2008-06-09T07:10:27-07:00 Sports is a very important source of international prestige. It can be argued that its no accident that the United States' geopolitical hegemony has been accompanied by a "'sports hegemony'":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_count. In this light it is interesting to see if the alleged geopolitical decline of the United States will be accompanied by a decline of its dominance in the medal count of the Summer Olympics. Especially because they will be held in China, which some see as the future superpower. The medal count does not refer to the total amount of medals. The country with the most gold medals wins, silver and bronze are only important when the amount of golds for two countries is equal. In 2004, China trailed the US by "only 4":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Summer_Olympics_medal_count, while Russia was the only serious outsider, trailing by 9 gold medals. Picture: Wikipedia 2008-08-24T07:16:00-07:00 true 12481 What country will win the medal count in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing? 2008-08-27T23:00:51-07:00 85404 2008-06-16T06:01:40-07:00 10000 42318 China 10000 5847 2008-08-27T23:00:50-07:00 4000 CHI 2008-06-16T06:01:20-07:00 0 42317 The United States 0 3121 2008-08-27T23:00:51-07:00 4000 USA 2008-06-16T06:01:59-07:00 0 42319 Russia 0 515 2008-08-27T23:00:51-07:00 1000 RUS 2008-06-16T06:02:09-07:00 0 42320 Other 0 515 2008-08-27T23:00:51-07:00 1000 OTH