The Olympic Medal Count

UPDATE, August 16, 2008: Different measures of success in race for gold

China and the United States both consider themselves to be leading the medal count and it's likely to stay that way.

The U.S., virtually alone among nations, counts total medals won, while China, like the rest of the world focuses on golds. So for now, both can declare victory.

On Saturday, August 16, China led in gold medals 27-15, while the U.S. was ahead in tota medals, 48-41. In Athens, China finished with 32 golds -- second to the U.S.' 36 - and 63 total medals - third to the U.S. 102 and Russia's 92.

"I think China will win the golds and the US will win the overall medal count and it will be a nice compromise, leaving everyone feeling good about the Olympics and both nations able to say they won," says Terry Rhoads, of Zou Marketing, a Shanghai-based sports consultancy.

Leading up to the Games a lot of attention was paid to Project 119, an initiative by Chinese sports leaders to boost the medal count, with a clear goal of finishing atop the Beijing Games. There were 119 gold medals given out in the 2000 Games in the sports of track and field, swimming, rowing, sailing and canoe/kayak in Sydney. China won one of them. There is a long way to go in these events at these Games and so far they have had little impact on China's success.

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Which nation leads in the Olympic medal count?

As of early Monday morning, U.S. time, China and Google consider the country with the most gold medals to be the leader. That would be China.



However, the country with the most medals is the United States.

According to NBC, the U.S. leads.



I say the country with the most medals is the leader.

It's not enough to use China and Google's gold standard. That fails to give more weight to silver over bronze.

I wonder if China would list the leader differently if it had the most medals overall.

I'm sure Google would follow China's lead, whatever it would be.