2012 London Olympics Gold

[Seussamania]

Here's something for all of us to think about. Who's going to take home the most gold this time around. I suppose the U.S. will be in the forefront (as almost always), so how about we make this question more interesting?

Of the Commonwealth Nations, which nation will take home more gold...or how about the top five? We have some Commonwealthers on here who might have a good idea on that.

And...what events should be excluded from the games? They've got a couple competitions that I just don't really understand.

[The Ruescher Empire]

China seems to be kicking more ass then the US right now Soooo I'm gonna go on a uneducated limb (I know nothing of sports) and say China will do the best

Commonwealth? Uhhhhh not the UK....they are doing terrible on their home turf....

They should include foxy boxing. Aside from that, Uhhhhh I dunno? Summer games aren't important here in Canada

[Letor]

When I looked at the news earlier, the US had 18 gold medals and China had 19. I believe you are correct about China taking home more than others. What about the Russians? When they were the Soviet Union, they were very competitive with the western nations, especially the US. I heard a commentary about the Olympic teams. The commentator said that China's government supported teams get more training because the government funds most of what they do. But in many western countries, the teams do not enjoy the luxury of government funds. This can be why the US and other countries are not competing well because private segments of the economies in many countries do not have as much money to donate as in previous years. Are Olympic teams in Canada supported by the Federal Government? Is Canada more interested in the Winter Olympics?

[Tlatoani Azteca]

I think you're on to something. Based on what little I know about this, the American Olympic Team has mostly relied on donations and every once in a while, the Feds will kick in for somethings. I think you might be right about the Chinese govt money. I'm sure it makes all the diff in the world when you've got a sponsor with deep pockets.

[The Ruescher Empire]

Well in Canada we don't chug a lot of money into our olympians like the US or China does. We tend to focus on specific things. But we do, like every other country, spend millions every year supporting our athletes. But perhaps if the US does horrible at this Olympics they will change how they do things

[Adriaticus]

You're probably right about that. China is sorta in the US public's crosshairs in a way. We don't want to be ingrates because of all the T-Bills they bought, but we don't want to see them overshadow us either. It's a pride thing and things will really change with how the Olympic teams in the US are funded. It seems to me that Canada and other nations in the world focus on specific events they are really good at and funnel their funds and energy into getting the athletes for those events in top shape. The US, China, and others want to win everything and have what I call a scattered focus. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But you also have to consider the populations of these nations. You can't tell me that you can't find top shelf athletes from a pop base of 300+ million and 1 billion respectively.

[Basileus Romanus]

I can't remember what the final gold medal count was but we swept China's clock. Just because we owe them an ass load of money doesn't mean we'll let them take everything now does it?

[The Ruescher Empire]

Not yet, but it will eventually when the US is so in debt it can't pay its athletes anymore

[G-Tech]

Eh, the US has always cleaned up on the medal front: the only time China has ever had a higher gold total was at the games in Beijing, which is at least partially understandable.

As far as other countries (Canada), an interesting thought process comes in to play: the amount of money a country devotes to a sport is directly related to the likelihood of one of their athletes winning a medal in that sport. Funnily enough, this is a proven fact. However, the willingness of a private donor or the Fed to fund a sport is directly related to the success of the athletes of the sport in the past.

Its kind of a catch-21. In order to win medals, athletes have to have lots of money. But in order to get funding (and money), they need to have won medals.

An observation.