There’s been a lively discussion, here and elsewhere, about which version of the medals table is a better way of ranking countries’ achievements at the Olympics.

Reuters goes with the “gold standard”, if you like, which has put China out in front almost from the start. Other, mainly American outlets go with the “total number of medals” tally that puts the U.S. on top.

It’s been interesting to hear so many different points of view, and suggestions for different, weighted systems of formatting the table (see the original piece here).

A lot of people like the idea of different points for gold, silver and bronze, while I’ve enjoyed the notion of combining that weighting system with a per capita bias. That was suggested to me by Greg Stutchbury, a colleague from New Zealand, and it worked out that top of the medals table would be New Zealand. Strange, that.

Still, we’re sticking with the gold standard and on that basis I can tell you that China are now assured of first place. Greg has done the maths and as of this morning the U.S. can no longer catch the hosts. There are still enough medals up for grabs, but the U.S. are not in contention in enough of the events to make up the ground (see the table to the right of this page for the up-to-date tally).

So congratulations China. It is a mighty achievement, given that they did not win a single Olympic gold medal until 1984. It just shows what a massive population and absolute dedication to a goal can achieve.

PHOTO: Zhang Yining of China kisses her gold medal after defeating compatriot Wang Nan in the women’s singles table tennis final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 22, 2008. REUTERS/Joe Chan

Rickey Rogers writes: A combination photograph as Germans Christian Gille and Thomasz Wylenzek crash into a buoy after winning silver in the C2 1000 m final, gets the vote of Picture of the Day.

What seems like good fun as one team member drags another into the water, suddenly appears to be a real-life drama judging by their situation as they are saved by a rescue boat.

The rowers are completely exhausted by their efforts in the race and can’t right their canoe and climb back in on their own.

The original caption reads: In this combination photograph Christian Gille and Thomasz Wylenzek of Germany crash into a buoy and then are rescued by race officials after winning silver in the final of the double canoe C2 1000m event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside/Hans Deryk (CHINA)

As per yesterday, feel free to send in suggested captions.

Jamaica’s sprinters have pulled off a remarkable trick at the Beijing Games by making running look like the most enjoyable thing you can do standing up.

While speedsters from other nations have looked tense on the track at the Bird’s Nest, Usain Bolt and the women who swept the medals in the 100 metres have clearly been enjoying themselves.

Bolt in particular had the look about him of a Brazilian footballer in the 1970s, toying with the opposition, or West Indies cricketer Viv Richards clattering all comers around the ground.

Here’s what Tyson Gay said about Bolt’s 100m victory celebrations in an interview in Time magazine:

The guy is young. And he’s always joking, playing, never taking anything too seriously. You’ve gotta have fun. Obviously, people have just never seen anyone win by such a margin, or celebrate like that in the 100.

Who wouldn’t want to emulate runners like Bolt, whatever Jacques Rogge might think? We should therefore expect a whole new generation of Jamaican runners to come through. My colleague Simon Evans takes a closer look at that prospect here.

PHOTO: Usain Bolt celebrates winning the men’s 200m final, August 20, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Blake

When I told my editors I wanted to cover synchronised swimming at the Olympics they laughed. When I said it again they looked slightly embarrassed, like I was pushing a bad joke too far.

I had to ask several more times but I finally convinced them and two weeks later, I was watching two sequin-strewn contenders splash around in perfect union to an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black.

I have been fascinated by what is probably the Olympics’ most mocked and maligned sport since I first stumbled across it when channel flipping during a lazy summer day in the eighties.

Even in the decade that taste forgot it seemed bizarre but anyone who doubts the athleticism involved should try holding their breath upside down, underwater, while doing leg kicks and manoeuvring across the pool. Then come up with a smile on your face.

The swimmers train up to 10 hours a day, six days a week, in gymnastics, weights, dance, and of course swimming. They also have to learn how to paint gelatine on to their hair to stop it slipping out of place, perfect the art of applying waterproof makeup and learn to smile, smile, smile even when in lung-busting agony.

