Friday, August 22, 2008

"Ranking countries by the number of golds instead of total medals is 'a stupid idea,' says Gennady Shvets, press attache for Russia's national Olympic committee. His argument, in fact, is in keeping with the U.S.-centric point of view. Mr. Shvets notes that the gold system means that a small country with a single champion who wins, say, seven gold medals would be ranked according to this system ahead of a big country like Russia that won, say, six golds, 20 silvers and 25 bronzes. 'And this big country would be below this one guy,' he complains."

-- Ian Johnson, Wall Street Journal.

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