The Wardman Wire

The New York Times has an interactive map of Olympic Medal History , which is really very nifty, however…

Hilariously, the New York Times table is done on Total Medal Count - which leaves the USA at the top of the medal table in Beijing 2008, while China’s (and the Rest of the World’s) is done in order of number of Gold Medals - the official system in use in the Olympic Games since before I can remember. I think we should cut the USA a bit of slack on this one, since the map application was posted on August 4th - before the US started getting beaten by China in the official table.

There has been some controversy about this in Beijing, Rupert Cornwall in the Indy is slightly Yank-bashing (”all the non-sporting, as well as the sporting, indicators are pointing south for the US”) and Andy Bull over that the Guardian has gone all puritanical and obsessed about it.

The People’s Daily is celebrating a “Long March Up the Medal Table“, but not mentioning the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games It’s a Human Rights Knockout.

Anyway, here is the Olympic Medal status this morning as a map:

Or a ranking of Olympic Medals:

The most interesting feature is that it is linked to a complete database of medal winners going back to 1896, so I can tell you that in 1920 Belgium dominated the Olympic Games medals for archery at “Fixed and Moving Bird Targets “. I daren’t try and describe what that entailed, since there are many versions - comments are welcome.

Leaving aside the froth and fluff of Beijing Olympic Games Medal Tables to remember more important matters, here is the Chinese Army entry in the Olympic Opening Ceremony Formation Marching competition (the basic nature of the Chinese Government has not yet changed, despite all the economic success) :

And don’t miss - or forget for a minute (as the Chinese Government would have you do) - “Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Target Shooting in Tibet“.

These are more important questions than anything to do with the Olympic Games themselves, and must not be silenced by any Public Relations or Sports on Television. The Olympic Movement is supposed to stand for peace and harmony; we all need to do our bit to make that stick politically.

Wrapping Up

One of the most thoughtful comments I have seen about Olympic Games Media Management was on this blog back in the spring by David Keen: A Clash of Symbols - highly recommended.