Medal Count

I am sorry—it’s easier to fulminate against something than write an accolade. Who would read this blog (not that anyone does) if I wrote about my love for Sara Teasdale’s poetry? So I write about the ubiquitous Olympic Medal Count, running along every Bottom Line.


Well, OK, if we need jingoistic self-assurance, and who doesn’t, at least we should weight the medals. Gold should certainly be worth more than bronze. We could arrive at a more realistic sum total: US maybe 872, South Korea 423. In Winter Olympics. So there!

And what the jubilation: "it has been the most successful Winter Olympics the US has ever had". Well, of course, we have garnered more medals than, say 30 years ago when half of the events had not even been invented. Nordic Combined Large Hill has been added for those who did not do well on the Normal Hill. Can Small Hill be far behind? Team Relay Was added in 1988. Too bad Team Relay Large Hill has not been invented, but it is only a matter of time. The US is bound to have more medals. More Jubilation.

And as long as we count, shouldn’t we take into account the size of the country, population, the amount of snow, amount of money athletes are subsidized with, and maybe a few other relevant statistics? Corrected for those ("normalized" the correct term) we might arrive at a more realistic "medal count".

While I am at it, I would like mention that as a former swimmer who swam the same events as Michael Phelps did at the Olympics, I am in awe of his performance there. Yet, I need to point out that when I swam, (around 1956) the total number of swimming events in the Olympics were fewer than Phelps’ total of eight. In 1956, for instance, only seven events were held; had Phelps won them all he could only have had seven Gold medals. Not eight.


The number of events escalate. It is only a matter of time until there will be Olympic Swimming 25 meter events, and who knows, 75, and more. Why ever not? And a new Phelps will have nine Golds in one Olympics. Or even more.

The Concept of Proportional Olympic Golds.

Inequality in Olympic Medals: Not all "Golds" should be considered equal.

I am writing this during the 2010 Winter Olympics. There are universal sports, skiing or Figure Skating, and "specialty sports", like bobsled. Far more countries enter athletes in the former than in the latter.

I propose that the medals, especially the bandied-around "Golds" should be weighted according to the number of entrants in the particular event. I leave it to the statisticians to figure out the details.

Clearly, the winner of the Olympic Figure Skating should somehow have a heavier Gold than that of a member of 4-men bobsled, for instance. The latter could still get a Gold medal, but maybe with a magnifying glass attached to it. It would also save money to the Olympic Committee.

Let me generalize now about all Olympics. It is not fair that some events are so popular that only two persons from a country can enter, as in swimming; and some so scarcely populated that as many as three or even four per country can enter, as in short track skating, where seemingly half of South Korea is in every event. Golds in these events should be negatively weighted.

What about team events? Somehow an individual event should count more than a team event. So a Gold in a 4-person relay should be appropriately weighed by at least a factor of maybe ¼. I am conflicted about other types of team sports, like soccer or water polo, in which team play is also important. I cannot in good conscience suggest a factor of 1/11 for the members of the winning soccer team, but a full Gold is equally unreasonably.

My contempt is for other types of "team events", like team gymnastics, in which six members simply perform. No team work, no passing the baton, just do what they have done in the individual events. In women’s, China, US, and Romania are guaranteed to get a medal just by showing up. Full Gold? No way! They should be awarded 1/6th of a Gold, maybe. The same about such "meaningful" events as Team Ski Jumping. Worth, at best 1/4th of a Gold.

But may I ask the Olympic Committee, if it is so committed to increasing the number of events and medals, why not Team Figure Skating? Just add the scores of the three entrants form each country, and you have just manufactured another unneeded event. We could have Men’s Team Figure Skating, Women’s Team Figure Skating (all worth 1/3rd of a medal) and maybe even Mixed Team Events, adding the men’s and women’s scores. We would have an event worth 1/6th of a medal. Why ever not? As good, probably as the synchronized swimming medals.

I admit, the details have not been worked out perfectly. But you get the idea.