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Putting this to a poll, which do you think matters more in the medal count? Total number of medals or whoever has the most golds?

Most golds...

Most countries seem to follow the gold medal count, but the US media seems to kind of split the attention between the two, and lists teams by total medal count. I like to weigh both, but if you have to have one or the other, I'd take more golds.

both.

for me gold medals show how good your athletes have been.

but the total count shows how dominant you have been as a whole.

Depends how big the differences are. They both say a lot. The Olympics are about excelling in all the events, so unless it's a big difference in golds I'll take total medals.

A point system would be nice but in that system gold should be awarded A LOT MORE points than a silver. Just ask yourself would you rather your team (NBA, NFL, MLB) win a championship or make 3 failed trips to the finals? I'd take the trophy in a heartbeat.

Most golds, IMO. China's pwning right now, and US wouldn't even be in the conversation without Phelps.

Gold no question. If you ask any NBA player if he would rather go to NBA finals 10 straight times and lose or only go to the NBA finals once and win, everyone should know what the response would be.

It will be Gold as the main measure

Gold has intrinsic value, in any sport, any competition, there is always a first place. 2nd/3rd isn't really that much different than fourth/5th, they still represent the elite of the world, but first is always the champion.

without a doubt gold. In the case of the olympics this year, eventhough the US have a couple more medals than China, China in my view has been superior considering how many more gold medlas they have. What's surprising to me is how/why the chinese don't seem to have bothered to try and master the swimming events since there are sooooo many medlas to be won there. Meanwhile, the US seems to have the gotten the overwhelming majority of their medals in the pool.

Most golds.

China dominates diving, so China wasn't totally shut out of the pool events.

China medal win rate will slow down after the gymnastics are over. China is weak in track and field, and not strong in rowing and cycling where huge numbers of medals are to be taken. Other events I think they have equal chance to the USA. USA has a chance everywhere except in the events the USA has no interest in.

In the Olympics and vast majority of the world, total golds have always been used as the metric for ranking countries. Thus, total golds are more important.

But it seems like the US media and many Americans prefer total medals, so if that's what Americans like, then that's what Americans like.

If country X started ranking the countries based on total bronze medals, can we really say anything against it? Sure it goes against Olympic tradition, but to each unto his/her own.

We've already gone over this (Medal count vs Gold) in a prior thread.

YiOF wrote:Gold no question. If you ask any NBA player if he would rather go to NBA finals 10 straight times and lose or only go to the NBA finals once and win, everyone should know what the response would be.

That's not even close to the same thing. There are 30 NBA teams, it's championship or bust because finishing second out of thirty isn't impressive. In the Olympics, there are thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries, finishing in the top three IS impressive.

That's not even close to the same thing. There are 30 NBA teams, it's championship or bust because finishing second out of thirty isn't impressive. In the Olympics, there are thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries, finishing in the top three IS impressive.

I'd disagree, by the time you get to the Olympics, you usually are competing against ~30 guys in any one individual sport. It depends on the sport of course though.

Undoubtely most golds.

dougthonus wrote:

That's not even close to the same thing. There are 30 NBA teams, it's championship or bust because finishing second out of thirty isn't impressive. In the Olympics, there are thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries, finishing in the top three IS impressive.

I'd disagree, by the time you get to the Olympics, you usually are competing against ~30 guys in any one individual sport. It depends on the sport of course though.

That number would not be including all of the trials, you have to make your own team by qualifying in your nations heats, quarter finals, semi finals and finals; then make the Olympic finals by going through all of the heats, quarter finals and semi finals. You're comparing an entire league to a championship round, it'd be more fair to compare the NBA finals (where you are competing against one team) to the Olympic finals.

Al n' Perk No Layups! wrote:

dougthonus wrote:

That's not even close to the same thing. There are 30 NBA teams, it's championship or bust because finishing second out of thirty isn't impressive. In the Olympics, there are thousands of athletes from hundreds of countries, finishing in the top three IS impressive.

I'd disagree, by the time you get to the Olympics, you usually are competing against ~30 guys in any one individual sport. It depends on the sport of course though.

That number would not be including all of the trials, you have to make your own team by qualifying in your nations heats, quarter finals, semi finals and finals; then make the Olympic finals by going through all of the heats, quarter finals and semi finals. You're comparing an entire league to a championship round, it'd be more fair to compare the NBA finals (where you are competing against one team) to the Olympic finals.

Why continue this pointless argument? You can say NBA is the "finals" for Basketball. Collegian and over seas players compete to get to the NBA. The D-league and Euro Leagues are for those who didn't make to "the Olympics". NBA can only have 30 teams because of various limitations, so is the Olympic finals for having only few elite athletes competing.

Most medals shows the broadness of our types of athletes and golds shows excellence in a any particular sports. You see some golds are won through ties, and some by .01 of a second so if you want to compare you cant just look at gold count.