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Olympic medal or gold medal count/table

Posted by Expector Smith on February 20, 2014

Are you enjoying the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics? I hope so. Are you satisfied with the performance of the athletes of your country? Do you think it's an opportunity for us to pick up some sports English words while enjoying the games? What's your favourite winter sport?

One more question: Do you think the countries should be ranked by all of their medals or only by the gold ones on the Olympic medal count/table?

Check out the Yahoo medal count and the BBC medal table, you'll find the difference.

People here in China think what really counts is the gold medals. China topped the gold medal table of the 2008 Beijing Olympics with 51 gold medals (the United States 36 gold medals), but the total (including silver and copper medals) for the US was 110, while China 100.

China is not really good at winter sports - they've only gotten 3 gold medals so far in Sochi. But China is going to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

china, olympics, winter, count, medal

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Comments

Expector Smith July 8, 2014 23:44

@Mr.Bob

Thanks for the comment! Yes, we should know why we're competing in the Olympics. Sports aren't war, and can be so fun and enjoyable.

Incidentally, I'm enjoying the World Cup, though China's soccer (football) team is so bad at playing soccer.
Mr. Bob July 8, 2014 12:46

The Olympics is always an amazing event. I think every medalist and everyone who even competed without a win should be congratulated for their efforts. I think most of these are individual sports but there are some team sports. It shouldn't be about the country but about the individusls who are putting their hearts and souls into the competition. If we must somehow rank countries, it should be on the participation and conduct of their teams. Medals do ,atter some and I guess I come down on the side of total metals, if I must make a decision.
Expector Smith February 27, 2014 22:55

By the way, China got only 3 gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, though it was the best in all of the Asian countries.
Expector Smith February 27, 2014 22:50

@Tara

Congratulations on the great performance of your team - Canada won both men's and women's gold medals for the hockey - so stunning since the hockey is considered as the most important or influential winter sport. I used to think the US or Russia was the strongest hockey team. I hope China will try to participate in the sport - to my surprise, China doesn't have such a hockey or ice hockey team.

To my delight, more and more people here in China find the Winter Olympics so interesting and China is trying to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Tara Benwell February 27, 2014 21:53

Hi Expector,

Great post! It looks like we are both wondering the same thing, and I'm so glad you asked! In last week's Interesting Facts report, I asked if "bringing home the gold" was the most important thing. I'm really curious about what people around the world think of this. In Canada, it seemed to work to our benefit to be ranked by # of gold medals. However, I don't really agree with this. I think any medal is amazing. And, I think some of the other Olympic stories are far more interesting, such as the coach who gave an opposing athlete a new ski, or the speed skater who gave up his spot so that a medal contender (who fell) could have a second chance at a medal (he won). These were both Canadians, and that makes me proud.

It was an amazing Olympics (especially the hockey)!
Expector Smith February 21, 2014 23:21

A medal table or count looks like this.
Expector Smith February 21, 2014 23:16

@Yasemin

Great to see your comment. You are not alone in being unware of the Winter Olympics. So, you agree what really counts is the gold medals. Hope Turkish athletes are doing well at the Games.
Yasemin February 21, 2014 21:19

I will sound like an ignorant but sorry I have to say it. lol I even didn't know there was Olympics being held at this time of the year. There must be Turkish athletes, too. I wish them luck. I hope they can bring some gold medals to home, otherwise they are never mentioned. That's the reality.
Expector Smith February 21, 2014 12:37

@WMW

Thanks for the comment. At least you know about the Winter Olympics - so many people are not familiar with it. I understand it can be so frustrating to know your country can't get medals in the Olympics. I hope more and more people from around the world will find the Olmypics so interesting.

Thanks again!
Expector Smith February 21, 2014 6:03

@noasl

So, that's why there are not as many countries participating in Winter Olympics as in Summer Olympic Games. I enjoyed your last sentence, which cracked me up.

I used not to enjoy Winter Olympics until the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, which I enjoyed watching so much on TV. The pictures from Winter Olympics are stunning.