Kiss it China. Kiss it.

I do think there's too much emphasis on this stuff in the United States, and I know we're not perfect....

But when a nation of a billion people sets its mind to "win" the Olympics and comes up short to a nation whose most popular sport is not in the games and which trains athletes from all over the world, whether they compete for the United States or not, that nation has FAILED.

American exceptionalism. The big "0" will not be pleased.

Noteworthy is that countries that were formerly part of the USSR (that's Soviet Union) accounted for 76 medals together. Add that to Russia's total and you get 158!

Now I understand that doesnt mean the USSR would have gotten 158, but it does put a certain perspective on things.

That actually speaks to how much better those countries are now.

I think it helps that those countries + Russia could send far more athletes than they could have had they been one country still.

^^^
yeah, I saw an article today that made a point about how many medals the EU got vs china or the US. But as separate countries they send far more athletes.

The thought it a lot of the athletes that medaled would have been on the combined team. Don't know if it'd actually work out that way or not...

The USSR definitely had some impressive totals back then, though...was it 130 at Seoul?

^
They also had a huge PED program too. All T&F records from Eastern Bloc nations should be stricken from the books.

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I have seen the enemy, and he is us.