It’s time to get rid of the “Olympic Medal Count.” I am referring to the running tables that compare each country’s “haul” during an Olympic Games. There was a time when this statistical comparison was an important part of our national self-esteem, was a propaganda weapon, and was even part of our international policy.
During the Cold War, especially, when there was genuine concern in the United States about which type of society would survive, each Olympic Games was a safe way of comparing freedom with totalitarianism. It was much better than nuclear warfare, and was, therefore, a decent indicator of superior national prowess.
When the U.S. Hockey team defeated the Soviets in Lake Placid in 1980, their victory seemed like a victory against all totalitarian communisms. And there was no notable mention that the victory would register in the medal count.
Today, in a “flattened,” post-Cold War world, the medal count is overkill. It diminishes each remarkable achievement of winning an Olympic medal, and it smacks of gloating. It is perfectly obvious which countries will win the most medals—the ones that spend the most money and commit the most resources to athletics.
There are other issues with the Olympic medal count. For one thing, it presumes that each country’s athletes are all “in it together,” and that the swimmers, basketball players, and equestrian riders are all part of a team that is competing on the same playing field with the others. The only truths in this are the uniforms that they wear and the flag under which they march into the stadium.
No other athletes competing make the sort of money that the NBA players do. While Jason Kidd can relax with his $16 million salary, other U.S. Olympians supplement their training with jobs at Home Depot.
Yes, Michael Phelps will earn over $1 million in endorsements this year, but the same cannot be said for most of his swimming competitors. While Denver resident Carmelo Anthony struggles with the burdens of freedom and a titillating nightlife, Dremiel Byers, his Olympic “teammate” sixty miles to the south, in Colorado Springs, will be competing for a Greco-Roman wrestling medal while serving as a member of the military. The playing field is not level.
In addition, medal counting nationalizes and makes over-competitive the optimistic and peaceful idea of different countries coming together for two weeks of athletic events. There is certainly competition, but it is based on the principle that bringing these countries together for sport for two weeks, hoping to minimize political and military conflicts, will make the world a better place.
The fact that the United States, Burundi, the Cayman Islands, and Papua New Guinea are all competing together under the same torch is simple and wonderful enough. We will be watching and reading about the victories themselves—drawing to obvious attention the fact that some countries are larger, wealthier, and better at sports than others is excessive.
32 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Andy Simpson 11 months ago
Wow! I thought more about the Olympics just now than in all 32 years I've been alive. I usually just check the medal count, but you've made me rethink that. Thanks for writing a great piece!
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sam the fact checker 11 months ago
great article...
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yungCaucasoid ... 11 months ago
This article makes no sense, and directs criticism in an aimless way. Especially in how it irresponsibly compares NBA players to other sports' Olympians, as if it's the NBA players fault that those other less-appealing sports don't generate World-wide revenue for decades. What a shame.
Especially ridiculous too, is the criticism of the medal count. Thats discombobulating. What are the Olympics are about? Each country sending it's best athletes, to win, and show respective Country's level of sports prowess...Big DUH??
If you're going to say lets not count medals ----well hell!---- let the Olympic Committee just stop giving away medals all together then. If your not going to count medals then who cares who won any events? Bigger DUH?? Thats what your recommendation leads to anyway, as it's one of the most nonsensical things I've ever heard of.
This article gets a "M" ---for, makes no sense at all.
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John Smith 11 months ago
When US loses its sporting dominance, it suddenly becomes a country no longer "wrapped up in this silliness" of the medal count. What happened to the sporting ideal of being gracious in losing?
If medal counts were so meaningless, why wait till now to discount them? Stop behaving like ostriches with your heads "wrapped up" in sand.
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
I wouldn't say that the medal counts are meaningless, but rather that we tend to make more of them than we should. Isn't the fact that our athletes are dominant and remarkable enough? What does it matter if another country "wins" more medals than the US, or if the US wins more medals than another country? I don't want us to define our worth as a nation, even a sporting nation, on something like the medal count.
Thanks for the observations.
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Dorothy Willis 11 months ago
I particularly loved your last four common sense paragraphs. Thank you for your excellent insights!
