It seems you have some kind of country based inferiority complex. Your arguments are just silly. USA is a big, rich and competitive country that values athletics. It is what it is.

NZ is a tiny country that won most of its medals in obscure "sports". It is what it is.

I didn't win any medals and neither did you (I assume).

No, surely it has to be more complex yet easily explained. I know, we cheat. American arrogance leads us to cheat.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Calm down dude. This is a discussion forum and we're having a discussion. I make points that I think are valid and you make points that you think are valid. We debate the points and both of us retrench to our established positions :-)

This thread started by the claim that USA does better than China at the Olympics and that is true. I counter with the how well NZ does compared to America and that too is true. We can argue real sports, fringe sports, unimportant sports and so on. You may value some sports more than others, and I will probably value other sports. It remains true however, that NZ won 18 medals in Olympic sports this time around and that equates to a pretty good tally for our population. America got more medals overall but didn't do as well considering their larger population.
I'm simply using the same (paraphrased) per captia claim that the OP used. Regardless of whether we won in fringe or unvalued sports in your opinion, we still did very well this go round and in the medal count, you guys didn't do as well relatively speaking.

I will concede that Kiwis have a real David and Goliath or "Mouse that roared" mentality, but it seems to me that America doesn't like being beaten either (based on all the points raised by Americans in this thread). Hell, no-one likes to lose.

My arguments are just as silly as the OP, because it's only very recently that China has given a crap about the Olympics, they are on the upward swing and that means the rest of us, including the US are own the way down.

If we're talking about getting bragging rights from Olympic medals (and at the end of the day it doesn't mean shit), then the smart money is grabbing the low hanging fruit of the finge or minor sports. That's where the easy wins will be made. Accept that others, like NZ, have gone after those easy fringe medals and have a crack at getting some of them for yourself. Rather than any of us arguing easy medals or per capita, the clever thing to do would be to fund the fringe sports, grab more medals and get all the bragging rights.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

At that level it comes down to drugs. Some countries look the other way--often while acting outraged when other countries are caught. When the British athletic establishment is telling its athletes not to publicly release their blood values, you would have to be an idiot not to figure out what is going on.

Thread title is "... big disparity in national olympic medal count?"

Two different arguments from OP there: comparing apples and oranges, maybe even post hoc ergo propter hoc

Or maybe just being facetious (hence the pink font).

1) I agree with most everything you said. Well put.

2) I just don't like the idea of discounting victories due to some kind of unique advantage (and i'm not talking PEDs). That's just how it is.

Lebron James wouldn't be so great if he were nine inches shorter. I could make some kind of bogus argument that my tennis achievements are on par with Roger Federer when I normalize for the amount of tennis I've played in my life vs. the amount of tennis he's played. Our military wouldn't be so dominant if we spent 80% less. New Zealand wouldn't be as good in Rugby without the native people. etc.

3) Yes, the "we're just good at sports" comment is silly...not sure if he was serious.

4) Lastly, I'm going to write my congressmen and ask for an initiative to throw millions of dollars at the USA Sprint Canoe Federation just so we can take that away from you. We don't even want the medal. We just don't want you to have it. :)

 

1) I agree with most everything you said. Well put.

2) I just don't like the idea of discounting victories due to some kind of unique advantage (and i'm not talking PEDs). That's just how it is.

Lebron James wouldn't be so great if he were nine inches shorter. I could make some kind of bogus argument that my tennis achievements are on par with Roger Federer when I normalize for the amount of tennis I've played in my life vs. the amount of tennis he's played. Our military wouldn't be so dominant if we spent 80% less. New Zealand wouldn't be as good in Rugby without the native people. etc.

3) Yes, the "we're just good at sports" comment is silly...not sure if he was serious.

4) Lastly, I'm going to write my congressmen and ask for an initiative to throw millions of dollars at the USA Sprint Canoe Federation just so we can take that away from you. We don't even want the medal. We just don't want you to have it. :)[/quote]

Re:

2) We've got some pretty good white guys on the All Blacks too, but yeah, the Maori and Pacific Island player (the ones born here) sure do have some skills. It's funny, it doesn't matter where players come from, when they pull on the black jersey, they immediately lift their game and truly do become "All Blacks".

4) Damn, I've woken you up to chasing easy/cheap medals. If NZ can win a canoe medal for $1.75 (or there abouts) then you won't need to spend millions, just what you have in the couch cushions :-)

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"