Seeing as revision of medals standings according to
population have been so popular in these parts, I thought it would be worth a
re-calculation according to my own prejudice. What would happen, I thought, if
we removed all the extraneous nonsense that really shouldn’t earn an Olympic
medal?
So here are the criteria, gone are:
- Swimming events, other than purely freestyle, after all Usain Bolt doesn’t get to do a 100m hopping does he?
- Anything where judges decide the results, so no Gymnastics, Synchronised Drowning, Diving or Trampoline.
- Anything where horses, rather than people, are doing the hard work.
- Anything where the pinnacle of the sport (in the competitors’ minds) is not an Olympic Gold, which takes care of Football and Tennis.
I couldn’t be arsed to do the entire table, so I limited it
to the top 5 on the official table, plus Aussie and NZ for local flavour.
And here are the results:
As a pom, I'm going to take that result thanks very much, I'm happy to debate additional removals (road cycling, basketball?) but you won't budge me on reinstating anything.
6 comments:
"Synchronised drowning"; love it!
Judges decide the results of weightlifting. There are three looking at and for the same stuff, and don't always agree: did the arm straighten etc.
Foul calls in basketball and a bunch of other sports are also highly subjective judgments (was that a deliberate touch of the leg/foot to the ball in hockey, or accidental? is the difference between a penalty corner and a penalty stroke).
And who can forget those relegations in the track cycling? Some guy looking at a video trying to determine did they enter/leave the sprint lane and disturb the other competitor. etc. etc.
Good point about the cycling Graeme; GB's medal total would look a whole lot thinner without their two-wheeled warriors.
Jamaica population 2.5 million must be up there somewhere.
Judges in weightlifting, hockey or cycling decide whether rules have been broken, they don't decide whose performance was "better". The winner is sill the lifter of the heavier weight, scorer of more goals or first across the finish line.
Weightlifting has three judges, watching from different positions, of which two have to agree that a lift is clean or not. They're not deciding if that bent arm means 5kg or 10kg off the value of the weight on the bar.
Vicky Pendleton didn't win medals because some judge decided her peddaling action was smoother than her rivals...otherwise Meares would have had no show of the gold.
An (US) NBA Title would rate higher than an Olympic Gold.
Mens Athletics has 100m, 110 hurdles, 50km walk, steeplechase and decathlon sports as different ways to run a distance and win a medal, so not just limited to one style of getting over the distance in the quickest time.
Post a Comment