The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

China second on the medal tally? Only in America

25th August, 2008
Advertisement
Editor
25th August, 2008
42
2289 Reads

The United States of America topped the medal tally in Beijing. That’s right, America is the best. What? You don’t believe me? You think China won with 51 gold medals to America’s 36? You’re wrong, and Americans will tell you so.

You see the great broadcaster, NBC decided it would be awesome if they used their own medal tally. A medal tally that ranks countries by total medals won, not by that silly thing called gold.

So that means America did beat China in their own country by 110 medals to 100.

The cynic in me says NBC knew this day would come. They knew that America would be challenged one day by the emerging communist superpower.

Changing the medal tally was a stroke of genius. Now Americans can feel better about themselves, while the rest of the world applauds China for their worthy place at the top.

We shouldn’t be surprised by this arrogance. After all, NBC were the ones that blackmailed China into scheduling the swimming finals in the morning to synch up with prime time viewing in the States.

Then, they had the nerve to show Access Hollywood while Phelps was swimming for his eighth gold medal. This was followed by a newsflash asking ‘Will Michael Phelps make Olympic history?’

And we complain about Channel Seven!

Advertisement

It’s not just changing official medal tallies that annoys me about American sport. If you flick on the television in the next few weeks for the U.S Open, don’t get too excited if a match enters a final set.

Americans for the last couple of years don’t believe in advantage sets. Therefore, you will never see a 21-19 fifth set like the famous Andy Roddick-Younes El Aynaoui marathon.

Instead, you can expect a lame tie-breaker to decide a Grand Slam match, just because Americans like to be different.

Love this article? Nominate it for The Roar’s Armchair Sports Writer Award. Or vote now for this week’s nominated articles.

close