# Olympics: Why have Russia and the USA won so few medals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 16, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073 "2004-08-16T11:55:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/1 "2004-08-16T11:55:41Z")
Russia and the USA typically collect lots of medals. The [medal tally in Athens](http://smh.com.au/olympics/medaltally/) is not very impressive thus far. They have only one gold each at this point (day 3). Any theories? Pehaps they will kick into action a bit later. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/2 "2004-08-16T12:05:40Z")
We hear you Aussies gloating! Just wait till NZ kicks in and gets it’s tradional 3 or 4 😃 Well done Aussies! You are having a good one so far 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![InvidiousCourgette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@InvidiousCourgette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InvidiousCourgette)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/3 "2004-08-16T12:31:54Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > We hear you Aussies gloating! Just wait till NZ kicks in and gets it’s tradional 3 or 4 😃 > > Well done Aussies! You are having a good one so far 🙂 Yay! Just you wait until the 400m underwater basket weaving starts\*. Then we Brits will show the rest of the world we still rule! \*Competion © **The\_Llama** ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/4 "2004-08-16T13:46:49Z")
Track & Field hasn’t started yet. We don’t exactly kill in mixed-doubles table tennis. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/5 "2004-08-16T18:11:25Z")
Several medals have been awarded in air rifle and weightlifting events – not high points for the USA. It is disappointing that our baseball team failed to qualify, though. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/6 "2004-08-16T18:18:36Z")
I guess the thread title should read “ **gold** medals”, since, by my count, the US and Australia have 12 medals total, each (as does China). Now, if you weight the G/S/B breakdown (gold=3pts, silver=2, bronze=1), then the current count looks like this: China: 31 Australia: 26 USA: 22 Japan: 15 France: 13 Russia: 13 Italy: 11 The USA’s numbers will increase soon (though Russia, now factionalized, is no longer quite the powerhouse they were during the Cold War) ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/7 "2004-08-16T22:25:59Z")
Russia and USA have both lost basket ball games to small nations!! Russias women to Australia and the USA to Puerto Rico. The other ‘superpower’ China is doing well and the USA is starting to get going, maybe Russia will pick up a bunch in the athletics. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympics-why-have-russia-and-the-usa-won-so-few-medals/260073/8 "2004-08-16T22:37:33Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Track & Field hasn’t started yet. We don’t exactly kill in mixed-doubles table tennis. This is exactly why. Wait till the middle of this week when not only T&F starts, but other more legitimate (IMO) events start. GO USA! (except the b-ball team, f\*\*\* Iverson)