Is CHINA Setting A New Gold Standard?
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BEIJING At the End of Yesterday's Competition, China Had 22 Gold Medals, Which Is 12 More Than The United States. And Apart From Swimming, American Athletes Have Had Trouble Finding Their Way to the Top of the Medal Stand.
Watch out. Here comes China. If the United States doesn't wake up, by Aug. 24 it may be saying, "There goes China."
After just six days of Olympic competition, the host country was on the verge of stunning the world. At the 2004 Games, China had 32 gold medals, four fewer than the U.S. team. In these Games, China already had 22 gold medals -- just one shy of the next three countries combined, the United States (10), Germany (7) and South Korea (6) -- through the end of competition Thursday.
To be sure, track and field, in which the United States always has been strong and China barely existent, has just begun, so the numbers surely will change.
But every day, China asserts itself in a different sport, winning gold medals in eight areas, while the United States has been all but inept at everything except swimming.
Without the five gold medals won by Michael Phelps individually or as part of a relay team entering Friday, China would lead the United States in gold medals, 22-5.
Is CHINA Setting A New Gold Standard?
Does it seem a strange that the Chinese are able to dominate so far in winning so many gold medals or is it that their on their home turf?
The USA seems to be getting weaker in everything but swimming and track & field.
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
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As more and more of the Chinese people are becoming "well off". I heard somewhere there is as much middle to upper class Chinese people as there are in the US. More and more of the 1 billion others are moving that direction, they will now have time to concentrate on "hobbies" like athletics.
The US isn't really becoming weaker. There is just more competition now.
smelly, you're in hong kong, its not like that. its very "calculated" in china. they've been preparing years for this "coming out party" at the olympics where they intended to take the medal count. pulling kids away from their families at 4 or 5 years specifically for these olympics. they are dominating because they focused on EVERY sport across the board, not just the "popular" ones. they have rigorous programs in place, its intense. the US really doesnt concentrate on sports such as shooting or weight lifting or badminton or ping pong.
while i agree with you that as the economic situation improves, people can concentrate more on athletic hobbies, i just dont think thats the case with china and these olympics.
but i do agree with smelly, its not the US getting worse, its the rest of the world catching up.
China will continue to dominate.
Table Tennis to be precise.
Just like in Basketball, China is making a focused attempt to dominate these Olympics.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
they all pay, including US. i dont know what US athletes get for medaling, but its something, and then there are the select few who rack up endorsements. pretty much every country rewards their athletes. but with china, if you're an athlete, you're basically bringing your entire family up the socioeconomic ladder if you medal. their success is based on their program, its very structured, and government sponsored. the government is involved in everything, pulling tall people out of the 1.4 billion and putting them in basketball programs at a young age, the bendy ones in gymnastics, pairing identical bendy individuals in synchronized diving. with the government behind you, its easy to say...forge official documents to make an athlete older...
i still think we'll be taking the overall medal count, but will get blown out in golds.
I can't help but be so proud of how the Aussies are going. They only have a population of around 20,000,000, and are sitting fourth on the medal tally.
Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1st China 27 12 6 45
2nd United States 16 15 19 50
3rd Germany 8 4 5 17
4th Australia 7 8 10 25
I think the US will be showing their dominance over the next few days. The track and field events have only started, and we all know how well the US is going to do there. They will shine. Absolutely overall, China is doing so well. I agree with what smellyman is saying, and i also believe that having the Olympic Games on your home ground is an advantage.
no doubt...have you heard about those canadians and the 2010 vancouver olympics? they are ahead of schedule in preparing the city for the big show just so theres enough time for the canadian athletes to train on the actual terrain. definitely theres a clear added advantage for being the home team.
buts its been pretty nice in china for most of the US teams, especially basketball. they've been cheered like they're the home team. in about 15 minutes, the redeem team are about the play the blatantly racist "but-we're-not-racist spanish team" and it will feel like home court for the americans.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Previously it hasn't probably made much difference since USA has dominated no matter how you count the medals, but just curious if they have changed it over there now so that it looks like China is behind.
BBC, Finnish broadcasting company and the official standings all have China on top.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/medals_table/default.stm
http://www.noc.fi/olympiahistoria/kisasivut/peking-kisasivut/mitalitaulukko/
http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml
So is it politics or just different systems?
That's interesting I took a look at that points system and I've never seen that set up on any US medal standings. However, I gather you can set up whatever system you want to make your country politically and athletically stronger.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
The Chinese can take solice in the fact that they dominated the boring Summer Olympics. The Winter Olympics is where the men and women are separated from the boys and girls. Skating or running? Ski jumping or long jumping? Aerials or diving? Curling or ping pong (most good curlers hold a 5th of whiskey in their broom handles)? Any schmo can slap a wetsuit on, oxygenate their blood and win 8 gold medals in swimming.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
so i take it youre not just any schmo, cause i doubt you could slap on a wetsuit and win 8 gold medals.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I've just decided to save up and go to London for 2012 Olympics. I've already have a place to stay, I just need to figure out how to get tickets. Some of them being the swimming events and especially Michael Phelps. Seeing his magic or the track field events beats anything in the winter Olympics which is over in the blink of an eye.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
-Enoch Powell
I'm sure there was a better you could've put that. There's no whining in THE GAMES, beat them nuff said.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
So, if you're saying that the US reign of 3 Olympics of winning the most gold is over than it is. But host countries always try to make a statement at the Olympics and have a medal "bounce". Before this Olympics, China never finished higher than 3rd in the medal count overall and were 2nd in golds in 2004. If they win again in 2012, then your argument has merit, but the fact that it is the host country has to be taken into the argument. Greece won 16 total medals in Athens in 2004. So far this Olympics they have 3 total and they won 13 in 1996. Australia won 58 total when they hosted in 2000 and 41 in 96 and 49 in 2004 respectively.
