北京奥运：美国自封王，排名还是世界第一 Beijing Olympics: Now You Know Why USA is Always Number 1

美国各大报章，互连网站和电台，报道北京奥运，不约而同的以总奖牌数来排名。所以虽然中国在金牌数目上，超越美国很多，但是对美国的民众来说，美国还是排名榜上的第一名，因为美国的总奖牌比中国多。

美国可能是世界上唯一用总奖牌来排名的国家。

一般相信，奥运委员会的政策是以金牌数目来排名。可是一位洛杉矶的记者好像并不知道这一点，他在八月十八日就说：“中国媒介和世界不少国家以金牌数，而不用奖牌总数来排名，是不令人惊奇的，虽然美国奖牌总数以65对61领先中国。”

好像美国受到了委屈。可是许多读者却有不同的想法。

一位读者认为这种说法有误导性，是差劲的新闻报道。

另一位读者更不客气的指出，‘这是美国人显出他们丑恶性格的又一个例子。美国人最近才用总奖牌的新花招。不要告诉我金牌和铜牌是一样的。美国人真的是一个爱哭闹的小孩和眼红的输家。’

说这是他们的新花招是不正确的。听说他们用这个方法已经很久了。

问题时，他们就是只喜欢自己的方法。他们用总奖牌，用英里，用每小时多少英里........还有，他们鼓吹单元主义。

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The US media have ranked the countries based on total medals won rather than gold medals won- and this has put the USA in the number one position. As on 20 Jul 08, USA has won a total of 83 medals as compared to China's 81. That means, as far as the Americans are concerned, the USA is at the top of the medals table.

Most of us would think that it is the International Olympic Committe's policy to rank the medal table according to the number of gold medals won. However, Philip Hersh of Los Angeles Times does not seem to be aware of this long standing international practice when he said on 19 Aug that "It is no surprise that Chinese media are among many worldwide that list the medal standings by gold rather than total medals, where the United States leads 65-61."

I believe USA is the only country in the world that use the total medals count.

One reader thinks that Philip Hersh's statement is misleading and says: "Changing the way that the medal tally is presented internationally to mislead the readership is poor journalism. Lift your game Philip."

Another remark is more nasty: "It has been countless examples that Americans show their ugly personalities. Counting total medals is the recent one. Do not tell me a bronze is the same as gold. Americans just are cry babies and sore losers."

It is not true to say that "counting total medals is the recent one". They have used this method for as long as anyone can remember.

The problem is, they always like to do things their own way, they count the total medals, the use 'miles' to measure distance, they use 'miles per hour' or MPH, they use.........and one more thing, they advocate universalism.