NO GOLD MEDALS FOR WAR, OCCUPATION & GENOCIDE
By Gideon Polya
MWC News
Aug 27 2008
Canada
Olympic Medal Tally Analyzed
The top dozen countries in terms of 5 or more Gold medals were the
host nation China (#1, 51 Gold medals), the US (#2, 36), Russia (#3,
23), the UK (#4; 19; the next Olympic host nation), Germany (#5,
16), Australia (#6, 14), South Korea (#7, 13), Japan (#8, 9), Italy
(#9, 8), France (#10, 7), Ukraine (#11, 7), the Netherlands (#12,
7), Jamaica (#13, 6), Spain (#14, 5) and Kenya (#15, 5).
The outcome of the Olympic Games as measured by the Olympic Medal
Tally of the marvellous athletes involved is heavily determined by
a number of major factors as briefly set out below.
1. Wealth i.e. how much countries invest in particular sports. This
is best illustrated the remarkable success of China (#1 for Gold
medals), as well as that of the US (#2), UK (#4) and Australia (#
6). China invested billions in the Olympic Games and both the UK (the
next host) and China made intelligent "investment decisions" that are
reflected in their Success. Australia did disproportionately well in
terms of population size due to its sports-mad culture and massive
investment in science-based sports training through the Australian
Institute of Sport.
2. Population i.e. the size of the genetic pool from which the athletes
are drawn. The biggest gene pools in the top dozen are those of China
(#1, 2005 population 1.3 billion), the US (#2, 300 million) and Russia
(#3, 140 million).
3. Population genetic factors. Thus West African or West
African-derived people (notably from the Caribbean and the Americas
e.g. Jamaica, #13) do very well at short-term endurance events such as
boxing and short-distance running while East African-derived people
(notably from Ethiopia and Kenya, #15) do very well at long-term
endurance events such as long distance running. However the bell-shaped
curve of "numbers" versus "attainment" for each country for particular
sports means that many other countries and regions can also deliver
athletics champions.
4. Sports culture and "cultural sport" are extremely important. Thus
Australia (#6) is sports-mad with a high level of participation. China
(#1) has stepped up participation in sports. As indicated under
population genetic factors above, particular populations go for what
they are good at (e.g. long-distance running for East Africans). While
most countries have joined the "World Game" of football (soccer),
the "top 15" at Beijing included 8 top football countries, namely
Russia (#3 in the Gold Medal Tally), the UK (#4), Germany (#5),
Italy (#9), France (#10), the Ukraine (#11), the Netherlands (#12)
and Spain (#14). Wrestling and weightlifting are major "cultural
sports" in a swathe of Middle East and Asian countries from Turkey
to Mongolia. In contrast, cricket was not an official Olympic event
but is an extremely important sport in the UK (#4) and Australia (#6)
as well as in countries not in the "top 15", notably India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
5. Serendipity was important in many event outcomes. Thus astonishing
baton-change failures by the Jamaican women and US men allowed lesser
competitors to gain medals. Some swimming events were decided by as
little as 0.01 second.
6. Socio-economic and geopolitical factors such as war, occupation,
devastation and genocide were extremely important. Thus of the "top
15" countries only China (#1), Jamaica (#13) and Kenya (#15) were
not involved in the invasion and occupation of other countries in the
21st century and Russia (#3) only recently invaded Georgia (and then
mostly withdrew) in response to genocidal, civilian targeting, US- and
Israeli-backed Georgian invasion of South Ossetia and destruction of
the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali during the 2008 Beijing Olympic
Games. All 11 of the other "top 15" countries have been variously
involved in the ongoing Iraqi Genocide (post-invasion excess deaths
2 million, refugees 4.5 million) and/or the ongoing Afghan Genocide
(post-invasion excess deaths 3-6 million, 4 million refugees). In
contrast, lack of performance at the Beijing Olympics can be directly
related to colonial, neo-colonial or current devastation by imperialist
powers. Thus Occupied Afghanistan and Mauritius (which hosts the poor
people who were 100% ethnically cleansed from Diego Garcia by the UK
and the US) each won a Bronze medal but Occupied Iraq (soccer Asian Cup
winner in 2007), Occupied Haiti, Occupied Somalia, Occupied Palestine
and Pakistan (whose Waziristan villages are being bombed by the US)
gained no medals of any kind.
For a detailed breakdown of Beijing Olympics involvement by country
see here: for the latest on the Beijing Olympics medal tally –
subject to drug tests – see Yahoo.
The superb Beijing Olympics finished with China leading the World in
the Olympic medal tally (51 Gold, 100 Total) over the US (36, 110),
Russia (23, 72), the UK (19, 47), Germany (16, 41), Australia (14,
46), South Korea (13, 31), Japan (9, 25), Italy (8, 28), France (7,
40), the Ukraine (7, 27), Netherlands (7, 16), Jamaica (6, 11), Spain
(5, 18), Kenya (5, 14), Belarus (4, 19), Romania (4, 8), Ethiopia (4,
7), Canada (3, 18), Poland (3, 10), Hungary (3,10), Norway (3, 10),
Brazil (3, 15), Czech Republic (3, 6), Slovakia (3, 6), New Zealand
(3, 9), Georgia (3, 6), Cuba (2, 24), Kazakhstan (2, 13), Denmark (2,
7), Mongolia (2, 4), Thailand (2, 4), North Korea (2, 6), Argentina
(2, 6), Switzerland (2, 6), and Mexico (2, 3). I’ll call this Group
A – the group of countries that generally includes the top past
Olympics performers and all the countries we expect to score gold
medals because of national wealth and size (China, the US, the UK,
Germany, Japan, Italy, France and the Ukraine), wealth coupled with
keen sporting traditions (Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Belarus,
Romania, Canada, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Brazil, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, New Zealand, Argentina and Switzerland) and much poorer
countries with well-established track records in particular sports
that relate to the genetic predispositions of their populations
(e.g. Ethiopia and Kenya in long-distance running and Cuba and Jamaica
in short-distance running).