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Daniel Muth 11 months ago
Honestly, I stopped giving a crap about the overall medal count the second I got old enough to know better. Conveniently, that probably coincided with the end of the Cold War. I don't get the impression that most Americans are really caught up in the medal count. Most of the folks I talk to like to see our athletes do well, but stopped attaching much meaning to the total a long time ago. America has arrived, and it arrived decades ago. I don't get the impression that much of our self-esteem is locked up in the final medal count. For an emerging nation, like China, the nationalistic fervor makes more sense, particularly with an impoverished nation whose nationalistic pride might be all they've got. The fact that their country's success hasn't really impacted the lives of many Chinese meaningfully makes little difference. Before Chinese capitalization they had nothing, and now they still don't. The difference is the feeling of national pride. That's worth something. It's worth even more for the Kenyans and the Ethiopians whose countries may be poor and politically unstable, but can bask in the limelight every four years when their distance runners (operating on a non-existent budget) out-run the most expensively and professionally trained runners in the world.
So why don't I root for the underdog? I do. I'm a Lions fan. And Detroit is my team. However, I'm also an American meaning that the United States is my team in international competition. I don't get some arrogant thrill from beating up on the little guy. I can't help that I was born in and love this country, and I'm certainly not going to root against my home team just for the sake of it. I would agree that the medal count should not really be important for Americans, but would argue that for many of us it's not. To deny the importance of the medal count for less privileged nations, however, is to deny a shot at dignity from those who have none.
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
This is great! I couldn't agree more with your point about the medal count mattering much more to other countries. Egypt, for example, has a young woman competing in the Pentathalon who will contend for the gold who will have the entire fervor of her country rooting for her. That sort of communal experience and collective excitement is at the core of what makes sports so wonderful and transcendent.
I hope that most people are moving past the medal count/national self-esteem piece, but I expect to see it prominently in my local paper.
Hey, one more thing, Daniel - and, again, a great observation ... I too, root for American athletes. It's in my blood, and I would never discourage people from doing that. I do, however, encourage open-mindedness, which I think you have displayed. Thanks.
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Daniel Muth 11 months ago
In spirit, I think we agree with each other. We will undoubtedly hear much about the medal count because that's what the media feeds us. I hear a lot about Britney Spears too, but that doesn't mean I care about her (at least any more than I care for all people). I suppose some people do; probably the same ones who are obsessively tabulating our sporting place in the world.
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Mike Lam 11 months ago
You'll be rooting for Phelps, Hoff, and Coughlin because of "their achievements?" I think you're kidding yourself. To believe that, would be to say that you're going to root just as hard for every other gold medal contender from every other nation - just for their incredible athletic prowess.
Nobody actually believes that medal counts are a legitimate barometer for international superiority during the Olympics but we root for Americans anyway. We don't root for Michael Phelps because we're too naive to realize that his backstroke is actually a meaningless measure of National achievement. We root because it's fun. It's fun to compete, and if we're unable to compete ourselves, then we do it as fans rooting for our favorite team.
Don't overanalyze the psyche of the Olympic games. It's really the same as any other sporting event - athletic competition never has been based in logic. Do you think new yorkers root for the Knicks because they honestly believe that if the Knicks win the NBA championship it'll prove a single thing about New York as a City. No, and they don't root for them for "their achievements" either. Competition is fun, following sports is fun; if we attach false significance to our competitions to make them more entertaining for ourselves then so be it - no harm done.
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
I agree with most of what you wrote, Mike. I wrote this as I tried to understand why the Medal Count existed and why it bothered me. I stand by what I wrote about it being unnecessary. I do root for non-American Olympians, especially the best competitors. I was always a Sergei Bubka fan - he seemed supernatural to me as a kid.
I love how you wrote that "athletic competition never has been based in logic" and I do think that the article is a little heavy-handed with logic, but I wanted to probe the issue fairly deeply.
I think that we engage with sports for more than just the "fun" and that the significance we attach to the games is paramount. But I also think that, with the Olympics, we attach too much significance to nationalism.
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Mike Lam 11 months ago
true
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soled delos 11 months ago
Jeremy Goldson is completely out of touch with today's politic atmosphere if he thinks the current environment between China and the free world isn't any less fraught with danger as the one with the former Soviet Union. In fact, the case has been made at the highest levels of both political US parties(as well as Western Europe) that China's angst and willingness for confrontation with the west is more real than was the USSR.
Time for a wake-up call from a naive slumber, Goldson. What's brewing in China, and as evidenced by their need to both stun the west with yesterday's opening display and simultaneously crush potential demonstrations/exposure of the real human right's abusive China, reminds many historians of the 1936 Olympic games at Germany.
