Medal Count - What Matters Most?

[Gushawk]

Most golds or most total medals? I say most golds, or may be weighted point system (5 for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze).

[Jimmie Dimmick]

I'd say total. But the golds count that China put up in '08, and Canada has this year is really impressive.

[Tripper Harrison]

total medals/participants

[chafedHawk]

Gold. Final medal standings are always determined by gold.

[ABeardedDragon]

I like Capcom's Gold Medal Challenge '92 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capcom's_Gold_Medal_Challenge_'92) ranking system. 2 bronze = 1 silver, 2 silver=1 gold.. thus USA #1

[Uli Kunkel]

Most golds or most total medals? I say most golds, or may be weighted point system (5 for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze).

I'd say weighted total medals. Otherwise, it's saying that theoretically, a country that wins one or two gold medals and gets last in every other event performed better than a country who got 2nd in every event.

[MikeyJoe]

Yeah, I'd say some sort of weighted total. I still think the most medals is impressive, as even getting a bronze is good when you consider the number of entrants in some of these events, but some weight must be given to a country that dominates the gold medal count.

[Klink]

Gold, if your not first your last

[Lime]

Summer Olympics- most gold
Winter Olympics- most overall

The number of Winter sports is small enough that I wouldn't take Canada's 13-7-5 over the USA'S 9-14-13. At the last Summer Games, however, I thought China's 52-21-28 was better than the US's 36-38-36.