Changing China

China assured of first place in medals table

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

Clean sweep in the sprints — it’s the Jamaica Olympics

Congratulations to Jamaica for completing a clean sweep in the men’s and women’s sprints at the Beijing Games on Thursday.

Veronica Campbell-Brown surged to 200 metres victory on Thursday, making it four golds from the four individual events and shutting out the U.S. for the first time since they boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

According to Kerron Stewart, who finished third in the 200m to win a bronze medal to add to the silver she claimed in the 100m, the Jamaicans are taking over.

“We’ve been saying it but I don’t think anyone’s been taking us seriously. I guess they are now,” said the 24-year-old. ”When you put Jamaicans in an environment like this, only good things will happen.

“I think as a team we’re dominating the sport. The Americans have dominated (in the past), but this Olympics has been a Jamaican Olympics.”

Usain Bolt, who turned 22 on Thursday, set the tone with victory in the 100m on Saturday and followed it up with a second gold and a second world record in the 200 on Wednesday.

Have the British peaked too soon?

There was a joke going around the Olympics (until yesterday evening) about how none of Britain’s gold medals had been won by people standing up. Perfect for the British, no? We do like a nice sit down and a cup of tea after all.

Christine Ohuruogu ended that odd little sequence when she followed the sailors, swimmers, cyclists and rowers on to the podium to collect her gold for the women’s 400 metres.

Britain’s tally of 16 golds is their best since 1908 and puts them third in the medals table (as you’ll see if you glance to the right) ahead of the likes of Russia, Australia and Germany.

Kate Holton takes a look here at Britain’s Olympic renaissance, following the embarrassment of winning just one gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. Money has had a lot to do with it, with so many athletes now benefiting from National Lottery funding, but it has created a potential problem heading into the 2012 London Games.

Britain’s target for their home Games was always going to be fourth place in the medals table. In the wake of Beijing, and assuming they hang on to third, that would be a real anticlimax.

Just as The Times is speaking about a funding crisis, the British will now be faced with diverting a fair chunk of the Lottery money to sports in which they have no realistic chance of a medal — simply to avoid humiliation. As hosts, Britain will be automatically entered into all team events, which means fielding teams in sports like handball, water polo and others where there is not a great tradition in the country. Thank goodness softball and baseball won’t be there.

But with any luck the Beijing gold rush — or the Great Haul of China, as the British have it — will inspire the country to exceed expectations once again in London. Obviously second place is out of the question, but holding on to third, and finishing ahead of Australia especially, should offer mighty levels of motivation.

Fraser makes it double delight for Jamaica

Shelly-Ann Fraser roared clear of the pack to win the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100 metres and complete a sprint double for Jamaica.

Fraser finished ahead of Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, who dead-heated for silver in a Jamaican clean sweep at the Bird’s Nest on Sunday.

It followed Usain Bolt’s extraordinary victory in the men’s 100 metres on Saturday and confirmed Jamaica as the world’s sprint capital.

Was it all down to Yam power again?

Or is there some other reason why Jamaica is so good? Let us know in the comments.

PHOTO: Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica celebrates winning the women’s 100m final of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 17, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn

Can swimming ever be a mass spectator sport?

The American swimming great was still wet from winning his unprecedented eighth gold when he dedicated his victory to — swimming.

At his press conference Michael Phelps did it again, telling awed journalists that the seven new world records, 14 career golds and all the sweat that went into attaining them, would serve “my goal of raising the sport of swimming in the U.S. as high as it can go.”

And with Phelps’s appealing modesty, you could believe that the success was not about the multi-million dollar wealth that will come his way, the appearances on television chat shows and being recognised in the streets of his hometown Baltimore.

But how realistic is it that swimming can ever be a mass audience sport? Can you entice spectators week in and week out to watch eight people trudging along a 50 metre rectangle of water, propelling themselves with a variety of strokes and travelling for various differences?

You can’t see the swimmers faces as they exert themselves and the competitors are barely aware of what their opponents are doing. When the race ends the swimmers peer at the scoreboard to see which of them has won. There are no dramatic penalty shoot-outs, extra-times or play-offs.

Nor are the magnificently-fit and sleekly-shaped swimmers given to grand displays of emotion in triumph. A shake of the fist in the air, a few tears on the podium and then it’s back to the relentless grind of training.

Phelps out on his own with eighth gold medal — your views

Michael Phelps completed his record-breaking haul of eight gold medals at one Games on Sunday, beating fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz’s seven from Munich in 1972.

