

The saddest thing is being from an un-state that isn't even mentioned. Does D.C. even have any athletes at this Olys?

[Spareoom]

So I didn't know where else to put this, but here goes.

I was looking at the medal tallys today, trying to figure out where China was under-performing in relation to Beijing, and while I think there was an overall decrease in results, I think it may have been gymnastics that might have killed them this time around.

In Beijing, the Chinese men won SEVEN of the eight gold medals at stake on the men's side, and won two of the six women's golds. They also took a silver and a handful of bronzes across the board.

In London, the Chinese men only won three of the eight medals, and the women picked up just one. Add to that three silvers and a bronze, and not only is your gold medal count drastically lower, but your overall medal haul is lower as well.

That's four less gold medals right there in one discipline. Add to the fact that China lost another gold medal in diving today, and that's pretty much your gold medal deficit right there.

Obviously one can't expect China to perform as spectacularly as they did in their own country. But still, I thought it was interesting to consider. As a gymnastics fan, I never really though that the sport made much of an impact on the overall medal hauls, but it seems like it had.

It's also interesting to note that going by the popular medal tally (gold outweighing medal count), Aly Raisman is 14th on the list; the top gymnast of the Games and the third ranked non-swimmer (behind Bolt and Felix). If you go by medal totals overall, Aliya Mustafina gets bumped up to the top ranked non-swimmer at 7th overall. Pretty darn impressive.

[Really]

Updated after the end of the Games:


Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Points
1 United States 46 29 29 225
2 China 38 27 23 191
3 Russia 24 26 32 156
4 Great Britain 29 17 19 140
5 Germany 11 19 14 85
6 France 11 11 12 67
7 Japan 7 14 17 66
8 Australia 7 16 12 65
9 Korea 13 8 7 62
10 Italy 8 9 11 53
11 Netherlands 6 6 8 38
12 Hungary 8 4 5 37
13 Ukraine 6 5 9 37
14 Spain 3 10 4 33
15 Kazakhstan 7 1 5 28
16 Brazil 3 5 9 28
17 New Zealand 6 2 5 27
18 Cuba 5 3 6 27
19 Iran 4 5 3 25
20 Canada 1 5 12 25
21 Jamaica 4 4 4 24
22 Belarus 3 5 5 24
23 Czech Republic 4 3 3 21
24 Kenya 2 4 5 19
25 Romania 2 5 2 18
26 Denmark 2 4 3 17
27 Azerbaijan 2 2 6 16
27 Poland 2 2 6 16
29 DPR Korea 4 0 2 14
30 South Africa 3 2 1 14
31 Ethiopia 3 1 3 14
32 Sweden 1 4 3 14
33 Croatia 3 1 2 13
34 Colombia 1 3 4 13
35 Georgia 1 3 3 12
35 Mexico 1 3 3 12
37 Turkey 2 2 1 11
38 Switzerland 2 2 0 10
39 Lithuania 2 1 2 10
40 Norway 2 1 1 9
41 Ireland 1 1 3 8
42 India 0 2 4 8
43 Argentina 1 1 2 7
43 Slovenia 1 1 2 7
43 Serbia 1 1 2 7
46 Mongolia 0 2 3 7
47 Tunisia 1 1 1 6
48 Trinidad and Tobago 1 0 3 6
48 Uzbekistan 1 0 3 6
50 Dominican Republic 1 1 0 5
51 Thailand 0 2 1 5
52 Slovakia 0 1 3 5
53 Latvia 1 0 1 4
54 Egypt 0 2 0 4
55 Armenia 0 1 2 4
55 Belgium 0 1 2 4
55 Finland 0 1 2 4
58 Algeria 1 0 0 3
58 Bahamas 1 0 0 3
58 Grenada 1 0 0 3
58 Uganda 1 0 0 3
58 Venezuela 1 0 0 3
63 Bulgaria 0 1 1 3
63 Estonia 0 1 1 3
63 Indonesia 0 1 1 3
63 Malaysia 0 1 1 3
63 Puerto Rico 0 1 1 3
63 Chinese Taipei 0 1 1 3
69 Botswana 0 1 0 2
69 Cyprus 0 1 0 2
69 Gabon 0 1 0 2
69 Guatemala 0 1 0 2
69 Montenegro 0 1 0 2
74 Portugal 0 1 0 2
75 Greece 0 0 2 2
75 Moldova 0 0 2 2
75 Qatar 0 0 2 2
75 Singapore 0 0 2 2
79 Afghanistan 0 0 1 1
79 Bahrain 0 0 1 1
79 Hong Kong, China 0 0 1 1
79 Saudi Arabia 0 0 1 1
79 Morocco 0 0 1 1
79 Tajikistan 0 0 1 1
79 Kuwait 0 0 1 1

[Rob]

New York wins again

But Maryland is such a small state! McKayla Maroney would be impressed.

I could care less how medal counts are presented. If they are listed by gold with the number of silvers and bronzes alongside, I can add them up if I want to know the total. Or if the news wants to add me up for me, I can still tell who has the most gold. Pfft.

Plus we are lucky US media doesn't skew by crediting everyone with a medal for participating.

[Rob]

I was actually thinking that the bronze medal could actually hold a Tums inside. Might as well make it useful, if it is so worthless.

Bronze is usually happy. Silver needs Tums.