Who wins the Olympics?

[jimnyc]

I'm having this debate with someone offline.

Who do you consider to be the winner?

1) Most gold medals
2) Most total medals

I know many will say option 3, that all of them are winners, but unfortunately sentimentality doesn't always finalize a debate!

I'm of the belief and have always, since I was a kid, looked at the total medals as the winner. Every chart that shows medal totals that I have ever saw, always shows a list of the countries based on their total medals. MANY times I have seen someone in 2nd place but with more gold medals.

Opinions?

[jimnyc]

And for the hell of it, here are the current totals:

[Abbey Marie]

It's like asking who is the better athlete: someone who is the best on the planet at a particular event, or someone like Bruce Jenner who does the best in a grouping of events, but isn't necessarily the world's best at any of them.

I guess the overall highest number of medals looks more impressive, but being the world's best at something kinda means more to me.

[logroller]

If you're gonna ignore option 3, I'd go with option 1-- second place is the first loser!
But seriously, I was having this conversation with the wife last night...in bed...
Kidding, no we were talking about phelps taking second in the 200 fly and she was saying he was off his game and a disappointment, and I have to disagree-- his performance in Beijing (7/8 gold) was/is unprecedented and shouldn't be used as the standard we judge athletes, even him. There is more to competition than merely Being first, it's the experience that counts. So far as that goes, im sure the experience of winning the gold means more to de clos (sp), the south african swimmer who won, than it would have phelps--he wanted it more, and earned the gold-- phelps didn't give it to him. Besides, Not having done what it takes to get there, let alone place or win, I don't think it's something that one can really sit back and judge from gallery. I do feel bad for that gymnast that placed fourth overall in qualifications, but third on the us team, and can't compete in the individual all-around due to the 2/team rules. But hey, she got a gold medal in the Olympics-- Not exactly pitiful...if it was silver, that'd be different.

[jimnyc]

Seems like we are going to win it anyway you look at it! Tomorrow is the last day with not a lot of medals to give out. Thus far here is how the top 5 look:

	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
USA	44	29	29	102
China	38	27	22	87
Russia	21	25	32	78
Great Britain	28	15	19	62
Germany	11	19	14	44

[aboutime]

Seems like we are going to win it anyway you look at it! Tomorrow is the last day with not a lot of medals to give out. Thus far here is how the top 5 look:

	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
USA	44	29	29	102
China	38	27	22	87
Russia	21	25	32	78
Great Britain	28	15	19	62
Germany	11	19	14	44

Looking forward to the ending. Enjoyed watching all of the events, and tried to look past the endless NBC advertisements, and monologues that went on, and on, and on.
NBC NoBamaCant...sucks.

[Noir]

The olympic way to judge it is by most gold medals.

Looking forward to the ending. Enjoyed watching all of the events, and tried to look past the endless NBC advertisements, and monologues that went on, and on, and on.
NBC NoBamaCant...sucks.

Also, as an aside, are there any non-advert driven channels in America?

[Kathianne]

The olympic way to judge it is by most gold medals.



Also, as an aside, are there any non-advert driven channels in America?

NBC is getting ripped by many on how NOT to show the Olympics. They are making a ton of money anyways.

[gabosaurus]

I don't think any nation "wins" the Olympics.
Obviously, the nations with the most competitors will win the most medals. But some nations will consider themselves winners if they get what they expected. Look at Jamaica.

NBC's coverage is/was a giant FAIL. This current world of instant communication pretty much demands live coverage of events. The fact that NBC believes that its audience will wait until prime time to watch chopped up delayed coverage of key events is bogus.
People are going to watch the Olympics in prime time no matter what is on. Even the rhythmic gymnastics crap.

Like Saturday when NBC didn't want to show the gold medal womens volleyball match in prime time. Live streaming sites had thousands of viewers each. My daughter and I watched a ton of events on a live stream site that showed everything live, without interruption. I recommend it.

http://www.vipbox.tv/

My daughter went over to my sister's house this weekend to watch Saturday's gold medal soccer game between Mexico and Brazil. Watch it on Telemundo and you get to hear the game called by Andres Cantor, one of the best announcers in any language. My sister and her husband had about 30 people in their home watching the game.

[jimnyc]

http://www.vipbox.tv/

Cool, good to have options! Even better though, your link will continue and looks like it covers an awful lot!

Just as an addition, for anyone wanting to watch the closing ceremonies today, which starts at 4pm EST, NBC has been streaming it from their site live all along at http://www.nbcolympics.com/

[aboutime]

NBC is getting ripped by many on how NOT to show the Olympics. They are making a ton of money anyways.

Kathianne. THAT is the bottom line. "MONEY". Nothing else matters to NBC. Which explains, and proves that MONEY is all they care about. They have announced they will also show the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Four years to plan a repeat of how to LURE people into watching, while spoiling the Whole two weeks with NON-STOP Advertisements, and Monologues from Worthless, Amateur Journalism students who get paid MILLIONS to fool us with their Ignorance.

[Kathianne]

Kathianne. THAT is the bottom line. "MONEY". Nothing else matters to NBC. Which explains, and proves that MONEY is all they care about. They have announced they will also show the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Four years to plan a repeat of how to LURE people into watching, while spoiling the Whole two weeks with NON-STOP Advertisements, and Monologues from Worthless, Amateur Journalism students who get paid MILLIONS to fool us with their Ignorance.

We'll see if viewers retaliate with regular programming. I don't have an oar in this, no cable and no regular TV. I'm at the mercy of reading.

[fj1200]

Kathianne. THAT is the bottom line. "MONEY". Nothing else matters to NBC. Which explains, and proves that MONEY is all they care about. They have announced they will also show the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Four years to plan a repeat of how to LURE people into watching, while spoiling the Whole two weeks with NON-STOP Advertisements, and Monologues from Worthless, Amateur Journalism students who get paid MILLIONS to fool us with their Ignorance.

WTF are you talking about? Why do you think NBC is in business?

[Kathianne]

WTF are you talking about? Why do you think NBC is in business?

Neither of your posts make sense to me, though it may be my lack of viewing. In general I see that NBC chose to broadcast nearly all by tape delay. Many were angry, saying they should have gone live and tape for those that wouldn't watch in early hours. NBC chose to block live, saving for commercial payoff, understandable.

Interesting though their news division is much more altruistic in their broadcasting. Painting capitalism as evil.

[gabosaurus]

I know exactly who won the Olympics -- the Spice Girls!!