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
As a proud member of Amnesty International as well as an earnest political advocate, I am well-aware of the danger that China presents to its own citizens and to the global community. (I didn't want to write that article, because there are so many good versions of it on this site, among others.) However, I don't think that most of the American Olympics-watching audience is aware of China's human rights abuses. Just as many aren't aware of the United States' human rights abuses (hey, let's call it like it is right).
I disagree with the direct confrontation comparison. While the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in several armed conflicts and were directly militarily adversarial (and the two countries did not trade with each other), the current relationship between the United States and China is much more complicated and intricate. I like what you wrote: "stun the west with yesterday's opening display and simultaneously crush potential demonstrations." Something should be done about China, that's a different article than the one I wrote, one I am less qualified to write.
Where I continue to stand is in this: While American victories in Berlin in 1936 and against the Soviet Union in the 1960's and 1970's were seen as evidence of the victory of American-style freedom against totalitarianism, I do not believe that American victories against the Chinese will be measured the same way. I believe that China, for its own purposes, many of them nefarious, would like too create that dynamic. But the parallels break down there, perhaps because the American government has been much too docile with the Chinese government. But, that's a different article.
Do I seem a little less naive now?
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Dlynn 11 months ago
This is an excellent article Jeremy...you've gone beyond the "we're number one" mentality to provide some insight into what it means to be an Olympic athlete.
I was just discussing this on a sport's forum where someone responded to Canada's lack of medals to date with a "we suck" comment. I challenged him on the "we" part and asked how many hours, dollars and buckets of sweat HE'D invested in the games? I let him know that we should appreciate our athletes and the commitment they've made in representing this country. That there were no "failures" here....only wins.
I think I made my point.
As you've done here...well done.
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Alan Bass 11 months ago
this was very well-written, but what are the olympics about? winning medals, and unfortunately, that medal count table is how we compare ourselves to other countries. the US is known for wanted to be the best at everything, and the olympics are a great outlet for that, rather than bombing the crap out of another country. the medal count is the whole point of the olympics
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jon anthony 11 months ago
How does a medal for a fairground pastime or a circus act measure against the marathon, the decathlon or any sport that requires to be an athlete ? "Olympian" ? hardly describes many of what passes for sport there.
Gerboa
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
I agree, though not at the quality of athletes. I just don't think they are all "sports." Probably another article on that later.
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sam goodman 11 months ago
American pride is very much tied up with the medal count. Why most of the cheaters are actually americans? because we tend to compare our success with the number of medals we've collected. Americans have always been the most dopped up and roided up during the olympics. Lets just hope that the policy of extensive testings and keeping blood and urine samples for more than 8 years can deter americans from stealing medals. Actually, it seems like it's working by looking at the apparant drop of medal count the usa had collected thus far compared to previous olympics.
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Jeremy Goldson 11 months ago
Another good reason to reexamine the medal count.
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David Ness 10 months ago
Most of the cheating is by Americans? You must be nuts.
China fakes 3 passports so they can break the rules to place 3 underage girls in the gymnastics competition. Heck, one of the girls still looks like she has her baby teeth.
Don't even get me started on the judging.. America blows away the competition on the events without judges.. where all that matters is being fastest.. with judgest in the mix China wins... just ask Nastia Liukin on the uneven parallel bars...so who is cheating?
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Benjamin Edwards 11 months ago
Jeremy, I think that when Greco-Roman wrestling becomes as interesting as basketball, maybe Dremiel Byers will make $20 mil just like Carmelo.
We give these athletes 24 hour a day coverage for two weeks. I think that's enough.
Also, a mechanic or a plumber works harder and for less money than Kobe Bryant does. And in his spare time that plumber doesn't have the luxurious lifestyle that Kobe enjoys.
But why do we owe recognition to that plumber?
If he wanted millions, he should have learned a trade where he could have made millions and not settled with being a plumber.
We punish the succesful and reward failure and mediocrity too often in this country.
Just my thoughts.
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Marc Smith 10 months ago
Funny, when the USA was first you guys LOVED medal countings, now that you´re being OWNED by the chinese, suddenly you dont like it anymore.
Funny people.
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Vinnie Queiroga 10 months ago
Talk about being a sore loser...
There is no fault in not being the first every time. Please, try to show some good sportsmanship, stop with this ridiculous and misleading attempt to revert the count to US advantage, and celebrate the athletes that gave their best to represent their countries, even when their efforts don't reflect in a olympic medal.
