We're top of the medal table

[jake-the-peg]

It really isn't fair to compare a small country like the UK with the US and China

If you even the field a bit and compare European sporting achievements you get quite an interesting result

http://www.medaltracker.eu/

[rockyracoon]

Is the population of the European Union similar to that of USA and China. I hope so, then I can link this to a miserable thread in sport.

[jake-the-peg]

about 500 million

China's about 1.3 billion and the US is about 300 million so we're somewhere in the middle

By GDP the EU and the US are very similar

[VHG]

The populations of the USA and China are nowhere near each other. China has about 4 times as many people as the USA.

China is .. 1,347,350,000
USA is ..... 314,022,000

China has got 19% of the total world population.

The USA has only 4.47% of the worlds population.

Useless trivia. The population of the Pitcairn Islands is 66, only 0.000000001% of the worlds population.

http://en.wikipedia.o...untries_by_population

[VHG]

I was writing my append as jake was adding his.

[FredPuli43]

Plus some big countries have thrown money at facilities and training in some sports , Winter and Summer,which we, or other European countries, can't or don't match, or the sport is part of the country's culture, as ice-hockey is in Canada or basketball in the US, so there is vast pool of youngsters to train and draw upon from the very beginning. We're a bit short of ice-rinks here;typically, Ayr, a town of about 2,000 in Ontario, has three;and the basketball basket is in almost every American backyard.

[jake-the-peg]

I think the point still stands though if you're comparing the UK against the US and China you're going to be disappointed but if you look at Europe as a whole we are winning

[THECORBYLOON]

Each country is allowed up to three entrants per event, if there are 27 countries in the EU thats eighty-one from the EU compared to three from the USA for example so the EU should be better than the USA for that reason alone.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Ever hear of Cuba?

[Ellipsis]

They've Ryderised the medal table!

[WELSHYORKIE]

Cuba - Alberto Juantarino - Teofilio Stevenson. I've heard of them but to be honest no-one else springs to mind

[jake-the-peg]

Yes Corbyloon - If you're calculating it like this and say Germany wins Gold in an event and France wins silver you should only count the Gold obviously it would be.

If you look at the bottom it's done by continent

Then Asia is in front with Europe second

[Ellipsis]

If each "country" is allowed three entrants, and there only three medals, you shouldn't need to take away a silver if another entrant won a gold.

But what you would need to adjust for is the increased chances of winning through having more "tickets in the lottery" as it isn't simply about faster/higher/stronger, it's also about "luckier" and "pulled it out on the day" - and the more entrants you have, the more likely that is to happen.

[youngmafbog]

Corby, to counter your logic, surely if the EU was submitting as a 'country' (Jakes dream come true) then they woudl only enter the best 3 (most likely the winners of each event). The also runs would not be there.

[Zeuhl]

Perhaps it would help if someone factored the Medals Table 'per capita' which would balance the achievements of country's like China with smaller nations?

[THECORBYLOON]

The point I was making is that if the table is counting every medal by every EU country it is not correct. As for saying only the three best EU entrants would compete that is true but that does not mean that the best always win. In the archery this morning the UK entrant beat the world number one but was knocked out in the very next round.

[Ellipsis]

Zeuhl, I think I recall from the opening ceremony commentary that New Zealand would be top on that basis - I presume across all Olympics to date ...

[jake-the-peg]

NZ would certainly be doing well on that basis

though Kazhkstan would be beating them in Golds

Surprised Australia's not further ahead by now

[Zeuhl]

I think you guys are right - I also heard some reference to NZ in that sense

medals table on that basis would be interesting.

[naomi24]

//Perhaps it would help if someone factored the Medals Table 'per capita' which would balance the achievements of country's like China with smaller nations? //

I like Zeuhl's idea^^. I don't see Britain and the rest of Europe as 'we'.

[Ellipsis]

Precedent:

http://en.wikipedia.o...ntal_European_golfers
The most significant change to the Ryder Cup has been the inclusion of continental European golfers since 1979. Until 1977, the matches featured teams representing the United States and Great Britain and Ireland. From 1979 players from continental Europe have been eligible to join what is now known as Team Europe. The change to include continental Europeans arose from discussion in 1977 between Jack Nicklaus and the Earl of Derby, who was serving as the President of the Professional Golfers' Association; it was suggested by Nicklaus as a means to make the matches more competitive, since the Americans almost always won, often by lopsided margins. The change worked, as the contests immediately became much more competitive, with talented young Europeans such as Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer bolstering the European side. The present-day popularity of the Ryder Cup, which now generates enormous media attention, can be said to date from that change in eligibility.