What country will win the medal count in the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing?
Question closing
August 24, 2008 @ 07:16am PDT
Background information
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’. 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, while Russia was the only serious outsider, trailing by 9 gold medals.
Picture: Wikipedia