[]s
Vinnie
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Medal Count 10 months ago
Check this: http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/medals.aspx
American media is full of ****. For 2004, they can use either total medal count or gold count. They chose gold because they were leading on gold. Also to humilate Russia to be third otherwise Russia will be 2nd ahead of China if using total medal count. If you click the homepage on the left, USAToday shows this year as total medal count. Total politics. ****!! Go USA!!
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Justin Lemon 10 months ago
You, Jeremy, are what is wrong with America. No national pride and no true competitive spirit. Why reward mediocrity? Why not honor those who win and forget those who lose?
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Jeremy Goldson 10 months ago
Whoa, Justin,
I think that I am as proud of America as I individually can be. Look at the article ... I worship the constitution and never for a second take for granted my freedoms and my opportunities. I believe the best example that an American can set is by practicing the ultimately American endeavor of provoking dialogue and an exchange of ideas.
I don't think that our worth as a country should be as tied up in medal count as it seems we are. That's it.
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David Ness 10 months ago
The ORIGINAL Olympians of Greece never cared about whatever imaginary value you find in the Olympics. All they ever wanted was to WIN. Losers, were just that...losers. Check out the history on it.
Do you wnat to WIN or be LOSERS? I say we initiate Project 956 in response to China's Project 119 and win all the medals at the 2016 Olympics.
This is the plan: Give every fat kid a free Sony WII and see what happens next.
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Ron T 10 months ago
Without a doubt, one of the most idiotic articles I've ever wasted 5 minutes of my life on. The author must have been one of those kids who always got a trophy, whether he finished in first place or dead last in his intramural soccer league -- Okay kids, everybody wins!!!. The fact that Olympic "winners" are recognized with a tangible award (medal), and that their country -- whose uniform they wear, and who they are representing in an INTERNATIONAL competition -- actually "counts" it as a victory is pretty much what "competition" is all about. I guess we should just assemble all of the athletes every four years in a stadium, and have them wear generic white t-shirts with no logos and black gym shorts. That way, no one will be"offended" if one team actually wins more times than any one else -- in fact, just make it easy -- no more timers in swimming, no more finish lines in races, no more score keeping in volleyball, basketball, or soccer -- Heck, NO more scoreboards at all! Let's just have fun out there guys, because competition makes people who don't win really sad, and we just don't want that.......
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Jeremy Goldson 10 months ago
In no way, at all, EVER, in the article do I say that we should not award medals. Then it isn't competition. I don't say that. What I say is: emphasizing the medal count and drawing patriotic attention to it is unnecessary. That's all.
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marco polo 10 months ago
I stopped caring much about overall medal count when the Berlin wall fell. So did everybody else, and by 2004, no one even cared enough to attend. I think China has done a fantastic job in hosting the event and basically salvaging its legacy.
What I would like to understand is why we count medals the way we do. Why does the winning soccer team, a sport followed by more people than any other sport on the planet, get one medal in the count? Gymnastics on the other hand breaks down into 4000 medals divided across real gymnastics and Cirque Du Soleil? Who would set up a system like this? The winning soccer (football) team should be getting 11 medals, the winning basketball 5 and so on…
The way medals are “rigged” reeks of gerrymandering to favor nations who can afford to sponsor full Olympic teams, and minimizes the chance of an upset from a smaller nation. Personally, I think it also heavily favors communists who can invest in winning gold in air pistols, ping pong and countless other “sports” not commercially viable elsewhere. People outside communist countries competing in those sports are doing so while supporting themselves with a full-time job.
I also wonder why there are so many subjective events. It’s not a pageant; it is supposed to be a competition based upon skill. Why are there equestrian events for example? This is not something many people can compete in. It is not a level playing field, and it reeks of elitism. We may as well add a dog show as it is the horse and not the rider that really earns the medal.
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Jeremy Goldson 10 months ago
Marco,
I completely agree with you and I appreciate such a well-written and reasoned comment. I have wondered about this for years, but I haven't ever sat down and researched properly the theories and ideas I have to write something cogent and coherent. Elitism and post-colonialism are the culprits I think. If you are a Sports Illustrated reader, check out the statistic about the number of medals that students from ivy League colleges alone have won. 9th all time.
Again, I think that you support the main point that I am making - that the medal count is not based on an even playing field and that it should not be given any position of prominence.
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