On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 12:49 PM, William T Goodall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> > On 27 Aug 2008, at 16:35, Nick Arnett wrote: > > > On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 5:36 PM, William T Goodall < > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >wrote: > > > >> So why are the Americans counting total medals instead of golds for > >> the olympics? > > > > > > Who is doing this counting? I just searched Google News and what I > > see are > > headlines like "US pleased with Olympic medal count." I really > > couldn't > > find any of the sort of complaining you allege. > > > From the Houston Chronicle > > http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5963934.html > > "BEIJING — As China celebrated the end of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by > gazing upon its pile of gold medals and dipping into Western culture > to proclaim, "We're No. 1," the United States contemplated the glories > of the socialist collective — and came up with the same answer. > Taking individual event finals into account, the host nation was the > runaway leader in gold medals, with 51 to 36 for the United States. > But the United States led in total medals with 110 to 100 for China, > 72 for Russia and 47 for Great Britain, host of the 2012 London Games. > On top of that, as the country that introduced and perfected the > concept of sabermetrical parsing, the U.S. came up with a way to > finish on top in gold medals. > > Counting its dominance in team sports in the final week of the Games, > "More individual U.S. athletes will carry home gold medals around > their neck than any other nation, if you want to count it that way," > said Jim Scherr, U.S. Olympic Committee CEO. > By that measure, the Americans routed the home team. Computing gold > medals presented to each athlete on teams in men's and women's > basketball, men's volleyball, women's rowing, beach volleyball and > relay teams in track and swimming, among others, the U.S. claimed 125 > total golds to 74 for China. In total medals awarded, the United > States scored 315 to 186 for China." > > > > > > > > >> And why the innuendo about Usain Bolt "as long as he's > >> clean"? > > > > > > I searched on that phrase and I got nothing. The only articles I > > find about > > this are some concerns that Jamaica only started a national drug- > > testing > > program after the start of the Olympics. Who's supposedly saying > > this? The > > news reports I'm reading say that the Jamaican team was tested > > repeatedly > > during the games. > > > > In short, cite please. > > > From the New York Times > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/sports/olympics/22longman.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin > > "As Records Fall, Suspicions of Doping Linger > > [...] > I want to believe that talent and hard work and determination are not > fossil fuels, that a human, unlike a car, does not need chemical > additives to run at peak efficiency. > > Bolt is likable, as playful as he is fast. His speed is breathtaking. > > He is the first man to win the Olympic 100 and 200 meters since Carl > Lewis in 1984, the first to set world records in both events at the > same Summer Games. > > But when I want to fully believe, I feel a twinge of skepticism. It > nags, like a strained hamstring." > > Plenty more in that vein in the American press. > > Cite Maru > > > > > > -- > William T Goodall > Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk > Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ > > "You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?" > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > Jere Longman's article is clearly an opinion piece. My impression from reading the article is that Longman is not complaining that a non-American won the gold in the 200 meters, but is a comment on doping in sports. Here is a link to the NYT article written when Bolt won the gold medal. It is in a different vein. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21bolt.html john _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
