Blaine Newnham / Times associate editor
Medal count proves all is well with U.S.

RICARDO MAZALAN / AP Cael Sanderson of the U.S. celebrates after defeating Moon Eui-jae of South Korea for gold.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Related stories Partying protests on final night?

ATHENS — Mia Hamm expressed my sentiments exactly.

"One of my least favorite moments at the Olympic Games is when the TV announcer goes through the medal count," she said.

"I think we are losing the point of these Games. The point is the spirit of competition."

Well, it's that time again, like it or not, when people want to know how the U.S. did collectively at the Olympics.

The goal set by the United States Olympic Committee was 100 medals. Mission accomplished.

For the record, the U.S. got to No. 100 last night on the achievement of one of the Games' most underachieving outfits, the men's basketball team that won the bronze medal.

They had the honor only because their game was delayed 45 minutes because both teams showed up wearing white uniforms.

Funny how things happen.

The American medal count will reach at least 101 today as light-heavyweight boxer Andre Ward of Oakland, Calif., fights in the gold-medal bout.

As it was, the win by the U.S. over Lithuania in basketball came just seconds after medal No. 99 had been secured by the men's 1,600-meter relay team in neighboring Olympic Stadium.
 
The track team didn't win the men's 400-meter relay — some more bad baton work — but it did get the silver medal while ringing up 24 medals, four more than Sydney, with the men's marathon to go.

Swimmers, the gymnasts and the young track-and-field stars will get the credit for the U.S. total but the gritty little group that got the U.S. to 100 yesterday was the freestyle wrestlers.

"We've talked about it for weeks," said Kerry McCoy, one of the U.S. wrestlers, "that wouldn't it be neat that we were the ones to get us to the top."

The freestyle wrestlers won three medals last night — Cael Sanderson a gold, and Steve Abas and Jamill Kelly silvers — and have a chance to get two more today, five medals in seven weight classifications for a sport that has seen its collegiate numbers dwindle rather than grow as schools try to comply with Title IX.

"We're a blue-collar, work-hard group that gets things done," said McCoy.

Per opportunity, there has been nothing like the freestyle wrestlers for the U.S.

Chronologically, gold from the women's basketball team yesterday afternoon was America's 92nd medal, Steve Lopez in taekwondo was No. 93 and the three wrestlers upped the total to 96.

Three more medals were won in track in the relay events, and then the NBA guys hit the century mark.

So how did we do, and does it really matter?

Not as much as it used to.

My first two Olympics were in Mexico City and Munich, when the Soviets and the East Germans were formidable if not dominant, when winning in the Olympics somehow meant winning in the Cold War.

But the world has changed. The Games have changed. Athletes no longer see each other for the first time at the Olympics. They are friends by the discipline and passion they share, sometimes more than by the country for which they compete.

"When you spend two long days together, you have to be friends," said Roman Sebrle, the Czech winner of the decathlon, the world's greatest athlete.

"I like these guys."

Swimmer Jenny Thompson, who added two more silver relay medals to a career total of 12 to become the most decorated American Olympian in history, said she can see both sides of the issue.

"The Olympic ideal is about bringing the world together, but people watching TV want a little more than that," said Thompson, 31. "They feel patriotic. They want to know how the U.S. is doing? Are we on top?"

The U.S. is doing fine. We are still on top. But aren't we supposed to be?

Before the Sydney Olympics, a Dartmouth economics professor, Andrew Berard, correctly predicted how many gold medals and total medals the U.S. would win on four factors, one of them strictly economic.

He plugged in a country's population, its per-capita income and how it performed in the previous Olympics. The only other factor he considered was whether it was hosting the Games or not.

He didn't know Michael Phelps from Fredrik Loof, a Swedish fencer. He didn't know that the American basketball team didn't have a true point guard or a backup center. He didn't know anything except that rich countries prevail in the Olympics.

For the Games in Athens, he had the Americans winning 93 medals, 37 of them gold. We've done better than that, but does it really matter?

"It is a matter of allocating our resources," said Herman Frazier, head of the U.S. delegation, in justifying the setting of goals. "The better a sport does, the larger portion of the resources it will get. Setting goals is a way to keep our programs vibrant."

Our strengths, as usual, were in the swimming pool and on the track. The swimmers won 28 medals in Athens, the track team 24. Gymnastics had nine, wrestling six and equestrian five.

We dominate team sports, especially those involving women, but get little credit for it.

No team was more dominant in the Olympics than the American women's softball team. Our women also had the strongest presence in basketball and soccer, and the rowers, many from schools now giving scholarships to women for crew, won their first medal in 20 years.

But how do you really value a medal? The gold medal won by the women in softball or the men in the eight-oared rowing final counts no more than a bronze in the 50-meter three-position rifle event.

In the total medal count, a bronze is no different than a gold. And finishing fourth in the world doesn't count at all.

The diversity of our country is reflected in some of the medals we won, five in equestrian and three in shooting. But there are also all the sports we didn't medal in at all, from badminton to table tennis, from flatwater kayaking to handball, field hockey and weightlifting.

There were disappointments. The best professional tennis players we put on the courts — including Andy Roddick and Venus Williams — got one medal. Our sailors, projected to win four medals, won two.

Maybe the best thing we did was not end up in the doping column. The cheaters were apparently left at home.

Our sports need to be accountable. The USOC can set goals for its sports, and reward them accordingly. But the medal count ought to be news only when we aren't No. 1.

Blaine Newnham: 206-464-2364 or bnewnham@seattletimes.com.