Then there is the baffling question of where it came from. Other esoteric Olympic events — rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining, BMX — have obvious sporting roots. You can imagine the elite athletes as kids who liked cartwheels and ribbons, jumping up and down or biking like crazy.

But coordinated leg kicks in the pool? According to the U.S. synchro Web site it all began as ‘water ballet’, performed in a glass tank at the New York Hippodrome.

The Olympics hardly seems a logical next step.

Having finally watched the swimmers’ almost miraculous coordination live and interviewed several of the athletes, none of it makes any more sense to me than it did two decades ago.

I’m as in awe of their abilities as I am baffled by the sport they have chosen to dedicate their lives to. But if I’m allowed back to another Olympics, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

This is one of those pictures that really makes you wish we had a caption competition.

Hang on a minute … Why don’t we have a caption competition just for once? No prizes, I’m afraid, but if you feel inspired send in your ideas in the comments. The serious caption we sent out with the pic is below, but I’m sure you can do better…

PHOTO: David Svoboda of Czech Republic fails a jump on horse HunHun during the men’s riding show jumping event of the modern pentathlon competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 21, 2008. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

The more I watch the women’s gymnastics competitions the more I’m torn between amazement at the athleticism on display and horror at what can seem at times like cruel and unusual punishment.

Most elite athletes put themselves through gruelling training regimes — not to mention the mental toll that the stress of competition must take — but few are quite so young as the women’s gymnasts

The gymnastics federation states that competitors must turn 16 in an Olympic year but even assuming that rule has been steadfastly adhered to it still means they are putting their bodies through intensive training by 10 or 12.

Most of the gymnasts I’ve spoken to say they’re having a great time and just being in the competition and giving their best is what matters.

Nadia Comaneci, who wowed the world with a perfect 10 at the 1976 Games when she was just 14, said that she came through the world of high-stress competition none the worse for wear. But she had five gold medals to her name.

When I saw China’s Cheng Fei, who is 20, face reporters with eyes puffy from crying after her gold medal hopes were ruined by split-second mistakes in her performance, I was less sure the gymnasts out there were having the time of their lives.

For every medal winner there is another gymnast crumpled in tears in her coach’s arms.

PHOTO: Cheng Fei of China competes in the gymnastics women’s beam final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

China had just lost to the U.S. but even though their team was out the crowd’s cheering, jeering, floor stomping and plastic stick drumming was just warming up on a 14-hour day of men’s volleyball play.

One match later, the Chinese fans were wildly rooting for Egypt over Russia.

“Is it politics? I don’t think so,” said one baffled Egyptian player. But he had no better ideas. 

Later the crowd roared for Germany over Serbia and every time Japan tossed a ball in the air to serve against Venezuela that evening, the still largely Chinese crowd of 7,500 booed and stomped until the stadium vibrated.

It’s not just about volleyball, or about that day, Aug. 16. Chinese spectators loudly cheered both Germany and Italy as they faced Japan in fencing finals earlier in the Olympics. In men’s badminton, masses of local fans booed a small group of Americans who chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!”.

Is it pure adolescent fun? Or do Chinese “add oil”, in the words of the official chant, to underdogs like Egypt just because they want to watch a good fight?

Fans say they choose more carefully. Western Europe often comes out ahead.

“At the Germany-Serbia volleyball match, you’d find that there are people who have studied German or attended school in Germany and come back,” said 36-year-old volleyball spectator Li Jing.

PHOTO: China fans cheer for their team during their Group B men’s basketball game against the U.S. at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 10, 2008. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Remember the Black Power salutes from the podium in Mexico 1968?

The 2008 Beijing Olympics medal ceremonies might not produce anything to match that, but there has been no shortage of drama so far.

In the full emotional spectrum, we have had:

Anger - Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian stormed off the podium to dump his bronze on the mat in a protest against referees.

Tragedy - German weightlifter Matthias Steiner promised his dying wife he would honour her in Beijing, and clutched his gold next to a photo of her.

