Why is the US so far ahead in Olympiad medals?

[Anonymous]

The US has been dominant for many olympics now, and this year is no different. However given all the scandals involving other dominant countries, eg East Germany, Russia, I wonder does the US play cleanly? Why does the US medal more than other countries with large numbers of participants? Do we simply have more athletes in more events?

[Anonymous]

More athletes + more training budget = more success.

I'd be interested in seeing percentage of athletes who medal, vs straight numbers.

[Anonymous]

Doping.

[Anonymous]

Because Phelps pretty much took home 90% of the gold medals since there are a gizillion different swimming events.

It'll start to even out a bit more now that track & field (and there's a gizzillion events for that too) have started.

[Anonymous]

So is it really fair to call so and so the best in the world if they have a bigger budget? Has there ever been an attempt to level the playing field? I remedy the 80s Winter Olympics and loved that the US used amateurs against professional Russians and won, but the olympics have really gotten stale. It was cool to attend in '96 but there wasnt as much thrill seeing the US win, and it continues to slide especially with 24/7/365 sports TV. There are a few individual stories that are somewhat interesting, but NBC continues to focus primarily on the US. The CBC always seemed better at covering a broader range of countries not just their own.

[Anonymous]

Remedy -> remember

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is it really fair to call so and so the best in the world if they have a bigger budget? Has there ever been an attempt to level the playing field? I remedy the 80s Winter Olympics and loved that the US used amateurs against professional Russians and won, but the olympics have really gotten stale. It was cool to attend in '96 but there wasnt as much thrill seeing the US win, and it continues to slide especially with 24/7/365 sports TV. There are a few individual stories that are somewhat interesting, but NBC continues to focus primarily on the US. The CBC always seemed better at covering a broader range of countries not just their own.

According to NBC, there are only a few Olympic sports:

Beach volleyball, swimming, basketball, soccer, and the 100-meter dash.

[Anonymous]

Resources

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is it really fair to call so and so the best in the world if they have a bigger budget? Has there ever been an attempt to level the playing field? I remedy the 80s Winter Olympics and loved that the US used amateurs against professional Russians and won, but the olympics have really gotten stale. It was cool to attend in '96 but there wasnt as much thrill seeing the US win, and it continues to slide especially with 24/7/365 sports TV. There are a few individual stories that are somewhat interesting, but NBC continues to focus primarily on the US. The CBC always seemed better at covering a broader range of countries not just their own.

According to NBC, there are only a few Olympic sports:

Beach volleyball, swimming, basketball, soccer, and the 100-meter dash.

And women's gymnastics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More athletes + more training budget = more success.

I'd be interested in seeing percentage of athletes who medal, vs straight numbers.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Op again, I guess I meant leveling out the field in ways besides stamping out illegal doping, and separately, that maybe NBC is missing the more compelling sports stories in the lower rankings. How Greece is stacking up to its country rival.

[Anonymous]

More $ and resources for training. More personal incentive to win cause the commercials and companies will call them to represent them. That means more wealth. The wealth and fame makes them want to try harder.
Other countries? "I do this for my country." or "I love the sport."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because Phelps pretty much took home 90% of the gold medals since there are a gizillion different swimming events.

It'll start to even out a bit more now that track & field (and there's a gizzillion events for that too) have started.

Swimming, alone or maybe in conjunction with diving, accounts for around 10% of the medal events in this Olympiad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is it really fair to call so and so the best in the world if they have a bigger budget? Has there ever been an attempt to level the playing field? I remedy the 80s Winter Olympics and loved that the US used amateurs against professional Russians and won, but the olympics have really gotten stale. It was cool to attend in '96 but there wasnt as much thrill seeing the US win, and it continues to slide especially with 24/7/365 sports TV. There are a few individual stories that are somewhat interesting, but NBC continues to focus primarily on the US. The CBC always seemed better at covering a broader range of countries not just their own.

According to NBC, there are only a few Olympic sports:

Beach volleyball, swimming, basketball, soccer, and the 100-meter dash.

And women's gymnastics.

Oh, right. Totes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More $ and resources for training. More personal incentive to win cause the commercials and companies will call them to represent them. That means more wealth. The wealth and fame makes them want to try harder.
Other countries? "I do this for my country." or "I love the sport."

As to the personal incentive, your statements for US athletes maybe true for swimming, woman's gymnastics, woman's beach volleyball, and track and field. Admittedly, those disciplines have to account for around 1/3 of the medals.