These successful countries were followed by a number of countries
(I’ll call this Group B) who only gained 1 gold medal, namely Turkey
(1 Gold, 8 Total), Zimbabwe (1, 4), Azerbaijan (1, 7), Uzbekistan (1,
6), Slovenia (1, 5), Bulgaria (1, 5), Indonesia (1, 5), Finland (1, 4),
Latvia (1, 3), Belgium (1, 2), Dominican Republic (1, 2), Estonia (1,
2), Portugal (1, 2), India (1, 2), and Iran (1, 2). Group B contains
many countries that don’t lead the world in general sporting prowess
but which are both very keen about and very good at particular sports
such as football (Turkey, Belgium, Portugal and Iran), weightlifting
and wrestling (Turkey and Iran) and cricket (Zimbabwe and India).
My Group C contains countries that obtained no Gold medals but which
nevertheless scored Bronze and/or Silver medals, namely Armenia (6
non-Gold medals), Sweden (5 non-Gold medals), Croatia (5), Lithuania
(5), Chinese Taipei (4), Greece (4), Nigeria (4), Austria (3), Ireland
(3), Serbia (3), Algeria (2), Bahamas (2), Trinidad and Tobago (2),
Colombia (2), Kyrgyzstan (2), Morocco (2), Tajikistan (2), Chile (1),
Ecuador, (1), Iceland (1), Malaysia (1), Netherlands Antilles (1),
Singapore (1), South Africa (1), Sudan (1), Vietnam (1), Afghanistan
(1), Egypt (1), Israel (1), Mauritius (1), Moldova (1), Venezuela
(1), and Togo (1).
Group C is similar to Group B in that it contains some countries with
well-known expertise in particular sports notably short-distance
running (Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, and Bahamas), long-distance
running (Algeria), tennis (Croatia, Serbia, Sweden, and Austria),
football (Sweden, Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Nigeria, Columbia),
weightlifting (Armenia), wrestling (Armenia, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan) and winter sports (Sweden and Austria).
Finally, my Group D contains countries who sent athletes to the
Beijing Olympics but which gained no medals at all, namely Albania,
American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Antigua/Barbuda, Aruba, Bangladesh,
Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darusallam, Burkina Faso,
Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African
Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus,
Côte D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Djibouti, Dominica, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Fiji,
Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iraq, Jordan, Kiribati, Kuwait,
Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
Macedonia (FYROM), Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall
Islands, Mauritania, Micronesia, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique,
Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Pakistan,
Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines,
Puerto Rico, Qatar, Rwanda, St Kitts/Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent
and Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi
Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia,
Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Tonga,
Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vanuatu,
Virgin Islands, Yemen and Zambia.
All the Group D countries (with the exception of Peru and Saudi Arabia
and the tiny European principalities of Andorra, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Monaco and San Marino) have been subject to European
colonial occupation and its horrendous consequences in the post-war
era.
For a detailed history of the US contribution to this carnage see
William Blum’s "Rogue State". For a detailed history and "body
count" of this horrendous burden of war, occupation, devastation
and genocide imposed by the "democratic Nazi" imperialist powers
since 1945 see "Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1905":
1990-2005 avoidable deaths (excess
deaths,deaths that should not have happened) in non-European countries
total 1.2 billion, this including a Muslim Holocaust involving 0.6
billion avoidable deaths.
It is useful to sum the 1950-2005 excess deaths in all the countries
occupied by foreign occupiers in the post-war era – country-by-country
analysis. Most of the perpetrators have been European countries and
are listed below alphabetically with both their number of Gold Medals
from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and their "body count" of 1990-2005
excess deaths in the countries they occupied as major occupiers for
some time in the post-war era (excluding Germany and Japan as occupied
countries): Australia (14 Gold, 2.1 million in Papua New Guinea and
Solomon Islands); Belgium (1 Gold, 36.0 million); Ethiopia (4 Gold,
1.8 million in Eritrea); France (7 Gold, 142.3 million); Indonesia
(1 Gold, 0.694 million in Timor Leste); Iraq (0 Gold, 0.1 million
in Kuwait); Israel (0 Gold, 23.9 million); Netherlands (7 Gold,
71.6 million); New Zealand (3 Gold, 0.04 million in Samoa); Pakistan
(0 Gold, 52.2 million in Bangladesh); Portugal (1 Gold, 23.5 million);
Russia (23 Gold, 37.1 million); South Africa (0.7 million in Namibia);
Spain (5 Gold, 8.6 million); Turkey (1 Gold, 0.05 million in Cyprus);
the UK (19 Gold, 727.4 million); and the US (36 Gold, 82.2 million).
For the record, neither China (51 Gold medals, Iran (1 Gold medal)
nor India (1 Gold medal) have occupied any other country over the
last few centuries.
If there were Gold Medals for War, Occupation and Genocide, the
leading Gold medallists scoring over 1 million on this 1990-2005 excess
mortality score would be, in descending order, the UK, France, the US,
Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, Belgium, Israel, Portugal and Spain
… or if Gold, Silver and Bronze were given for "total body count"
the UK would get Gold, France the Silver and the US the Bronze.
Dr Gideon Polya, MWC News Chief political editor, published some
130 works in a 4 decade scientific career, most recently a huge
pharmacological reference text "Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive
Compounds" (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, New York & London, 2003),
and is currently writing a book on global mortality —
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