Olympic Medals: USA comes in #45 in per capita medal scramble

36 Replies to “Olympic Medals: USA comes in #45 in per capita medal scramble”

1. Rick, you make a great point. Additionally, I have often thought as I suffered through a flight next to someone who should have to purchase two seats, just how much better in medals we could do if we didn’t have television, video games, and sugar in everything on the shelf. Readers might be interested to know that athletes might not really be of the nationality they are listed as. Olympic rules allow one to compete for another nation 1. If you get released from your national federation, either voluntarily or unvoluntarily. 2. Were born in another nation whether you are currently a citizen or not…or maybe have a dual citizenship. 3. You marry another nationality. 4. Or if you have never competed internationally for your nation of citizenship, another nation may allow you to compete for them under their flag. Having been involved in the Olympic movement to some degree, I personally know of athletes who who competed for other nations, but were not citizens. In one case, the athlete was allowed because her grandmother was from Britain and so the athlete competed for Britain. The competition to go to the games is intense. While most athletes would never think of competing for other than their nation, others are always looking for a dodge. These are usually athletes who know they can’t make the games under their own flag and so try for another. The Olympics is NOT about the best athletes. It is about the best athletes of EACH nation. Otherwise, many nations would not be able to qualify any athletes due to lack of ability to field that many athletes.

2. I think that China did a great job with the Olympics. Dispite all the critisism of the world. One of the best trips I have ever taken was to China in 2000. That was the most world education I have ever had. At that time the Chinese took so much pride in there creativness and their inner peace it was unbelievable.

3. what about canada ehe? with a pop of 34million i got a 5.29 hmmmmm

4. yeah, yeah, yeah….blah blah blah im sure capita and economic status has a lot to do with medal count. i dont discount that. but, like some other countries, there are some american athletes that are just phenominally ahead when it comes to athletic ability. i think that by having such a competitive society, the (popular) american sports are dominated or in the top caegory consistently (those sports that americans find interesting). I wish america would get enthusiastic about soccer (futbol) one of these days. it owuld be great to see a competitive, enthusistic american soccer team competing on the world stage. anyway, spain almost beat the US basketball team.once again, there are no doubt great athletes, but in this case there were too many exception athleths for spain to keep up with. just my opinion…by the way that jamaican is really fast

5. The Bahamas are not the Olympic champs. They have simply gained an advantage by playing the role of the underdog. The underdog often has the greatest motivation and opportunity to win, as the better competitors naturally underestimate the less skilled. The U.S. can’t play the role of the underdog, because we expect them to win. Likewise, China and Russia. It is much more difficult to win, when you are expected to win, then to win when no one expects you to win. This is why Michael Phelphs was the best athlete at the 2008 Olympics. We expected him to win, and he didn’t disappoint. That is a much more difficult motivational hurdle to leap.

6. Won’t this always be the case though? If you divide per capita with a fixed number of athletes and medals, the lower population countries will always have an advantage. Something would have to be really wrong for the United States not to come out further down this list with this type of calculation.

7. Very interesting way to calculate medals. China did win the most gold medals from these games. It can all be seen many different ways. Congrats to all nations and athletes.

8. Right on Sarah. Each country has the same number of athletes on their team. There are sports where the top 6-7 Americans would finish in the top 10 in the world but we only can qualify 3 per sport. It is not a fair comparison.

9. It is not unfair according to the Olympic plan. The purpose is for every “nation” to have a chance to field athletes. There is a bigger ideal in play. If the USA had the ten fastest athletes in the world and the games only had room for ten athletes, then no other nation could compete. This would defeat the whole purpose of the Olympics. In many sports, the USA could field 10 or more athletes. In winter Olympic competition, the number of athletes each nation fields is dependant on 1. How well the nation did in competitions in the year leading up to the games. The better you do, the more spots you get. 2. Also, the host nation always gets at least one extra athlete per sport. I’m sure this is roughly true for the summer games as well.

10. Terry, I agree with the Olympic plan. The Olympics are a great way to bring the countries of the world together. I would not change anything. I am just saying that Rick’s comparison of medals won is not fair when not all of the worlds best athletes qualify.

11. Rick, I think that the appeasement of a country with an appalling human rights record is not a “piddling gripe”. I know that you believe in the power of engagement, but I fail to see how giving China the Olympics has helped those who are tortured and killed by China and its allies like Sudan.

12. Rick, as usual your anti-American post is silly. The USA, like all countries, is only allowed to enter a certain number of athletes per event. For example, each country can only enter 2 swimmers in each event. Countries used to be allowed 3 … but the USA swept too many events. So, the swimming foundation changed the rules. There are numerous events throughout the Olympics that would be dominated by countries like the USA (or China, etc) absent the competitive limitations.

