An Alternative Olympic Medal Table

27 August 2008

So Great Britain did really well in the Olympics this year, coming forth in both total number of medals, and in the number of gold, silver and bronze.

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Great Britain 19 13 15 47

So well done to all the Olympic Athletes for taking part, from whatever country.

http://media.commandline.org.uk/images/posts/other/Beijingolympicsmedals.jpg

Britain is of course part of the European Union. Alexander Stubb, the Finnish Foreign Minister who is in the news at lot a the moment after taking charge in Georgia, one said that "the EU will always be more than an international organisation, but less than a state." (Source - PDF)

So the people running the young Europeans website, had the fab idea of adding all the EU's medals up.

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
EU 87 101 92 280
China 51 21 28 100
USA 36 38 36 110
Russia 23 21 28 72

Only a couple of medals away from getting more than the next three regions combined!

Maybe you disagree with Stubb and think the EU is not any different than other international organisations. In that case we would compare the EU to America's and Russia's international organisations.

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
EU 87 101 92 280
NAFTA 41 47 43 131
CIS 31 35 56 122

Still win!

1 Steve says...

Flawed logic. This comparison would only make sense if the EU could only send the same amount of competitors as a single country.

Since it is treated as many small countries there is many more EU competitors in some events than a single country would be allowed, any comparison must be weighted to account for this.

Posted at 9:50 a.m. on August 27, 2008


2 james says...

Great discussion and a great "add-on" with the European countries!

I still find medals per Capita very interesting because it indicates how many medals a country has won, from the pool of potential athletes living in the country.

I found this widget that displays who won the 2008 Olympics from different perspectives. It displays medals won by total medal count and gold count. In addition it can show medals won per million inhabitant and per million dollar GDP.

I think you might like it:-) http://www.youcalc.com/apps/1219403616554?application_popup=1

Its easy to put on your blog

A straight medal count isn’t necessarily the most fair:-)

Posted at 12:24 p.m. on August 27, 2008


3 Naib says...

And the greatest flaw with this "simple" talley?

Women's eights final: 1 United States 6:05.34 Gold 2 Netherlands 6:07.22 Silver 3 Romania 6:07.25 Bronze

Men's quadruple sculls final: 1 Poland 5:41.33 Gold 2 Italy 5:43.57 Silver 3 France 5:44.34 Bronze

Women's quadruple sculls final: 1 China 6:16.06 Gold 2 Great Britain 6:17.37 Silver 3 Germany 6:19.56 Bronze

Men's lightweight fours final: 1 Denmark 5:47.76 Gold 2 Poland 5:49.39 Silver 3 Canada 5:50.09 Bronze

Men's lightweight double sculls final: 1 Great Britain 6:10.99 Gold 2 Greece 6:11.72 Silver 3 Denmark 6:12.45 Bronze

Women's lightweight double sculls final: 1 Netherlands 6:54.74 Gold 2 Finland 6:56.03 Silver 3 Canada 6:56.68 Bronze

That is the results from one days finals in JUST rowing. Notice something? more then one EU country winning in those events

That raw total shows nothing

Posted at 9:14 p.m. on August 27, 2008


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