Men’s 4x400 relay
 

Anyone catch the race last night??

USA v Botswana. USA has a population of about 330 million. Botswana has a population of about 2.6 million. USA won by .1 - that is point 1 - seconds.

And……..?

he didn't even mention the 4x100m - although that has become something of a tradition

And…. China and India have well over a billion people. Where were they? They should have won by at least a half a second. lol

In my experience, the larger the population pool, the better chance you have of getting better athletes. That is the reason that most states have separate divisions for sports. The large schools play large schools and the small schools play small schools.

There are exceptions which is why Hoosiers was such a great story. It was based on Milan High School winning the 1954 Indiana state championship against Muncie Central High School, a school ten times its size. If Muncie had won, it would not have been a great story.

The story of the runner from St. Lucia (with a population of under 200,000 - a little bigger than the Villages) beating Sha'Carri Richardson in the 100 was an amazing story.

As to the 4x400, the fact that a country with a population less than half the population of the Miami metro area can come within a tenth of a second of beating the USA is a story.

This doesn't hold with sports. For a number of years Jamaica had the best sprinters in the world. Trinidad and Tobago have had some great athletes also.

Than you have places like Kenya whose athletes do very well in long distance racing

The three most populous countries are India, China, and USA. I didn’t realize India just passed China.

The two countries that dominated in the Olympics were USA and China. India, despite its huge population, is a third world country so I would not expect them to do very well at the Olympics.

Countries with smaller populations such as Canada or Australia are far more developed in sports which explains their success. African countries do very well in track but they didn’t do well in swimming, kayaking, or equestrian.

I agree that Jamaica has fantastic sprinters. But overall, the US dominates Jamaica. Didn’t see many Jamaicans surfing, playing water polo, or basketball.

There are exceptions to population predicting the results which is what makes the Olympics so exciting. The little country upsetting the larger country makes for great television. Serbia almost beat an NBA all star team! Norway winning the decathlon and Netherlands beating the USA in mixed 4x400, are not something you expect to see.

Agreed that what is exciting are the athletes we don't expect to win come out ahead. I've always thought if you're caucasian you have NO CHANCE to win running races against black people, but this year Norway and Netherlands were freakishly ahead in some instances. Call me jaded but I kept thinking they must have figured a way to cheat. 100 meters ahead and not out of breath?!! If it's just great training, good for them!!!

The 100M winning sprinter won by .8 seconds over the winner…wait for it…100 years ago. You’d think with modern training, equipment, diet, etc., that gap would be greater.

Why would anyone watch these anti christian olympics?

Light it up much? Why would anyone barf this? Goal?

Cause they can...cause it's interesting...cause these athletes are the best in the world and their skills are incredible..cause we appreciate the athletes and the world coming together under sport. Cause we are human.

In my opinion the Olympics are about bringing the world together through athleticism and excellence, not divisiveness. They don't hold any religious meaning to me either way. If they were heavily religious based/biased I think that would drive away more than it would attract.

Botswana put together a great team that made a fantastic showing in several track events. Good for them!

One thing never ceases to amaze me about Talk of The Villages. No matter how innocuous or innocent an original post might be, there is always someone who can find a way to make a snarky comment about it. Really Boogie, if you and other like minded individuals are that jaded or unhappy with your life, please don't invite the rest of us to share your misery.

Relay
 

Tiny country just north of South Africa is amazing. Consider they run through the jungle in bare feet, wearing running shoes they should have won. Go Botswana!!

There is a lot more than population pool size involved. To name a few: genetics, opportunity, religion, environment, health, wealth, discipline, devotion, training, tradition, family, government, etc.

Consider how close Serbia came to defeating the USA Men's Basketball team. They have something beyond a population pool providing their talent. Perhaps it was their haircuts and fewer tattoos. Who knows?

I think this should be the post of the day. Good on you Char's aunt.

Because most of the World's population is not Christian...

...and most of those who are do not over-react to imagined slights.

Well said. Other than certain comments almost anything open for discussion

Well said

Because they have to outrun the lions and wilderbesst

I just came across this website.


OlympicNationalRankings

It says that the top 5 countries were
1. Australia
2. France
3. Great Britain
4. Netherlands
5. USA

It uses probability rankings to determine which country performed the best at the Olympics. It is based on a mathematical formula that appears to be quite complicated. It takes a 24 page article to explain it. I just went to the results!

It does this by ranking according to the Probability Index U, which has a simple meaning: U measures the improbability that a country of a given population would win as many medals as it has, or more medals, if all people in competitive countries worldwide had equal medal-winning capabilities.

Why India wins so few medals at the Olympics
 

Just found this article on why India performs so miserably at the Olympics.
I guess when you don't have enough to eat, you don't have much time to spend at the golf course, swimming pool, track, or gymnasium.

No golds for India: Why the world’s most populous country punches below its weight at the Olympics - Yahoo Sports

“When people say 1.4 billion people and only (six) medals, that is a totally wrong headline, because … 1.39 billion people don’t have access to sports facilities,” said Boria Majumdar, sports analyst and author of “Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games.”