- 8/28/98
- 9/2/00
- 4/28/03, 5/3/03, 7/3/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03
- 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 10/2/04
- 9/11/05, 9/12/05, 9/13/05, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05
- 5/12/06, 5/13/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/23/06, 7/22/06, 7/23/06, 12/2/06, 12/9/06
- 8/2/07, 8/5/07
- 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/22/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 7/1/08
- 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 9/21/09, 9/22/09, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09
- 5/15/10, 5/17/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10, 10/23/10, 10/24/10
- 9/11/11, 9/12/11
- 10/18/13, 10/21/13, 10/22/13, 11/30/13, 12/4/13
It makes no difference to me, I read this article in the Washington Post and posted it with a question. All I know is they're doing very well and I hope to be there in London 2012.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
There are essentially two systems now for counting medals. The US-Russia backed system simply counts the number of combined medals (Gold-Silver-Bronze) and essentially whoever has the most is the "winner" if you can call it that.
The Chinese system is simply to count whoever has the most gold medals as the winner. (Supposedly their was a government sports official quoted as saying one gold medal was worth 100 silvers)
The reason that the Soviet Union and the USA tend to dominate the Olympic tallies generally comes down to a matter of bulk. Those countries are usually the only two to place athletes in almost every single event. But at least in the post-cold war times neither country really spends tremendous amounts of money training athletes specifically for the Olympics. I think it the US you can apply for some kind of training stipend, and there are many companies (UPS and Staples come to mind) who use athletes in their workforce for PR purposes and probably give them pretty generous benefits to train.
The United States Olympic athletes are in general an offshoot of a huge middle class sports culture that begins at childhood and continues well into and after University for amateur athletes, but the onus of personal responsibility is on the athlete and not the state.
China on the other hand does not have a well established middle class or nearly the same sports culture that the United States has. What China does is essentially pluck potential athletes out of the poorest areas of China when they are children and then the government raises them through "sports schools." Essentially they home grow poor children in an environment designed to make them Olympic Gold Medalists. They also put extreme efforts into placing their athletes into relatively obscure events (a la women's weightlifting) in the hopes of securing more gold medals. This seems to have been quite effective so far.
China has also put together the largest olympic team in history. Which basically nullifies the buckshot advantage the US and Russia have enjoyed for some time.
Though the air quality may have some affect on the athletes I wouldn't really consider it a major advantage or hurdle (no pun intended) with the possible exception of super long distance events. There was a story going around that the British Equestrian team arrived at the Los Angeles games with face masks on their horses. Two of the days I was in Beijing were some of the clearest most beautiful blue skies I'd seen in a year in China. I think the pollution merely makes the bad days look really bad, but the good days seem the same as anywhere else.
China came in third at the Sydney games, and second in Athens, I think it's more than likely that they are going to take everything here. This country is extraordinarily patriotic (like civil war reenactors on meth) and everyone who wins a gold medal here is going to be a national hero for some time.
Heiwa,
ETE
yeah ... i'd say they are given an advantage for sure ...
Well most of the Chinese divers are defending the gold medals they won in Athens and they executed most of their dives pretty flawlessly so I don't think that argument really holds up.
Also the US women's gymnastics team was pretty far ahead of their Chinese counterparts in the team excercises, but they made some mistakes during their last round, the Chinese team didn't make any mistakes, so they won.
In the events I saw, such as boxing (the point system is determined by four judges making simultaneous decisions) there wasn't a single Chinese judge.
oh ... don't get me wrong - it's not south korea or anything ... but with judged events - it's one thing to short change someone from another country - it's just not gonna happen to any chinese athlete because they are the host nation ...
the reason china is dominating is because they made it a priority over everything else ...
i'm not suggesting anything is rigged just that being the host country affords some advantages ...
Fair enough. I'll agree on that one. I think 7-8 medals is a bit much, but I suppose we'll have to see.
I don't think so, there are a lot of sports where judges come into play (and a lot of sports that get zero coverage), and if the 4th place guy was almost as good as the 3rd place guy but the 4th place guy is the home town favorite and is getting tons of cheering, it could possibly sway the judges to give him that extra tenth of a point he needs to get boosted to third.
Outstanding and thanks for your very insightful thoughts on these games from the Chinese perspective. Nothing wrong with setting the stage to get your athletes ready to *go for the gold* and they're doing quite well in that area.
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Lol -- Even with the drugs, I would just be happy to survive a 50m swim never mind win a medal.
They were talking about the Chinese Table Tennis players on the Olympic coverage the other day. The commentators were saying that the Chinese children are tested when they are aged three, to see if they have good racket skills. If they test well, they are enrolled in special sports schools. (Whether they like it or not). When they reach age 12, the best become fulltime table tennis players.
Those that are awesome enough to make the national squad, train insane hours, seven hours a day, seven days a week. They are not treated like kids. They are machines. Their reason for existance is to excell in table tennis. That's it. Plucked from their childhood at age 3. That's why they are better than us.