This one was never in much doubt — in stark contrast to the ‘fingernail’ win in yesterday’s butterfly — as he and his American team won the 4 x 100 metres medley relay comfortably. It took his overall tally to 14 from two Games.

He was already the athlete with most Olympic gold medals; now he has overtaken Spitz’s record too.

Not everyone may regard him as the greatest Olympian ever, but this was surely the greatest single feat at one Games.

What do you think?

Heroic Phelps equals Spitz record (Update x2)

Michael Phelps joined Mark Spitz at the highest peak of Olympic achievement on Saturday when his final, desperate lunge for the board brought him victory in the 100m butterfly by the thinnest possible margin and gave him his seventh gold medal at these Games — after an official protest from Serbia was rejected.

Milorad Cavic of Serbia appeared to have the gold tied up until Phelps’s perfect timing saw him home by one hundredth of a second. That is as precise as the timekeeping goes but if anything it looked less than that and shortly after the race Serbia protested the result.

That was rejected a few minutes later, confirming the seventh gold for Phelps.

 ”I actually thought when I did take that half stroke I thought I had lost the race right there, but I guess that was the difference in the end,” Phelps told reporters after the race but before the protest was launched.

“The last two Olympics I have been able to nail my finishes, I’m happy and at a loss for words but excited.”

Spitz is the only other man to have achieved the feat of seven golds at a single Games, back in Munich in 1972. Phelps will go clear of him on Sunday if, as expected, he joins his American team mates in winning the 4×100 medley relay.

Michael Phelps — a modest American hero

If anyone at this Games could be forgiven for being a little bit conceited, a touch arrogant or slightly dismissive of his opponents then it surely would be Michael Phelps. Six races, six gold medals, six world records — it must be hard to keep your feet on the ground.

The reality is that having watched Phelps close-up this week, both poolside and in the press conference room, there isn’t the slightest whiff of arrogance about him. Even when provoked, by a reporter’s question about doping for example, he remains calm and respectful giving a sensible answer.

More importantly he remains respectful to his fellow athletes, in his own, rather reserved way.

I asked Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who has finished behind Phelps on three occasions in these Games, what Phelps had said to him after the race and he smiled, “He just said ‘good race’.”

The 12-time gold medallist has celebrated his triumphs in a restrained manner — no whooping, no tears, no dancing poolside — just that one, genuine, roar of delight after the thrilling 4×100 relay win.

Asked about becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time, Phelps said that sounded “pretty neat”. That was refreshing because it managed to avoid sounding arrogant or falsely modest.

Phelps’s demeanour does reflect a culture of swimming that tends to discourage excessive bravado. The competitors spend a lot of time in training camps together and compete against each other in the annual world championships and the familiarity breeds respect.

Are we taking things too far in this pursuit of excellence?

Citius, Altius, Fortius or Faster, Higher, Stronger goes the Olympic motto, but is world sport pushing things a bit too hard?

I’m talking about the way young children are chosen at an early age and groomed for success, often at the expense of their childhood and their education.

In the West, it is often parents who drive their children to achieve what they could not, and there are plenty of burnout stories in sports like tennis to prove the point.

In China, it is the state which selects children at a young age in its relentless pursuit of Olympic success.

Australia’s Briony Cole, who win silver in the women’s 10m synchronised diving, talked of how the Chinese dominance of the sport had created a mentality of China against the Rest of the World among the athletes, and how hard it was to compete.

“They start when they are five … and that’s all they do, they just dive, dive, dive, it’s so different to what we do in Australia,” she said at a news conference this week.

I watched the diving, and frankly it showed. The Chinese pair, Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin, look like winners from their first dive. Afterwards I discovered that Chen was just 15, and Wang turned 16 the day before the final — but was not allowed to celebrate her birthday by her disciplined team.

Michael Phelps: the joy of six

Six races, six world records and six gold medals: there really is no stopping Michael Phelps at these Games.

The man from Baltimore finished over a second ahead of his closest rival, Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, in the men’s 200 metres individual medley on Friday to close to within one of Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Ryan Lochte, pictured above, was third.

Phelps is targeting eight golds in Beijing and who would now bet against him?

Continuing the theme of Phelps becoming an independent sovereign nation (see yesterday’s post) this latest success would be enough to put him level in the medals table with South Korea and Italy (if you include the relays) and behind only China, the U.S. and Germany.

Not bad for one man and his goggles.