Confusion - Gymnastics fans still had their calculators out to decipher how American Nastia Liukin came second to China’s He Kexin after their identical score of 16.725 was decided by a convoluted tiebreak system.

Joy - Russia’s flamboyant pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva was bouncing up-and-down almost as much as she did for her world-record jump when she took her gold prize.

Bitterness - Britain’s rowing quad were downcast and crying after the three-times world champions took dreaded silver instead of top spot.

Pain - Ouch! Turkey’s greco-roman wrestler Nazmi Avluca had an ice-pack on his knee and needed assistance on and off the podium to collect his bronze.

Friendship - Georgian and Russian shooters and medal-winners embraced despite their nations’ conflict. South and North Korean shooters shook hands too, though the latter was stripped of medals for doping.

Fortunately for the Chinese government, no medal winners have yet invoked the political spirit of Mexico to flash a “T” for Tibet.

With only a few days to go before the end, what have been your most moving medal moments in Beijing, or elsewhere in Olympic history?

PHOTO: Gold medallist Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia cries during the women’s pole vault medal ceremony of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, chided Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to his rivals after his sprint double at the Beijing Games.

Maybe it’s a generational thing but I doubt if a single person lucky enough to be in the Bird’s Nest on for his 200 metres gold and world record on Wednesday, or when he won his 100 metres in such audacious style, would agree.

“I think he should show more respect, shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones. Not making gestures like the one he made in the 100 metres,” Rogge said on Thursday. “He still has to mature. I would love him to show more respect to his competitors. He should learn that he should shake hands with competitors.”

We have discussed on the blog the rights and wrongs of the Jamaican’s “premature” celebrations as he crossed the line in the 100 — creating one of the iconic images of the Games.

But surely nobody could point the finger about the 200. Bolt was deadly serious about not only completing the sprint double but also taking Michael Johnson’s world record, which he did by running right through the line to clock 19.30 seconds.

His opponents were so far behind he would have stiffened up if he had waited around to shake hands and there were 90,000 people, most of them with cameras, who wanted a closer look at their new hero.

Bolt obliged perfectly, smiling, laughing, dancing and posing — to the delight of the fans who repaid the compliment by singing “happy birthday” ahead of him turning 22 today.

Bolt then spent almost an hour talking patiently to TV crews, before facing the hysterical written press in the mixed zone, then sitting down and going over it all again in the news conference.

He earned respect from everyone who saw him, including finalist Kim Collins who said: “He gave us a brutal ass-kicking.”

Rogge wants him to mature, and he is a year older today than when he won the 200, but for the next generation of athletics fans that the sport is desperate to attract, Bolt is pure gold and the officials should recognise and embrace that.

PHOTO: (TOP): Bolt celebrates gold and a world record in the 200m. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

PHOTO (BOTTOM): Bolt crosses the finish line to win the 200m. REUTERS/Hans Deryk

Is there a more violent Olympic sport than water polo? Down at the Yingdong Natatorium it looked like the last scene of “Jaws” with all that water churning frenetically.

It looks tough enough on the surface. Lord knows what is happening under the water. This is a contact sport with a vengeance.

The exclusion rules — a free throw is granted and the offender excluded for 20 seconds — say it all. Exclusion fouls include intentionally splashing water in an opponent’s face, kicking or striking them, using foul language to the referee and “committing an act of brutality”.

The first casualty when I watched it the other day was Italy’s Elisa Casanova in a bruising encounter with China. “After two minutes, Elisa took a hit to her nose and could not play for the rest of the match,” said coach Mauro Maugeri.

The encounter between Australia and the United States was a classic no-holds barred contest with the Americans squeaking home narrow 9-8 winners in the last minute. Australia’s Emma Knox was the first to admit “it does get pretty rough. Pretty much whatever you can get away with that the referee can’t see, you get away with.”

PHOTO: Anett Timea Gyore of Hungary (R) fights for the ball with Alette Sijbring (L) of the Netherlands during their women’s semi-final water polo match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 19, 2008. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh