Who's taking gold at London 2012? :D

[sammybrahh]

So guys, who's looking good for London 2012 around the world?
I know that over here in Australia we're hoping to come in the top 5 countries in the medal tally, but who can stop us?

[dragonsdemesne]

A friend of mine is going to London to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so I'm hoping Canada takes gold in at least that event  

[SnoWeb]

I bet that if you add the medals won by the EU countries, we'll be first in front of China and US.
I also believe that inside EU, France will beat Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Summer_Olympics_medal_table

[sammybrahh]

A friend of mine is going to London to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so I'm hoping Canada takes gold in at least that event

What's the name of your friend? Also, best of luck to him/her

[Selinea]

I think it's kind of unfair. I mean, one person can win several gold medals in stuff like swimming, but then eight to ten people only win one medal for team sports like basketball or soccer. I feel like when they're doing medal counts for countries, they should try to balance it out a bit more, or else you could just have five or six super talented individuals do well on multi-medal sports and end up placing very high.

Yeah, if you combine all the European countries...

Probably China or the US. They have the first and third most number of people, so more talent to choose from? And they're both industrialized and value the Olympics a lot...

[dragonsdemesne]

A friend of mine is going to London to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so I'm hoping Canada takes gold in at least that event

What's the name of your friend? Also, best of luck to him/her

His name is Jackson Payne, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I don't know what his chances of winning are, but he regularly wins gold in other international competitions, so I figure he's got a good shot.

[sammybrahh]

A friend of mine is going to London to compete in gymnastics at the Olympics this year, so I'm hoping Canada takes gold in at least that event

What's the name of your friend? Also, best of luck to him/her

His name is Jackson Payne, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I don't know what his chances of winning are, but he regularly wins gold in other international competitions, so I figure he's got a good shot.

I'll look out for him 

And Selinea I agree, but I guess the Olympics have traditionally been more focussed on individual achievement and small teams rather than bigger teams like basketball and hockey and that sort of thing.

[Selinea]

Yeah, the Greeks with their gymnasium and emphasis on physical health and individual achievement. But I mean, traditionally, the Olympics were only for men, and that's changed, so why not the medal count? I mean, physically, everybody who was on the basketball team gets a medal, so I don't understand why for the country's medal count, the medal count only goes up by one. And maybe only entire team medals should count towards the country's medal count. Like, if the entire team won first in gymnastics, then it counts towards the country's medal count, but if someone just won gold for the vault, then it doesn't go up? I don't know, I just feel like there needs to be a better way for countries as a whole to compete against each other...

[sammybrahh]

Fair enough. But then everyone would put too much emphasis on the team sports instead. It's a never ending cycle

[GeniugG]

Bold will take gold ;-)

[a7xkillsme]

Like, if the entire team won first in gymnastics, then it counts towards the country's medal count, but if someone just won gold for the vault, then it doesn't go up? I don't know, I just feel like there needs to be a better way for countries as a whole to compete against each other...

Well, you have to remember that for gymnastics each event there is a gold medal. Vault,Beam,Floor,Bars, (For womens) there is a possibility of 4 gold medals. Then there's "Overall gymnast" Which is a possibility for 1 gold medal, and then there's the Overall country (All 3 gymnasts put together) which is another chance for ONLY 1 gold medal, just like basketball.  The reason why basketball is only counted as 1 medal instead of 5 is because it's a team event compared to say the 100M dash even though we have a  USA 100m dash team (3 people) there still is only one winner. Also, how would you measure basketball? Would you give them 5 medals (For the starting 5) Or would you give them 15 medals (For the whole team)?

I apologize in advance for the grammar problems!:)

[neuroleptics]

Malaysia ......yet to get a gold though....... am hoping the first would come through badminton.....cycling too....gold hopeful duo