Who is "winning" the Olympic Games

[Vagabond]

Much hype is currently being made of the supposition that the UK is "third in the medal table, ahead of Australia"

 

It depends how you look at it. Including today's results,

 

Australia, with a population of 15 million, has won 33 medals, 11 of them gold

 

So it only takes 1.4 million Australians to win a gold, or 0.45 million to win any sort of medal.

 

By contrast, the corresponding figures for the UK are 4.5 million per gold and 2 million (any medal), for the USA 13 million per gold and 3.8 million (any medal), and for China, 31 million per gold and 17 million (any medal)

 

Thus of those countries with a population of 10 million or more, Australia leads with the best medal to population ratio, with the UK second. The USA and China would be well down the list.

 

Thats a lot of Chinese per medal ! good job they don't have synchronised jumping up and down as an Olympic event......(very old joke)

Edited August 18, 2008 by Vagabond

[GlennB]

Much hype is currently being made of the supposition that the UK is "third in the medal table, ahead of Australia"

 

It depends how you look at it. Including today's results,

 

How about a medal count vs. number of school playing fields sold off to build yet another ticky-tacky housing estate. We'd be tops! (or is that bottom? you know what I mean )

[Bobj]

Very nice of you to say that, mate. On a 'per capita' basis, Australia is way ahead....But, it is really good to see the poms getting into the medal tally.

Australia's head swimming coach is on record as saying that the UK's new funding just for the swimming team in the paralympics is more than all Australia's for our main swim team; the money coming from the UK lotto.

Now, the 'authorities' are trying to work out how Queensland olympians have 2/3rds of all our medals, especially the swimmers. Simple....we're the best

[Elton]

Also, I think the US and China have 640-ish athletes each at the Games, whereas the Brits have 330.

[The Flying Tench]

Very nice of you to say that, mate. On a 'per capita' basis, Australia is way ahead....But, it is really good to see the poms getting into the medal tally.

Australia's head swimming coach is on record as saying that the UK's new funding just for the swimming team in the paralympics is more than all Australia's for our main swim team; the money coming from the UK lotto.

Now, the 'authorities' are trying to work out how Queensland olympians have 2/3rds of all our medals, especially the swimmers. Simple....we're the best

 

And i assume Queensland has a small population compared with NSW?

[The Flying Tench]

I'm very puzzled by the financial side of the olympics. As I understand it professional tennis players and basket ball players are allowed, but not boxers or soccer players. Is this correct?

 

I have to admit the olympics always induce a kind of madness in me. I am a very non-athletic person, but this time, for example, I have started a chart where I list all the medals we get, and I scour the web to try and find what our prospects are in advance. But when I think about what it really involves I think it's fairly dire. People spending the best part of their lives churning up and down a pool, or endlessly doing the same gymnastic routines, or cycling round and round a tiny track. And then they all go off to Beijing or some place, and nearly everybody comes back feeling a failure.

 

Yuk. I'd rather go fishing. But all the same I'll be up earlier than usual seeing how we've done, and thinking it's great that we have so many medals. At least it only happens once very 4 years!

[Peter M]

I don't really know where this beating the Aussies in the medal table has come from. This isn't the Ashes. hyped up by the press no doubt. I have been really impressed by our performance at these games, many of the competitors are very young and should be an inspiration all young people. well here's hoping.

[Bobj]

And i assume Queensland has a small population compared with NSW?

Yup. Nearly as many people in Sydney as in qld.

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3101.0/

[ayjay]

So, if we played Brazil (pop. approx 185m) at football, a 3 - 0 win for them is really a 0 - 0 draw?

[Elton]

I'm very puzzled by the financial side of the olympics. As I understand it professional tennis players and basket ball players are allowed, but not boxers or soccer players. Is this correct?

 

Wrong on the last sport mentioned......

 

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/.../8/243138.shtml