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who will win the overall medals table?

who will win the olympics?

  • australia

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • china

    Votes: 26 57.8%

  • germany

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • russia

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • USA

    Votes: 16 35.6%

  • other - please specify

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Total voters
    45
C

CharlieAddict

nekomimi rocks!!!
favourites are still america - they have won the overall medals for the last 3 games...and they won it bt at least 50-60 medals!

the germans, chinese, russians all usually put in a great performance...but this time around, the americans look superstrong...

you also have australia and france coming up in the ranks...

my money is on china - advantage of home soil and all...
 
the chinese will do well, but unless they start disqualifying americans left right and centre, they won't win more medals than the americans
 
UK Sport has set its sights on 41 medals for a chance to achieve an overall target of 8th place in the medal table.

So 8th place or better according to MSN news and UK Sport, 41 medals seems a little too high I think
 
USA or China ..

Statistically of course one of them should win.

In fact statistically China should win as they are fielding the best sportspeople from a population exceeding 1bn people, America the best sports people from a population of what 250m (is it)

The only way European nations would compete is if we fielded an EU team which would then be the top atheletes from a population like the USs.
 
weltweit said:
In fact statistically China should win as they are fielding the best sportspeople from a population exceeding 1bn people, America the best sports people from a population of what 250m (is it)

The only way European nations would compete is if we fielded an EU team which would then be the top atheletes from a population like the USs.
Click to expand...

Except it doesn't work remotely like that. Otherwise Brazil and India would come first. It's about the facilities available to the athletes and the quality of the drugs they take.
 
maomao said:
Except it doesn't work remotely like that. Otherwise Brazil and India would come first. It's about the facilities available to the athletes and the quality of the drugs they take.
Click to expand...

But it does to an extent work that way ..

To have a chance at a basketball team you need people who are statistically significantly taller than the population norm, who can also throw a ball. You are more likely to get a teams worth the larger your population is.

For 100m runners you also need significantly different from the average. A country with only 1m people is unlikely to generate a single decent 100m runner, a nation with 250m is likely to have a few ..

Not saying facilities and drugs don't come into it, because they obviously do ..
 
i dunno about you guys but growing up in the UK, the only sports i and classmates could do were football and rugby :(

in countries like china and USA - there are loads and loads of options...

and look at australia. relatively small country and they're likely to do well...
 
CharlieAddict said:
i dunno about you guys but growing up in the UK, the only sports i and classmates could do were football and rugby :(

in countries like china and USA - there are loads and loads of options...

and look at australia. relatively small country and they're likely to do well...
Click to expand...
CA, where did you go to school?

I was at a girls school in London and we had large playing fields and a full range of sports; track and field athletics (incl. javelin, discus, longjump etc) we had hockey, cricket, netball, tennis, gymnastics... I could go on! I even started rowing at school.


Australia has an outdoor lifestyle and superb aquatic facilities. Plus their school system is geared towards education through sport as well as the usual academics. Sport is a way of life- participating as well as spectating.

Just as importantly they have the political will to fund athletes. Champions arent just born, they are made and nutured.

In the UK participating in sport at the amateur 'everyday knock about with your mates' level, can be expensive and also the facilities are often shoddy.
Different mentality.
 
weltweit said:
But it does to an extent work that way ..

To have a chance at a basketball team you need people who are statistically significantly taller than the population norm, who can also throw a ball. You are more likely to get a teams worth the larger your population is.

For 100m runners you also need significantly different from the average. A country with only 1m people is unlikely to generate a single decent 100m runner, a nation with 250m is likely to have a few ..


Not saying facilities and drugs don't come into it, because they obviously do ..
Click to expand...

Jamaica has a population of 2 point something million and currently has Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, arguably two of the top three sprinters in the world.
 
bendeus said:
Jamaica has a population of 2 point something million and currently has Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, arguably two of the top three sprinters in the world.
Click to expand...

But Jamaica have a history of producing good sprinters. Most countries with a small population won't have many.
 
Melinda said:
CA, where did you go to school?

I was at a girls school in London and we had large playing fields and a full range of sports; track and field athletics (incl. javelin, discus, longjump etc) we had hockey, cricket, netball, tennis, gymnastics... I could go on! I even started rowing at school.


Australia has an outdoor lifestyle and superb aquatic facilities. Plus their school system is geared towards education through sport as well as the usual academics. Sport is a way of life- participating as well as spectating.

Just as importantly they have the political will to fund athletes. Champions arent just born, they are made and nutured.

In the UK participating in sport at the amateur 'everyday knock about with your mates' level, can be expensive and also the facilities are often shoddy.
Different mentality.
Click to expand...

wales.

we did have track and field too but it wasn't encouraged - no guidance and the equipment were often gathering dust in the spare room.
most schoolkids were pushed into rugby.
and if you were crap in rugby then it's football.

the girls were encouraged to play hockey...

agree with you completely about making athletes...
population helps but without the right mentality, teaching facilities - numbers mean nothing.
 
CharlieAddict said:
gutted - craig fallon missed out on a bronze in judo...

been following him - he ws exciting to watch...
Click to expand...
Oh I watched that fight. He as doing sooo well too. Two Games, two wash outs :( heartbreaking stuff. Plus Judokas fight so early on in the proceedings, by the end of the Games, its like it never even happened!
 
Melinda said:
Oh I watched that fight. He as doing sooo well too. Two Games, two wash outs :( heartbreaking stuff. Plus Judokas fight so early on in the proceedings, by the end of the Games, its like it never even happened!
Click to expand...

that's the first time i've seen judo in the olympics.
really exciting stuff.
i hope they show wrestling (though no UK team this year) and TKD.

gutted for craig fallon but he is only 25.
he's probably got at least two olympics in him...
 
The Hungarians always seem to have a decent medal haul for a relatively small nation. About 10 million people, I think, yet they're always popping up on the podium for some reason.
 
Hopefully not China. There's something a bit disturbing about planning which events are eminently winnable and then 'auditioning' a vast country to find athletes to make up the numbers in big 'athlete' production factories with high fail rates.

I know most countries aren't exactly paragons of sporting virtue, but there's something about this hot-house approach which doesn't ring true to the olympic ideals. It goes well beyond the 'pushy parents' phenomena - more like a pushy state trying to make a political power point.

Christ, even the individualistic arrogant americans come out of it seemingly like the good guys.
 
weltweit said:
USA or China ..

Statistically of course one of them should win.

In fact statistically China should win as they are fielding the best sportspeople from a population exceeding 1bn people,

America the best sports people from a population of what 250m (is it)
Click to expand...

7 billlion, approx.
 
Now joint 9th with the Germans, who won Gold in one of the equestrian events.

Will be interesting to see what happens when the focus switches to the track&field events and away from the sport centre stuff - that's when I think you'll see the US start to power out and China start to falter maybe.

Still, UK doing alright!

On the training front...doesn't help that there was effectively a 10 year gap in there being any kind of focus on sports in schools, let alone that ridiculous mid-90s rubbish about not doing competetive sports in many schools...
 
which medals table are people using?? total medals or most golds (then silvers etc)? USA will win most medals, but I reckon the Chinese could just sneak it on most golds. It'll be close tho
 
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