13. Perhaps we should be looking at the devastating effects that Title IX regulations have had on our national competitiveness. Take a few moments and read Phyllis Schlafly’s commentary in today’s IBD.

14. As others have pointed out here, Rick, your “insightful” calculations are deeply flawed. They show more about your disdain for America and Americans (except to the extent they keep your pockets lined) than about which country “won” the Olympics. But here’s an idea for an actually useful medal table: calculate the public cost of each medal. What I mean is divide the taxpayer dollars spent by the number of medals won. I have no idea what the top ten would look like, though I suspect the Aussies and Kiwis would do well, and the Brits awfully (and China would be last, probably spending millions for each medal). No clue how the US would fare, but I think it would tell us all a lot more information than either the straight medal count or Rick’s per-capita approach/excuse to take cheap shots at America.

15. A little background about this topic. Rick has done this graph for several Olympics. And according to what Rick said when he did this the first time was that he had commented to a resident of a small European county (I think it was Denmark)at how well the USA had done in the Olympics. And it was the European who told him about this per capita numbers game. At the time I found it to be just an interesting twist and observation from a small counties perspective. I guess Rick did also. This could be looked at as just another insight from Europe. Isn’t this what Rick does all the time?

16. It seems to me that your friend’s method for computing the medal count is really just a way of skewing the numbers to make them come out ahead. I’m sure if you worked things enough, you could rearrange the list in almost any different way! It’s like arguing that your team might not have been the fastest, but they are the most efficient! Someone from a richer nation might argue about medals based on per capita income, someone from an agricultural nation might argue based on medals per agricultural farmland. What about medals per number of lawyers over the age of 30 named John, i think the US would come out better in that metric! In the end, does it really matter what the medal count is? Tracking the medal count and working the numbers for everyone really ends up just being some big international pissing contest that doesn’t effect the more important things that are going on in the world. Also, i agree that the comment regarding the media as having “piddling gripes” is unfair when this event is being held in a country with one of the worst human rights records and everyone spent as much time as possible trying to pretend everything was wonderful and the Chinese government was great and all.

17. How many athletes train in the USA but compete for other countries? We could divide the medal count by where the athlete trained.

18. Thanks John. I agree that to find “ultimate worldwide athletic superiority” one should allow all athletes to have their day. I just don’t know how it could be managed. We don’t have a contest for that. We do have World Championships in most sports which narrow the field quite a bit, excluding many nations that don’t meet the qualifying standards. Take Bobsled and Skeleton. They have the World Cup, Europa Cup, America’s Cup circuits. They have a limited entry, otherwise the races could not be accomplished on a weekend or with the volunteers who put on the events. The USA spreads their top athletes among all the three tours, but even many USA club athletes could clean the clock of the athletes Brazil, Mexico and the like field (not making disparaging remarks about anyone, just a fact). To Russell: Not one single taxpayer dollar goes to a single American athlete. Not a single taxpayer dollar goes to the United States Olympic Committee. Not a single taxpayer dollar goes to support the Olympic Training Centers in Lake Placid, San Diego, Colorado Springs, Michigan, etc. The U.S. Olympic movement is totally supported by individual donations from you and me and corporate sponsors. I wish they did, then we wouldn’t have our top athletes in some sports living in their cars, maxing out credit cards, have their families taking out mortgages on their homes and working two jobs. But then, we might lose some of the passion. So, the answer to your question is: $0.00

19. The nationalism at olympic games concerns me. During several interviews, I heard many chinese comment about how the world will now understand how powerful China is. I also cringe when I hear the “USA” chants at the olympics. Why can’t the olympics be about the athletes and the spectacular beauty of the human form without resulting in the my country is better than yours mentality.

20. What I don’t like about the Olympics is that professional athletes are allowed to compete. Chants of “USA” do not bother me because such chants happen at all sports; e.g., Ducks, Huskies, Blazers, Bulls, Mariners, Knicks and the accompanying foot stomping and hand clapping. There are also chants for individual players; “Luke Luke Luke”(showing my age for the retired great Maurice Lucas)!

21. I wish america would get enthusiastic about soccer (futbol) one of these days. it owuld be great to see a competitive, enthusistic american soccer team competing on the world stage. Steve, who was the gold medal winner in the woman’s Olympic soccer? USA! And about that Jamacian sprinter…no man can run a 9.69 without “medical assistance.” Sorry.

