(08-19-2016, 12:12 AM)Qvait Wrote:

(08-18-2016, 10:10 PM)RandomGuy199 Wrote: Why the hell does the USA win so much? Geez...

We're the Olympics juggernaut.

No your the third most populated country in the world and you have the largest economy in the world.

(08-20-2016, 08:01 PM)Punchwood Wrote:

(08-19-2016, 12:12 AM)Qvait Wrote:

(08-18-2016, 10:10 PM)RandomGuy199 Wrote: Why the hell does the USA win so much? Geez...

We're the Olympics juggernaut.

No your the third most populated country in the world and you have the largest economy in the world.

Does it really make the statement any less true? Russia has half our population and the 1/9th of our GDP yet they usually do just as well.

Come on GB! Our best away Olympic games ever, we've beat 2012's sliver medal tally and three more medals and we beat 2012's total medal count!

(08-20-2016, 08:03 PM)Resentine Wrote: Does it really make the statement any less true? Russia has half our population and the 1/9th of our GDP yet they usually do just as well.

Have you been living under a rock? Russia does well because it cheats, at state level. Look at the top 10 in the medal table right now They all happen to be developed nations, rich nations and highly populated nations

(08-20-2016, 08:09 PM)Punchwood Wrote:

(08-20-2016, 08:03 PM)Resentine Wrote: Does it really make the statement any less true? Russia has half our population and the 1/9th of our GDP yet they usually do just as well.

Have you been living under a rock? Russia does well because it cheats, at state level. Look at the top 10 in the medal table right now They all happen to be developed nations, rich nations and highly populated nations

And Russia's not alone in it's cheating. There have been many accounts of all sorts of medal winners cheating, ever since the Olympics started. My bet with all of us is : We all cheat. At least a good majority of the countries on top do. we just haven't been caught yet. Or we've just been willingly ignored. Russia's just the biggest "bust" in a long time, which is why it was all over the news.

The IOC is just as corrupt as their pals in FIFA, I mean, hell, they let Rio keep the Olympics despite the political crisis, the crime rate, the protests in the streets. They honestly don't care. They just like all the money that keeps rolling in from the sponsors.

http://time.com/4446989/rio-2016-olympic...rug-cheat/

Maybe it is the GDP stuff, maybe that's why we can afford to do it. But honestly, this last year has made me rather annoyed about international sports. It needs serious reform that it won't get, at least not without serious pushing.

Still, either way, none of what you said changes the term "Olympic Juggernaut". Sure, The US has one of the largest populations in the world, sure it does have the largest economy. None of that disagrees with the fact that the US is an Olympic Juggernaut. It just says we're a world juggernaut. Some could say we're a "Superpower", but, that term is just so 1980's.

(08-20-2016, 08:01 PM)Punchwood Wrote:

(08-19-2016, 12:12 AM)Qvait Wrote:

(08-18-2016, 10:10 PM)RandomGuy199 Wrote: Why the hell does the USA win so much? Geez...

We're the Olympics juggernaut.

No your the third most populated country in the world and you have the largest economy in the world.

The United States is the first country to win 1,000 gold medals. China and India are the two most populated countries in the world, and the U.S. does better than them.

(08-20-2016, 09:31 PM)Resentine Wrote:

(08-20-2016, 08:09 PM)Punchwood Wrote: Have you been living under a rock? Russia does well because it cheats, at state level. Look at the top 10 in the medal table right now They all happen to be developed nations, rich nations and highly populated nations

And Russia's not alone in it's cheating. There have been many accounts of all sorts of medal winners cheating, ever since the Olympics started. My bet with all of us is : We all cheat. At least a good majority of the countries on top do. we just haven't been caught yet. Or we've just been willingly ignored. Russia's just the biggest "bust" in a long time, which is why it was all over the news.  

The IOC is just as corrupt as their pals in FIFA, I mean, hell, they let Rio keep the Olympics despite the political crisis, the crime rate, the protests in the streets. They honestly don't care. They just like all the money that keeps rolling in from the sponsors.

http://time.com/4446989/rio-2016-olympic...rug-cheat/

Maybe it is the GDP stuff, maybe that's why we can afford to do it. But honestly, this last year has made me rather annoyed about international sports. It needs serious reform that it won't get, at least not without serious pushing.

Still, either way, none of what you said changes the term "Olympic Juggernaut". Sure, The US has one of the largest populations in the world, sure it does have the largest economy. None of that disagrees with the fact that the US is an Olympic Juggernaut. It just says we're a world juggernaut. Some could say we're a "Superpower", but, that term is just so 1980's.

On one hand, I agree that maybe there's more than meets the eye in regards to cheating; as my dad says, "the doper will always be a step ahead of the law, as he is always looking for new ways to game the system. The law has to adapt to the doper in order to catch him".

On the other hand, it is clear that the IOC does care at least a little bit. They didn't ban the entire Russian team, but did punish former and new offenders severely and banned a great deal of them (it was a bit messy in practice, but I think the decision was correct). If they didn't care, they would have let the Russians in, drugs or not, considering how many things they end up winning. Being a bit stupid and not understanding your mistakes is not the same as being corrupt; unlike FIFA, whose leadership was actively embezzling money, taking bribes at every turn, and hiding funds in tax havens, the IOC itself is not corrupt.

Also, we all have to recognize that, after all of the things that had been said about it, that it was a poverty stricken, polluted, Zika infested (in the time of year where mosquito levels are the lowest), crime riddled and corrupt wasteland, Brazil did manage to pull it off in the end.

@Punchwood: I think the main factor would be public support for the athletes, training facilities, things like that. So, though economic power and population do help wonders with that, those are not the only thing to it. After all, countries such as Burundi, Fiji, Tajikistan, and Niger have won medals. My own country, Venezuela, won three medals; our best ever performance at the Olympics, in the worst ever economic crisis the country has suffered.



PD: For a little footnote, I always thought before the games that cancelling them was a stupid idea. Besides the fact that Brazil has organized this kind of events before (Panamerican Games, Confederations Cup, the World Cup...), imagine if you had paid lots of taxes and they were used to build a stadium that wasn't used in the end because the event was moved to other country two months before it was due to start. I would be very, very pissed. Multiply that by millions of Brazilians, half of them already furious with the government. You know what would happen.

The US should be taken out of the games to give other nations a chance

(08-21-2016, 12:33 AM)Zak6858 Wrote: The US should be taken out of the games to give other nations a chance

You can't hear it, but I'm laughing. Hehehe.

(08-21-2016, 12:40 AM)Qvait Wrote:

(08-21-2016, 12:33 AM)Zak6858 Wrote: The US should be taken out of the games to give other nations a chance

You can't hear it, but I'm laughing. Hehehe.

I knew some American would pounce after I said that