Olympic sport: who's number one?

A country's success in the Olympic Games has always been measured by its total medal count, and as usual the United States leads in that category. But we only have a three-medal lead, and that edge can disappear by tomorrow. What's more, the Chinese have won 43 gold medals thus far compared to our 26. The Chinese have made it clear that beating the U.S. is their main objective.

What's more important, the overall medal lead or the tally of golds? The country with the most medals in the greatest number of events is clearly the most well rounded. But can we consider the U.S. the best athletic nation when China has many more number-one finishers? Many of China's gold medals have come in events such as badminton, judo, weightlifting, trampoline, artistic gymnastics, and diving, while U.S. athletes seem more concerned with the major sports. Michael Phelps and basketball's "Redeem Team" may be the talk of this year's Olympics, but the United States is not the athletic standout it used to be.

Regardless of how you look at it, China is catching up to us, and fast! Our dominance has dwindled since Sydney. We may win the total medal count in Beijing, but we're going to have to make many changes if we want to keep ruling the world of sports. We will need to start training athletes at a younger age and increase the popularity of the "minor" Olympic Sports. Is our country up to the task? More important, is this something we want to do to our kids? Do we really want to take a lot of the fun out of sports, which is what playing sports is supposed to be about? - Matan Cohen, (special to Bobby v. the World)