2004 Year in Review

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Olympic Reflections

We won again! That would be the total medal count (USA 103 medals) which really isn't a competition, but its reassuring to know where we stand in the world. Russia (92 medals) came in second - a pretty good showing for a large, but economically and socially depressed nation. China (63 medals) came in third which seems about right for the world's most populous nation that has really only just recently taken much interest in international sporting events.

On the other side of the ledger you wonder why the world's second most populous nation, India, only managed 1 medal and smaller population countries like Australia (49 medals) and Cuba (27 medals) seem to excel. Germany (48 medals) had the highest medal count in Europe, but if you add France (33), Italy (32), Britain (30) and the Netherlands (22) you find a smaller population than the USA, but more total medals (165). Brazil led South American nations with only 10 medals and Ethiopia and Kenya each had 7 medals and led the way for African nations. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, but only managed 2 medals. Iran had the most medals of any Middle Eastern nation with 6 and Israel won 2 including its first gold medal ever.

My questions are: did we really win and what did I learn? I went to various websites to get a balanced view and I particularly enjoyed this one. It was produced by Canadian Jonathan Crowe and glorifies the losers of the Olympics - that would be those folks who came in last place. His list of nations shows the host country Greece with the most last place finishes followed by Australia, Poland, USA, Egypt and China. I say "glorify" because Mr. Crowe states that even these last place finishers can out run, out jump, out score 99.9% of the world's population in their event and they put in the same effort as the eventual champion.

Sporting event champions (and losers) dedicate their lives to the competition. Cael Sanderson the U.S. Olympic wrestling gold medalist purportedly had written these 3 goals when he was in elementary school: 1 - be a good student, 2 - be a good person, 3 - win an Olympic gold medal. I daresay this undefeated NCAA college wrestler from Iowa State has done this. The athlete needs motivation to prove he is the best, but also a support system that will allow him/her to train and to continuously compete and improve. I guess you need a healthy person with government/societal/infrastructure and family support.

I also learned we (the USA) are not so good at team events except if we're women. We can take 4 of the fastest men on the planet and still lose the 4 X 100 meter relay. We can take arguably the most talented men on the basketball planet and lose to almost everyone. I'm thinking the Chicago Bulls should just hire the Argentine national team and we'd make a better than normal showing in the NBA. Take immensely popular sports like soccer and ping pong and we don't even show up, again with the exception of our women. Looks like gender and racial equality has worked to our benefit. I guess we did win. And fencing is lot more interesting when there is some blood.

by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist
September 18, 2004