how many more haters are going to whine about how the US ranks countries in the medal count?
for anyone who still thinks we only starting ranking this way in 2008, read it and weep
http://www.2008.nbcolympics.com/medals/2004standings/index.html
that's NBC's 2004 count from Athen's. as you can see, they were ranked by total medals, just as we'vwe always ranked them
it's called a medal count, not a gold medal count. to rank by gold alone would be like telling an athlete that their silver or bronze medals mean nothing. but they do.