Independent Voter asked:
USA only has 27 gold and almost half of that from Michael Phelps but China with 45!? Didn’t everyone in USA made fun of Chinese being short and nerdy?? What’s going on here? Is China still a Sleeping Giant are they still growing as a nation? Or is this the peak of what China can do or are they just lucky they got 45 gold?
Peyton
USA only has 27 gold and almost half of that from Michael Phelps but China with 45!? Didn’t everyone in USA made fun of Chinese being short and nerdy?? What’s going on here? Is China still a Sleeping Giant are they still growing as a nation? Or is this the peak of what China can do or are they just lucky they got 45 gold?
Peyton
1.) US screwed up alot this time, especially in Track where they got owned by the Jamaicans.
2.) China had like 8 years to prepare for this, obviously they worked extra hard and the opening ceremony is proof of this.
3.) They are growing but I can’t see them dominating athletic events like Track or Swimming just yet, but eventually they will be more competitive.
Comment by Dimitriy — November 22, 2008 @ 9:08 am
they had athletes that competed and won 45 golds
Comment by My Answers Suck — November 24, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
27 gold and half from Phelps, not quite.
Comment by Dr. Illegals Man Crush — November 27, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Short answer: money.
The Chinese made a decision to become a major Olympic power. They have plowed a lot of money into athletics, particularly in sports in which multiple medals are awarded (gymnastics, swimming, etc.) Basketball is nice, but it’s a lot of work for one medal.
And they have 1.3 billion to choose from. So you’d think they’d do well if they set their mind to it.
Comment by wdx2bb — November 28, 2008 @ 11:28 am
There are a lot of reasons:
China is still some sort of communism, the government can put a lots money into sport;
Chinese are good at some events such as ping pong and diving, and they got all of them so far;
USA lost its domination on field and tracks
Comment by Junta — November 30, 2008 @ 6:02 am
Yes china is a progressing country.. I actually think it’s like a natural progression. LIke they had 32? gold medals in athens, and way less in sydney? and even less gold in atlanta. So yeah.
Comment by Larissa P — December 2, 2008 @ 9:18 pm
8 is not almost half of 27.
Russia is the sleeping giant, and they just woke up. Watch the news? Georgia is being screwed over by Russia.
Anyway, China has been preparing for this for a long time. China hasn’t yet peaked as a major world power, and probably won’t for years to come. China has definitely progressed impressively in recent decades.
Comment by Juli Z. — December 5, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
If you read medal tallies for the past few Olympics, you will find that China did not dramatically earned more medals at all. It is host country advantage that China earned more than usual, which also happened to USA before
2004 Olympics
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States (USA) 36 39 27 102
2 China (CHN) 32 17 14 63
2000 Olympics
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States (USA) 36 24 31 91
3 China (CHN) 28 16 15 59
1996 Olympics (hosted by USA)
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States (USA) 44 32 25 101
4 China (CHN) 16 22 12 50
1992 Olympics
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
2 United States (USA) 37 34 37 108
3 China (CHN) 16 22 16 54
1988 Olympics
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
3 United States (USA) 36 31 27 94
11 China (CHN) 5 11 12 28
1984 Olympics (Hosted by USA)
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States (USA) 83 61 30 174
4 China (CHN) 15 8 9 32
As you can see, China has a steady increase of medals earned over the years. It is not surprising on the total number and gold medals earned from China in 2008. On the other hand, USA does earned a lot less than usual. China does not take away USA share because China does not earned a lot more than pervious years, so the problem may be in USA herself.
Someone said China’s gold/non-gold ratio is not normal. I agree that the ratio is different from othwe countries, but 2008 is not the first year. If you read previous years stats, you can see 2000 and 2004 also have the unusal ratios. May be it is they spend more money on elite sportspersons than other countries all these years?
People also pointed out that China only do well in non-subjective sports. The non-subjective sport most people referring to is gymnastic, however, China is always good in gymnastic, not all of a sudden doing well this year, unless people have to argue that China bribed the judges in every Olympics and every world championships. Another non-subjective sport China dominating is diving, noone challenge China about this one as it is too obvious that China’s divers are a lot better than the rest. The one subjective sport that China is doing very well but not her traditional sport is weightlifting, which got 7 golds. Noone seems to mention about this one neither. People are just concentrated on gymnastics, say it is non-subjective and generalised it as China only doing good in non-subjective sports.
Comment by kmgfrostfell — December 6, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
They also have a more intense training program for certain sports. I heard while watching the Olympic coverage that gymnasts are picked at age three and taken away from there homes and rarely get to see there families as they train constantly…and from what I understand the Chinese have won alot in gymnastics this year.
Comment by tonster556 — December 9, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
Being short can sometimes be an advantage and it’s not just us Chinese that are short but the majority of Asians. China has improved bit by bit and I think the reason behind this is the determination and discipline that these athletes have. If you can go to their training camp you’ll understand what I mean. Plus the Olympics being held in China has proven to be an advantage and drove the athletes harder.
Comment by kjn — December 10, 2008 @ 11:42 am