We win, apparently. | 47 comments (47 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

The real medal tally, or the WPS tally? (none / 0)

I never paid much attention to the medal tally until I got to Australia, where the Olympics is the world's biggest swim meet with lots of other events to give the champion swimmers something to enjoy as they savor their victory ...

... and it is very clearly the case in Oz that the medal tally is the total number of gold medals, with the minor medals only acting as a tie breaker.

But I have been seeing on the telly here in the US a lump sum medal tally, with a bronze and a gold having equal weight. That is, the medal tally is a Win=Place=Show tally.

So it this the real Gold Medal tally or the total medal tally? You'd think the gold medal tally would be more resistant to having, in effect, far and away the largest team in the Olympics.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 09:51:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Oh, never mind, I just saw the link ... (none / 0)

... referred to elsewhere.

Ah, and the point about team size and Gold Medals holds up, at least marginally.

EU Gold versus China Gold: 170%
EU WPS versus US WPS: 254%

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Aug 25th, 2008 at 09:56:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The real medal tally, or the WPS tally? (none / 0)

But I have been seeing on the telly here in the US a lump sum medal tally, with a bronze and a gold having equal weight.

Does that make the US come out better than Gold > Silver > Bronze?

It is generally the case that the medal table is sorted by metal.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:11:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The real medal tally, or the WPS tally? (none / 1)

Yes, the US comes out better if you lump all the kinds of medals together. This year China got the most gold, but the US got the most medals all told, IIRC.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:17:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The real medal tally, or the WPS tally? (4.00 / 2)

The Olympic coverage at Yahoo internets was probably no less America-centered than at NBC. Eventually you could get to any results, but the front stories were all about American triumphs and dramas. There were surely pictures of Bolt as well, but also way too much beach-volleybal, softball and whining about scoring in gymnastics.

And of course, the medal count was the one that put USA on the top. I wonder if the gold vs all medals counts for China and USA were reversing in the middle of the games, they would had changed the ranking strategy as well. It is amusing to see winner-obsessed USA counting silvers and bronzes.

by das monde on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 05:47:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The real medal tally, or the WPS tally? (none / 0)

I think that the Chinese were targeting the real medal count, so it would always have been safest to rely on the WPS count.

I have no idea how long the US media has been using a faux medal count, since I was in Oz during the last three Olympics.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 10:03:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

We win, apparently. | 47 comments (47 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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