There has to be some examination, I feel, of the obsessive way they’ve gone about achieving this, though. Those girls were NOT all 16!!

On the topic of international flavour, home support and petty restrictions seem to have removed a lot of colour from the events I’ve seen on TV so far. Then again, that might just be a by-product of CCTV’s broadcasts.

They do have numerous channels involved it seems…USA, CNBC, MSNBC, etc. I will say that I’ve seen more features and commentary on non-US athletes on NBC than I’ve seen on non-Chinese athletes by CCTV, but that’s hardly saying a lot.

i used to love the olympics for the very fact that i could actually see athletes from other countries, playing sports i could barely grasp and never played. these days, i can’t even bear to turn the TV on.

Bah! You’re just bitter about Yorktown plus as a foreigner you can’t possibly understand US culture and, for that matter, you’ve just insulted 300 million Americans with your insensitive remarks aimed at reminding us of our century (and a half) of humiliation under British rule without giving credit for our peaceful rise in the 19th century.

Wow. It can be fun to be a fenqing.

And yes, for any actual literal-minded fenqing lurkers, I’m joking.

I think the fact that, in living memory, America has just about always been either first or second in the medals table, and – since the collapse of the Soviet Union – always first, is pretty damned “dominant”. And consistently, over a long period of time, too.

China wants that Olympic medals No 1 spot, at least partly because it is emblematic of her wider ambitions to one day displace America as the world’s leading economic power. I think the Chinese would have been just a tad less excited about this whole Olympic adventure if the CIS had somehow managed to top the medal table again last time out. I mean, really, where is the competition there? (They were probably pissed off about that Indian win, though!)

Mind you, it ain’t over yet. We’re barely a third of the way in, and I suspect America’s going to do better in the remaining events.

Of course, I’m actually rooting for China on this one. Comeuppance time, Yankee oppressors!

Yeah, it was hardly a scientific survey…more of I’m bored and the workday is almost over.

Thanks for your input from the ‘small’ country perspective. Hope things pick up for NZ.

I think the sports culture point is an important one. Few countries have the resources or drive to match something like China’s 119 program.

And remember, the PRC has only been taking part since 1984, which may, perhaps, contribute to the perception of American dominance.

But as a proud citizen of a small country, let me say that from our point of view the length or top-heaviness of the medal table is meaningless. Us little country people know that the top end of the table is for the big boys like America, China and Russia who have much vaster pools of talent and resources to draw on. We take a different approach and focus on those sports where we can do well. We don’t need a lot of gold, but if we can kick us some Yankee, Chinese, Russian or Aussie arse in one or two sports, we’re happy. As such, it was a bit of a blow to see our equestrian team crash out so drastically this year- that’s one sport we’ve always been strong in. Our rowing team was looking superb through the heats and quarters, and there was talk of getting all eight crews into the finals (note: that’s not even all the rowing events, only the ones we could get crews for. Each Olympics we have a different mix of rowing crews depending on how our rowers are doing in each event), but after yesterday’s semis we’re looking a little shaky. Illness in the case of Mahe Drysdale is not helping…. Gotta wait till Super Saturday. Point is, we don’t care about topping the table, and indeed the race for the top of the table is not much different from the NBA or Premier League- we know the big teams and the big names, and the hardcore sports freaks follow it religiously, but it’s of purely academic interest for most of us, and not much interest at that. Instead, we play to our strengths, and so long as our teams have given it their best shot, we’re satisfied (note: Rugby is not a sport, it’s the national religion. The principles outlined above do not apply to rugby).

Sam G: Sports fans from small countries have more fun. It’s easier for us to set back and just watch the sport.