Kings of the Beach

Much controversy has surrounded the measurement of "success" in the Olympics. Should success be measured by the total number of medals won as advocated by the US? Or by just the number of golds won, which is used by the rest of the world? While I agree with the US that silver and bronze medals should be considered--otherwise why award them at all--I don't think they should count as much as golds. Accordingly I have been tracking the official medal count throughout the Olympics: a weighted score for which golds count 3, silvers 2, and bronzes 1. With all of China's golds it has led this scoring system throughout the games.

At last, however, the US is catching up. With 29 golds, 34 silvers, and 32 bronzes, it has 187 points. China, with 46 golds, 15 silvers, and 22 bronzes, still leads with 190 points. We'll see what the next three days hold in store for the final tally!

This morning the US demonstrated its beach dominance with a gold in men's beach volleyball to accompany yesterday's gold for the women. In indoor the women have already advanced to the finals while the men are ahead of Russia 1-0 right now in the semifinals. Hopefully we'll have some more volleyball medals soon!

Meanwhile this afternoon I will be focused on the women's long jump finals, where Rice alum Funmi Jimoh will be competing. She had a good jump in the qualifiers; hopefully she can dig in for an even better one today. Go USA and go Rice!