22. We have visited 12 (Albertville, Calgary, Chamonix, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck, Oslo, Salt Lake City, Sarajevo, Squaw Valley, St. Moritz, Turin) of the 19 cities where the 20 modern Winter Olympics have been held. Add St. Moritz, and Innsbruck, that held Olympics twice, Vancouver, scheduled to hold the 2010 Olympics, we have visited the locations of 15 of the first 21 winter Olympics. ==== We visited 15 (Amsterdam, Antwerp, Athens, Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, Munich, Paris, Rome, St. Louis, Stockholm) of the 21 cities where the 25 modern Olympic Games have been held. Count Athens, London, Los Angeles, and Paris, that held the Olympics twice, and we have visited 19 of the cities of 25 modern Olympics. In 1989 we visited Olympia, the site of the original Olympic Games, 3,000 years ago. ==== The campground located next to the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands, had a tall vertical sign that said “CAMPING,” so we spent a night. One year we drove into Wroclaw, Poland, and found the campground was right next to the Stadium built in 1926. The 40,000 seat Stadium held several events of the 1936 Olympic Games, it’s now called the Olympic Stadium. We did spend a night or more at about 27 of the cities where Olympics had been held. Guess who in our RV won the Gold Medal for outstanding performance, next to an Olympic stadium? ==== We were not there because of the Olympics, and we did not see many of the Stadiums, it just happens that where we visited on our extensive travels.

23. To the person concerned about USA chants … I’ve been to the Olympics and can tell you that (usually, at least) the chants are not negative in any way. Each country’s fans want their athletes to win or do well. But I’ve never been to an event that brought countries together more than the Olympics. Fans from countries all over the world get together to meet each other, to party, to talk, etc. Sure, the Dutch are rooting hard for the Dutch athletes and are sporting their Dutch Orange, but it’s all in good spirit.

24. Another interesting way is to add medals for European Union Countries – Total 272! We would be first! With an average of about 0,495 medals per pop. (…But if it was like a country then wouldn’t be allowed to compete with so many athlets…)

25. Dino- I hate to say this, but womens soccer is like watching the WNBA. to be brutally honest,….. it sucks. you did make a point, but for some reason it is just not the same as mens soccer. maybe after a hundred years of evolution, women who compete in the smae sports as men will be just as exciting. Im not sexist on this one, i would rather watch women diving and volleyball instead of mens diving and volleyball. The point i was trying to make is that America would really be part of something special if they were as “in” to soccer as the rest of the world. I would also like to see baseball “catch on” in european countries as well. Asia, upper south america, and the carribean are there, now we need africa and europe. and soccer needs the USA. i appreciate the response

26. Let’s test this “sliding scale of fairness” theory for the NFL. The Green Bay Packers have the smallest population of any city housing an NFL team. They are the ONLY publicly-owned team, and, while they are partially-subsidized by the NFL, they still don’t enjoy the silly amounts of money available to teams like the Dallas Cowboys. Soooo, should the Pack be given additional credit for each touchdown? Of course not! Because when the team takes the field, it no longer matters. It matters who wins by scoring the most points in the game. So there.

27. Once again you try to put the Americans in their place but instead of thinking less of our American athletes(or the athletes from any other largely-populated country, for that matter) it makes me second-guess my favorable opinions of you and your Dutch friend if you both really think it makes sense to base medal rankings on a per-capita scale!

28. I’m not really sure how this is an “america bashing” artical?!? Never once did he say anything bad about the american olympic movement. he just said, here’s a different prespective on the olympics. SOme of the people writing here are far too sensitive. Lighten up! For those that say it’s not a fair comparison you could look at it like this: Country A, which has 10 times the population of country B has 10 times the chance of producing an athlete which is capable of winning a gold medal. I think it’s a perfectly fair way of comparing medal counts simply because the odds of a large country winning a gold medal are much higher than the odds of a small country winning a medal. Oh wait – why do we care so much about medal counts?? that’s not what the games are supposed to be about anyway! Also – Terry thanks for your lesson on how US olympic athletes are funded but you do know that 20% of the IOCs GLOBAL sponsorship revenues are given to the US olympic committee?!? Since the US has such great corporate and private donations, do they really need this money? How about give that money to the countries that really need it – Doesn’t really seem fair to a lot of smaller countries but hey, that’s just me I guess. And Dino – your comment about Bolt (the Jamacian sprinter) is laughable at best. I could just as easily sit here and say “No man could swim the xx m as fast as Phelps did” If Bolt was American I’m sure we’d here nothing but praise. How about when Donovan Bailey won the 100 m in 1996 with a 9.89 – did he have medical assitance? He must have when he smoked Johnson in the exhibition race they ran right, because the American lost… Didn’t they say for years that no one could ever run a 10.0?? You can’t say that no one could run a 9.69 because Like Phelps, Bolt isn’t comparable to any other athlete that has ever run the sport. Look at the way he runs – look how tall he is, these guys are genetic monsters! Anyway, /end rant!

