Great Britain were fourth, with 22 golds, down from the 27 they won in 2016 but still one of the team’s most successful Olympics. Or that - face it - China shouldn't be on top of the medal chart.The hosts, Japan, finished with 27 golds, the most they have ever won at an Olympics, to end the Games third in the medal table – the same position as when they were held in Tokyo in 1964. That doesn’t mean bronze is the new gold. Very few of us get to be in the top three in the world at anything. Hey, go ahead and celebrate and be proud of the accomplishment. “Just because we compete for the United States and maybe we have extremely high standards for this sort of thing, that doesn’t excuse the fact that we haven’t been celebrating silver and bronze as much as gold.” “You get to bring a medal home for your country,” King continued. “Excuse my French, but the fact we’re not celebrating silver and bronze is bulls-,” swimmer Lily King said. Some of the American athletes have brought up frustration that sometimes “winning silver” is equated to “losing gold.” If anyone wants to say they are all equal, I’m willing to trade pounds of bronze for pounds of gold any time you want. Bronze is going for $2.55 for an entire pound. No one has ever tried to claim their company offers customers the “silver-standard.” A luxury experience is ever hyped as “bronze-plated.” The current price of an ounce of gold? $1,813. Then it wouldn’t be all about the gold, but it also wouldn’t pretend gold was bronze. Say three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze. The simple solution is to weigh the medals for the sake of the standings. Besides, with track and field, basketball and boxing still going, we can still surpass the Chinese by any metric.īut making it look like we are reworking the numbers - even if it isn’t orchestrated - is humiliating. Really, who cares? A nation's worth is not defined by the strength of its canoe slalom team. There is no shame in not winning as many golds as China. Right now though, it’s just embarrassing. It isn’t a coordinated way to spare America’s fragile ego and hide the fact that it isn’t dominating the Games.Ĭonsider this: If the United States was leading the standings according to every single entity - official or neutral - in the entire world, but the Chinese media used a different system that put them on top … well, what would you think?īesides, the total medal count does tend to favor the United States, which often has the largest delegation at the Olympics and, thus, the most chances to win medals (613 to China’s 431). The system was in place before China began capturing more golds here. though, like its opposition to the metric system, decides to go it alone and, hey, what a coincidence, it just happens to make it look like the Americans are having the most success at the Olympics, when we most certainly are not. Prior to that the winner received a silver medal and an olive branch while the runner-ups each got a bronze or copper medal and a laurel branch. Louis, no less - they came up with the concept of three colored medals. Instead, back at the 1904 Games - held in St. (Photo by Wei Zheng/CHINASPORTS/VCG via Getty Images) If they were, then they’d just hand out three gold medals.Ĭhina's won more seven more gold medals than the United States, so China is winning the medal count. At no point was it ever suggested that the three spots are equals. They play the anthem of the gold medalist, not the others. The flag of the country that the gold medalist represents is raised higher than the others. The gold medalist gets the highest spot on the podium. apparently.Įveryone else has this right since, quite literally, gold is better than the others. It’s good enough for media companies all over the world, just not in the U.S. Same with the medal standing on the Toyko 2020 website. That’s how the International Olympic Committee tallies it. The rest of the world favors gold over everything. What in the name of participation trophies is going on here? Try telling China’s seven extra gold medalists that their victories didn't matter. That means China’s current tally of 32 golds, 21 silvers and 16 bronzes (69 total) is somehow not as good as the United States’ 25 golds, 29 silvers and 21 bronzes (75 total).
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