In 2008, NBC took heat for placing the US above China in the medals tally. It used total number of medals (Gold, Silver. Bronze). The IOC only uses the Gold medals, and China had more of those.
I had suggested a weighted ranking here. I have applied similar weights for 2012 below. Russia, Australia and Japan would move up in the total rankings. Countries like Kazakhstan would move down.
Ask the French ladies soccer team how bummed they were to lose the bronze to Canada. And ask Jamaicans how proud they are not just of Usain Bolt but also the clean sweep of the Mens 200 sprint. Silver and Bronze deserve to be factored in the total tally.
There are others who would like to tally only events which measure actual athletic performance, not ones such as Gymnastics and Diving where there are judgment scores.
Given how elaborate scorings are for most of the individuals events, it is surprising the IOC does not adopt a more sophisticated method of ranking the total tally.
BTW, to really muddy up this discussion, the Gold Medals actually are 92.5% silver content!
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