Perhaps, were there a commercial angle to Ping Pong, our best athletes would remain in the game well into their earl 20s? It would have been interesting to me personally, if, say, Michael Jordan got into Ping Pong after UNC. Perhaps, he would not have gone to UNC at all, but rather would have targeted a university that had a more solid Ping Pong program.

You have in fact pointed out a glaring omission; why is there no international governing body for Pin the Tail on the Donkey? Based in Lausanne, such an organization would be able to ensure that governing rules and customs were enforced. As for the athleticism, I think we would have to wait for the Chinese to dominate Pin the Tail on the Donkey to fully understand the potential of the game.

Event Category, No. of Medals

Badminton: 3
Ping Pong: 4
Trampoline: 2

Women’s Judo: 3
Women’s Taekwondo: 1
Women’s Wrestling: 1
Women’s Weight lifting: 4

Of the ‘sports’ in the first group, Americans play these games when we are 6 or 7 at back yard children’s birthday parties (why not add ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’ to the London games?)

Of the second category, hmm….I have a feeling that companies like Nike and Speedo and others will continue to back Beach Volleyball and Swimming and Soccer before they jump on the Women’s Judo bandwagon. So, unless our government decides to back non-commercial ‘sports’, Chinese fans can count on winning Ping Pong and Women’s Weightlifting into the foreseeable future. Presently, the US government gives $0 to USA Olympic programs – hopefully it will stay that way.

Year, City, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total
2008 Beijing 36 38 36 110
2004 Athens 36 39 27 102
2000 Sydney 36 24 31 91
1996 Atlanta 44 32 25 101
1992 Barcelona 37 34 37 108
1988 Seoul 36 31 27 94

In other words, US performance at the Beijing games is pretty much exactly within expectations.

* I only went back to 1988 because the US took in an absurd amount of medals in 1984 because of the Soviet bloc boycott. The Soviet Union consistently came out ahead of the USA during those years as it, like China, invested heavily in an athletics program that was designed to foster national prestige. The only difference is that the Soviet Union competed in the real sports where as China did extremely well in other ’sports’.

Year, City, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total
2008 Beijing 36 38 36 110
2004 Athens 36 39 27 102
2000 Sydney 36 24 31 91
1996 Atlanta 44 32 25 101
1992 Barcelona 37 34 37 108
1988 Seoul 36 31 27 94

In other words, US performance at the Beijing games is pretty much exactly within expectations.

* I only went back to 1984 because the US took in an absurd amount of medals that year because of the Soviet bloc boycott. The Soviet Union consistently came out ahead of the USA during those years as it, like China, invested heavily in an athletics program that was designed to foster national prestige. The only difference is that the Soviet Union competed in the real sports where as China did extremely well in other ’sports’.