"Why does the US order the medal table differently?" Topic

Every country, except the US, orders the medal table by number of gold medals won, with silver as a tie breaker, and then bronze.

In the US the medal table is by total medals won. Why?

Example.
Country A wins 2 golds, country B wins 3 bronze.
The official table would have A above B. In the US B is above A.

What is the "US medal table"? Wht is the "official table"? And where is your list of 'every other country" and links to their tables (I'd like to see them).

link

I am not a fan of either the total medal or the most gold approach. If you were hiring a legal defense team, would you want the one with the most wins or the lowest average consequences? If you were investing in a sports team, would you eant the one with the most wins, or the best earning to investment ratio? … or maybe the one you just really like and want to support?

My current favourite comparison for this to look into is medals sorted by country where the athlete (or team) trains, not the country they happen to be playing for. (An easy source of data for this would be appreciated.)

Another intersting one is medals per competition participated in by country. It's interesting because the clusters of similar performance often have radically different rationales behind them.

This method is used by the IOC

That is a factually correct statement that does not reflect the truth.

This method is currently used by the IOC on their webpage, designed by a marketing team.

The broader context doesn't even require reading another sentence, just finishing the one you quoted.

and most media outlets during the Olympic Games, but there is still no 'official' method.

We're the best. Deal with it. :-P

(Okay, China has one more gold right now— but they also cheated, and should have it stripped away. And yes, Xi also looks like Pooh, only without the "h". :-P)

So, either of the methods from the OP, #1 and #2 are the same.

Tierd medals does put Great Britian a lot lower than total medal count. And it pops Japan and Australia up. So the top ten are basically the top ten with minor shuffling.

WRT my earlier quetions

* Theree is no "official" (IOC) method.

* There is no "US method". It's the method used by the US NOC, which is a non-governmental, non-profit organization in the US. But not somehow part of the US. The most control I have over it as a US citizen is to vote for legislators and civil servants who regulate non=profits. I supposed I could get a say in something if I donated four or five times my annual salary to it.

* Because it is the US NOC's table, and the US NOC is managed by the IOC, that makes it as official a table as the IOC's or any other.

* I'm not going to bother listing all the countries' NOC that don't uaw the IOC table, use a different one, or none at all (since the IOC already does it).

Why not revert to the original Olympics in Greece.
One prize, for the winner. It's a laurel wreath. No bronze or silver.
Bring back chariot races.
And of course total nudity.

Why can a gymnast or swimmer win 6 medals, while a boxer can only win one?

And, of course take two weeks off from all wars.