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| Acmlm's Board - I3 Archive - Entertainment & Sports - The Torino Olympics: Day 5 (CURLING CURLING CURLING CURLING!) |
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Salmon Red Cheep-cheep                  Since: 11-18-05 From: Norway Last post: 6344 days Last view: 6333 days |
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| So, then... The Olympics are over. The Medal Ranking sees Germany (11-12-6) ahead of the USA (9-9-7) and Austria (9-7-7).
The Americans here seem unhappy, despite the fact that they moved up from 3rd to 2nd from four years ago, they were 5th both eight, twelve, and fourteen years ago. You've pretty much done your best Winter Olympics since before any longer than I know about. We, on the other hand, manage to get a measley two gold medals, and do our worst Olympics since Calgary 1988. For the first time since that Olympics, we are also out of the top 3 in the medal ranking. In short, we sucked this year. |
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Skydude Armos Knight    Since: 02-18-06 From: Stanford, CA Last post: 6602 days Last view: 6602 days |
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| Well, SomerZ, I think it's because the Americans like to think that we're the best at everything...and any time that's proven wrong is a disappointment. We're always told that we're the best country by our leaders, no matter which political side they're on, so we're conditioned to believe it at some level, even if we know as many of us do that that's an overstatement.
Oh, and the Band I'm in, the Stanford Band, got mentioned: Someone on the Band email list sent out a note to say they were watching the Olympics closing ceremonies on NBC, and some band came out dressed like clowns, and the commentators said something to the matter of…. “Sounds like the Stanford band…” ”it even looks like the Stanford band!” They were wearing rather odd costumes, as we often do, playing popular music rather raucously, as we tend to do, and they appeared to be having fun while doing it, as we make it our mission to do. Was it meant as a compliment? Probably not. But hey, we've got notoriety, and that's worth something. |
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Cynthia Uh-huh. Since: 11-17-05 From: LaSalle, Quebec, Canada Last post: 6328 days Last view: 6328 days |
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No, the medal ranking sees Germany ahead of the United States and Canada.  We're #3 and that's where we wanted to be. 
Gold medal count really means nothing, especially since some countries only grab golds in 2-3 different disciplines while others (like Canada) spread them out across different disciplines. 7 golds in 6 different disciplines for Canada (speed skating (2), curling, hockey, skeleton, moguls, cross-country) is better than the 4 disciplines that the US got them in or the 5 that Germany did - and that includes FIVE biathlon medals, which is just ridiculous. (Actually, on checking it seems we won the most golds in different disciplines, which is a good way of saying our program isn't just mainly focused on one or two areas; we have world-class athletes in a lot of other sports, which bodes well for 2010.) Oh, and some countries would be screwed if you took out certain sports... I mean, if you take out snowboarding, the United States would only have 18 medals. 
Trapster: I meant at the end where Finland did a great job of pressing for the tying goal. |
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Salmon Red Cheep-cheep Since: 11-18-05 From: Norway Last post: 6344 days Last view: 6333 days |
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| I'm sorry Colin, but gold medal count is the official system used by the IAAF, and, well, the world outside North America. But this is an old discussion that somehow managed to get me banned from an IRC-chat room by a power hungry admin 4 years ago, so I have no intention to argue with you about it. I'll just settle for saying that gold medal count is used by the IAAF, as well as on the IOC's web-pages (though the IOC technically doesn't support a ranking of nations). | |||
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Skydude Armos Knight Since: 02-18-06 From: Stanford, CA Last post: 6602 days Last view: 6602 days |
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| That is always something that's made me wonder a bit, that gold medals are all that are really counted. While they are of course the most important, there is certainly something to be said for silver and bronze medals. In an extreme example, let's say most countrie win a gold or two (or three, or whatever)...and one country wins no golds, but every single silver. Which country is the best athletically? I think you could make a case for the one with all the silvers. While gold should count the most, I think the other medals should factor in, at least slightly. | |||
neotransotaku Sledge Brother Liberated from school...until MLK day  Since: 11-17-05 From: In Hearst Field Annex... Last post: 6330 days Last view: 6328 days |
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| It should be an overall count than just a single count. For track and field meets, one team could always finish first in every event but the other team finishes 2nd and 3rd in every other event. The team that finishes 2nd and 3rd will win in the end...
SWATCat, you are a stanford person?  Interesting... |
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Cynthia Uh-huh. Since: 11-17-05 From: LaSalle, Quebec, Canada Last post: 6328 days Last view: 6328 days |
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Well, to be TECHNICAL, we wanted to finish 3rd in medal count. Technically speaking, if we're counting total medals... yes. Canada was third and you can't dispute that. 
I never got the gold medal thing though... I kind of understand why they do it and at the same time it's just strange that a country with one gold medal would be ranked ahead of a country that got four silvers and seven bronzes. |
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Skydude Armos Knight Since: 02-18-06 From: Stanford, CA Last post: 6602 days Last view: 6602 days |
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| Well, I do understand the rationale behind it, even if I don't entirely agree with it, but even in that case, one could make a decent argument for why they do it that way.
If you get a gold medal, then that means that your country (or specifically, someone representing your country) is the best in the world at that thing...no matter how narrowly defined that activity is...which is often very much so these days. No matter how many silvers and bronzes you have, then your country isn't the best at anything. |
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