2008 Olympics (Opening Ceremony + Other Discussion)

[Brown Jenkin]

As long as I can remember, they've always listed the medal count by total medals won (or why Germany's been ahead of the US at the Winter Games lately, and the Soviet Union/Unified Team was in the past). The 'gold medals won' count is Chinese spin.

Word

 

[Orius]

I find it odd that the US stations are listing the medal board ranked by total medals won, instead of the usual gold medals won, just so the US be ahead of China.

As long as I can remember, they've always listed the medal count by total medals won (or why Germany's been ahead of the US at the Winter Games lately, and the Soviet Union/Unified Team was in the past). The 'gold medals won' count is Chinese spin.

Yeah, it's always been total medal count everywhere I've ever seen it, newspapers, probably TV, even the net these days. And it's not always a matter of spin either, since there are times we're not at the top of the total medal count like the Olympics before the Soviet Union broke up or various Winter Games.

Though I'd rather rub Phelps in China's face than our medal count.

 

[D.Shaffer]

I always found the medal count a bit silly and counter productive myself.
The Olympics are supposed to promote friendly competition. How is waving the fact your country received more medals then another country anything but 'Ha ha! We're better then you!' type boasting? As is, from the way many countries (Including my own, the US is certainly guilty of it) sponsor, train, and equip athletes for the sole goal of winning medals, it's almost as if the Olympics have become a proxy battlefield at times.

 

[Klaus]

As long as I can remember, they've always listed the medal count by total medals won (or why Germany's been ahead of the US at the Winter Games lately, and the Soviet Union/Unified Team was in the past). The 'gold medals won' count is Chinese spin.

Not a spin, since down here we've seen it by "gold/silver/bronze" as early as Moscow '80 (the first Olympics I can remember).

 

[drothgery]

As is, from the way many countries (Including my own, the US is certainly guilty of it) sponsor, train, and equip athletes for the sole goal of winning medals, it's almost as if the Olympics have become a proxy battlefield at times.

Eh. About the only direct bit of that we do these days is with the armed forces marksmanship teams and the shooting events and biathlon. Now, indirectly there's a lot if you count scholarship college athletes at state schools, but a lot of other countries' athletes got athletic scholarships to US state schools, too (especially in swimming, track, and basketball). But the US national training centers for most sports are almost entirely funded by private sponsors.

 

[Krug]

The disqualifications for the 200m men's final were ridiculous. When you're running that fast at an angle, a few missteps would probably be inevitable. When they weren't blocking anyone does it matter that much? Congrats to Bolt anyway for an incredible run.

 

[drothgery]

Okay, I was a little bit late for work this morning because I was watching the women's soccer final (unfortunately the only goal was scored during the first half of extra time, while I was in the shower, but I'd had the DVR recording...), flipping from the basketball semis to the soccer gold medal game just after halftime in the soccer. Until the last five minutes or so of regulation, it looked like the Brazilians were completely dominating the game, and I was shocked they hadn't scored yet (also, pro wrestlers have nothing on top-level soccer players when it comes to acting abilities), and when what looked like end-of-game desperation failed to yield a goal, I figured the game was over and started getting ready for work. Turned the game back on over breakfast, and it's 1-0 USA, and it looks like that wasn't a fluke, though the Brazilians had a lot of chances to tie it near the end of extra time. Still, great match.

 

[Villano]

Can anyone explain to me what happened during Women's Softball?

The semi-finals were US vs Japan and Australia vs Canada. Usually, during team events at the Olympics, the winners (US and Australia) would then face each other for the gold and the losers (Japan and Canada) would fight for the bronze. Instead, Australia then played Japan for the bronze...sort of. The winner didn't get the bronze, the loser (Australia) did. Japan then played the US again for the gold.

What the hell?

 

[drothgery]

Can anyone explain to me what happened during Women's Softball?

The semi-finals were US vs Japan and Australia vs Canada. Usually, during team events at the Olympics, the winners (US and Australia) would then face each other for the gold and the losers (Japan and Canada) would fight for the bronze. Instead, Australia then played Japan for the bronze...sort of. The winner didn't get the bronze, the loser (Australia) did. Japan then played the US again for the gold.

What the hell?

Softball (and I think baseball) use a weird almost-double-elimination playoff in the Olympics. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it does work out that 2 plays 3 with the loser getting bronze, then the winner plays 1 for gold. I imagine it's some sort of compromise to deal with single-elimination tournaments being completely inappropriate for baseball and softball, but there not being enough time to do best of 3 or best of 5 series, let alone best of 7.

 

[Switchblade]

The 'gold medals won' count is Chinese spin.

Chinese spin? Not really, that’s the correct format.

From wikipedia:
“The IOC medal tally chart is based on the number of gold medals for country. Where states are equal, the number of silver medals (and then bronze medals) are counted to determine rankings.”<O</O
<O
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games#Medals_per_country