The real Olympics medal count

Well the Olympics have come and gone for another four years and, surprise surprise, the United States finished first again, and China second.  And of course Australia once again showed their sporting superiority over New Zealand (which, after all, is all that really matters, especially when Great Britain has kicked your butt).

I've included the official top 10 ranked countries below:



# Republic of Korea is South Korea

But are these countries really the best Olympic nations? Does the medal tally truly reflect the sporting worth of a Country?

I think it's time to put some parity back into the medal count, and I did more research than I usually care to do for my blog on the matter. But before I tell you which nations are truly the best...

Some interesting "facts" I discovered

What's in an anthem?

With the Olympics on pretty much all day and night, you may have heard the occasional National Anthem being played (except perhaps the Australian one).

Fortunately Australia's national anthem isn't all that good, so you're not missing out on much if you haven't heard it. Our old anthem was much better than the current one anyway. It was about a guy who stole a sheep. The new one has Australia "girt" by sea.

And before you ask, yes, "girt" is a real word.  It means "to encircle", though I prefer the Urban Dictionary definition - "to leave quickly out of necessity".  Somehow that seems to fit.

But some anthems actually sound good - well the music anyway. Who knows what the words are. Well, dear reader, I do - some of them at least. And boy, do they make girt look good.

Speaking of looking good ...

This image and a few more can be found at Digital Spy.