Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with medals

I want to hear this broadcast again!

kepano — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:00:02 -0800

About ten days ago I was listening to NPR in my car (KPCC in Pasadena, to be specific) and heard a hysterical piece on Great Britain's success at the Olympics. Help me find it! A British columnist(?) was stating with great humor that most Olympics sports were in invented in England but somehow the Brits have become terrible at them. As a result they've striven to become the world's best losers. The recent downpour of gold medals came as a shock and the columnist wanted to apologize to the other nations for their success.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? NPR has a great archive but I just can't find this broadcast! Help!

Olympic number crunching.

markkraft — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:02:59 -0800

How do you rate which country is "leading" in the Olympics? I ask this, because the latest figures are as follows:

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1. China 46 15 22 83
2. United States 29 35 34 98
3. Great Britain 17 12 11 40

results.beijing2008.cn

I assumed that the overall rating was based on 3 pts for a Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze, which would mean that China is at 190 points and that the U.S. is at 191 points.

So, what gives?! Is there something offficial out there from the Olympic Comittee -- or a historical example -- of how the rankings are reached? If so, who's in the lead currently by how much?!