29. Ken, The IOC makes almost all their money from their marketing efforts. Every two years, they have a game to market. Summer bringing in substantially more than winter. This means every two years, they provide a huge amount of money to each host city. Of course, as soon as a city is named as a host, money starts flowing. Without the help of the IOC, many nations would not be able to host a games. I haven’t looked up what the USA will be getting each year now that we have no USA games on the schedule, but we are still underfunded. Athletes are still sleeping in their cars, maxxing out credit cards and living on jars of peanut butter and loaves of bread…and the kindness of strangers. But it will take more than that to kill a dream.

30. Rick Steves, this is the most anti- American crock of bull that I’ve heard in a long hot while. I think you need to go back to school and relearn that America is the best country in the world. How dare you defile the medal success that we have maintained over these last games. Michael Phelps should spit in your face. Nay! That pleasure should be mine!

31. I didn’t think it was anti American. I just thought it was cool to see how those little countries are right up there, achieving, doing their best despite being so small. It’s like those TV ads that said “Go World”. That’s what it’s all about for me, individual people doing their best, for their countries, but also for humankind, to inspire us all. Go humanity.

32. Its interesting to see how some americans try to defy even the simplest logic, to appease their inferiority complex. After decades of self-propaganda and revised history, and thousands of movies with the likes of Bruce Willis and Stallone, are you still THAT insecure? There was a joke on the “Conan O’Brien Show”, about this very topic. One of their actors pretended to be European, gloating about the 272 medals won by Europe. Of course he talked, dressed and behaved like a complete idiot. «But you didnt beat Phelps», said Conan, «or the American basketball team». «Those are American games», answered the “European”, «we won in our games», and mentioned a few silly ones. Now, this reflects the American mentality perfectly: its a bit like talking with children. They are always the best in everything, and who doesnt agree with them must be stupid. We have to tell them “yes, yes… stay calm…”. I especially like their theory that “we only dont win at soccer because we dont care for it”. Good for you, but… whats “soccer”? I know football, which, as you may shrewdly realize, should involve using your feet and a ball. Do NOT confuse it with rugby, where you’re allowed to use your hands, while wearing a sort of odd Star Trek biker costume (as you do in America), or normal sporting clothes (as in Europe). And what about baseball? Well, lets just say its as exciting as a variation of cricket can be, for any non-british person. The club can be quite useful, though.

33. Its interesting to see how some americans try to defy even the simplest logic, to appease their inferiority complex. After decades of self-propaganda and revised history, and thousands of movies with the likes of Bruce Willis and Stallone, are you still THAT insecure? There was a joke on the “Conan O’Brien Show”, about this very topic. One of their actors pretended to be European, gloating about the 272 medals won by Europe. Of course he talked, dressed and behaved like a complete idiot. «But you didnt beat Phelps», said Conan, «or the American basketball team». «Those are American games», answered the “European”, «we won in our games», and mentioned a few silly ones. Now, this reflects the American mentality perfectly: its a bit like talking with children. They are always the best in everything, and who doesnt agree with them must be stupid. We have to tell them “yes, yes… stay calm…”. I especially like their theory that “we only dont win at soccer because we dont care for it”. Good for you, but… whats “soccer”? I know football, which, as you may shrewdly realize, should involve using your feet and a ball. Do NOT confuse it with rugby, where you’re allowed to use your hands, while wearing a sort of odd Star Trek biker costume (as you do in America), or normal sporting clothes (as in Europe). And what about baseball? Well, lets just say its as exciting as a variation of cricket can be, for any non-british person. The club can be quite useful, though.

34. Just to clarify hbr, rugby and american football are very different games… BUt anyway… Are you people serious? Anti-American? How? If this is “Anti-American” then the Americans who read this need to relax a bit. Does every Chinese person who reads an even moderately insulting post on a blog rant and rant and rant about how “Anti-Chinese” it is? This is merely a new perspective! Open your eyes and realise this, so you have more athletes than you could enter, so? That doesn’t matter, this is about the Olympics and its rules, not about how many athletes you have who could have been good enough! So what? The rules are the rules. If a Football team had more than the usual number of players on the field than usual of course they’d win all their games, but those aren’t the rules. You can’t always take that offended attitude. Rick never once said anyhing anti-American in this post, he merely mentioned a different way of looking at the medals tables, and, because the USA isn’t at the top anymore you all get upset. Chill out and realise that the number of medals you have doesn’t mean you’re the best sporting nation in the world.

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