Is Simone Biles medal in the lot?
Gold medal standing
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A minor correction -
1. European Union 51
2. India + China 32
3. USA 19
4. Australia 14
5. Great Britain 13USA should get to count Puerto Rico's medals. Also Japans, South Korea's, Germany's, Italy's, and anywhere else they have major military bases.
UK should get to count US medals
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Tell them to participate as EU, with teams as if they were a single country - which of course they could do if it were optimal for them to do so - then we can make a meaningful comparison. For now, EU #1 in corruption.
1. European Union 51
2. China 32
3. USA 19
4. Australia 14
5. Great Britain 13
Australia is really impressive in per capita term. Same for the UK. -
I'm not sure if it's an advantage or not. On the one hand, more participants = higher chance of winning when luck is involved. On the other hand, it means lower economies of scale when invesing in THE top performer.
Shouldn't we multiply medal count by the square root of the number of teams the country is required to field? Having to field multiple teams is a huge disadvantage, so it speaks to the EU's athletic prowess that it is still way ahead of the competition.
In team sports, it's a disadvantage, clearly. Imagine a basketball or volleyball national team composed of the best people in Europe.
The analogy is like the England football (soccer) team being weakened (compared to the counterfactual of a GB team) by the fact that some of the best players have to play for Wales (Gareth Bale) Scotland or Northern Ireland.
In individual sports, it can go either way. You have the advantage of being able to field more athletes in total. You have the disadvantage that these athletes do not benefit from the most competitive and professional training that they could get.
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A minor correction -
1. European Union 51
2. India + China 32
3. USA 19
4. Australia 14
5. Great Britain 13USA should get to count Puerto Rico's medals. Also Japans, South Korea's, Germany's, Italy's, and anywhere else they have major military bases.
UK should get to count US medals
UK doesn't have any military bases in the US. Try again.