Chinese netizens laughed at U.S. while China led in gold medals for two weeks, but didn’t laugh last

With the Chinese shooter Yang Qian winning the first gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in the women’s air rifle 10m competition, and with Team China leading in gold medals for two weeks, Chinese netizens were on cloud nine. One Weibo blogger declared that China’s time as a sports empire had arrived. They had a good laugh at the U.S., especially at American medal listings sorted by total number of medals and/or by color of medals. In their mind, counting total medals in stead of gold medals simply showed the U.S. trying to appear to be number one when it was not.

Things changed a bit last night, Aug. 8 in Tokyo, when Team U.S.A.’s gold medal count reached the same number as China’s, 38, and then surpassed it with 39. So did the tone of Weibo comments.

#Olympics medal list#, #U.S. medal listing#,  #U.S. Tokyo Olympic gold medals reach 38#

People’s Daily Overseas Edition:  Conventionally, the order of Olympic medal list was sorted by the number of gold medals won by countries or regions. However, several well-known media outlets in the U.S. published the Tokyo Olympics medals according to the total number of medals won. In this way, the U.S. occupies the top spot. This “America First” by American media is getting a lot of criticisms by netizens.

God rewards hard work:  U.S. list of Olympic medals keeps changing. At first, it was just gold medals. Then China surpassed the U.S. in gold. The list came to be sorted by total medals. When China’s total looked to surpass, too, the U.S. split the list into silver medals, bronze medals. I guess later, they will have a list of per capita gold medals. So long as the U.S. knows how to sort, it is always No. 1.

Master gang:  We do not believe only in gold medals. But on this list, we are far ahead the “beacon country.” I am not sure what the rest of the games will be like. At this moment, I can say that our time as the sports empire has arrived.

King oyster mushroom SAMA:  My dad asked, “How is gold medal coming?” My nephew reported the gold, silver, and bronze medals of the three leading countries. My dad, “Americans got quite a number of silvers and bronzes, serving as accompanies to our national anthem.”

Historical management school:  The fundamental reason why Western countries have double standards is that their preset standards have continuously been broken through by a China manifesting its long-accumulated strength. They always bragged about the relations between physical fitness and a country’s strength and wealth while discriminated China as the Sick Man of Asia. Now with the growth of China’s economy and the continued improvement of Chinese people’s sports and fitness, the West is giving up old standards and establishing new ones...

Chang’an data guy:  So many ways of listing medals, by gold, silver, and bronze, the U.S. must be the victor. It is laughable when you think about it. After all it is a superpower.  Yet, it plays such tricks. The U.S. has gotten used to being the boss. Now they have been surpassed in their own game. It must be hard to accept for a while.

Eating melon and having fun:  With the new way of listing medals, by gold, silver, and bronze, the U.S. is occupying two categories.

Yun Wendong:  Yankees, you have extra silvers and bronzes because we got golds in those events.

I am so lucky today:  I am laughing to death. Why not list by gold medals? Don’t like gold? Or you can’t get them?

Cousin arriving in Maqiao Town:  Maybe American media can tell us how many medals we should get as appropriate. If we get too many, we are machines. If we get too few, we are Sick Man of Asia.

Xzzlu: It is just a different way of listing medals. No need to raise it up to principles. Hope fellow Chinese would become confident in our bones and not care how others talk about us.

Kleopatra: Silver and bronze medals are as important. It is too narrow to just stare at gold medals. In medal totals, China is not in the first place. Don’t act like sour grapes.

qinqin_xu:  The “beautiful country” should be able to come up with a list of Covid-19 cases, you are firmly number one.

Orange cotton sea:  It is a fact that the U.S. has most medals. A medal list should sort the total medals, while a gold medal list should sort gold medals. Seeing the fact clearly will help us improve.

Tai Haofeng:  The U.S. is on hot pursuit! China and the U.S. will sprint for gold in the remaining two days.

Morning bugle in Pinghai:  China can get no more than four gold medals in the remaining few days. Our number of golds could be surpassed by the U.S.

The world is created awful:  I have an idea. By including Taipei’s and Hong Kong’s medals into China’s, China would firmly be number one. They are part of China after all.

Vicky Tang Meili:  Chinese Taipei and Chinese Hong Kong belong to China territorially, their Olympic medals belong to China, too!

Farewell_Cul8RL:  What happened the Eight-Nation Alliance of 100 years ago? How come they are so bad now?

Weights and measures Wang Ruiyong:  China is currently still number one. Hope it stays number till the close of the games. Go China!

Li three on road to civil service exam:  First there was the pandemic, now there is the medal count. The trend is more and more obvious that China is rising while the U.S. is declining. That we can see the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the fortune of our generation.

Good for nothing but entertainment:  The U.S.’ gold medals are now equal to ours. Still our Olympian athletes are super.

Little mermaid ya:  What happened? I thought China was firmly number one.

Salted fish with no dream:  Whether we are number one or not, we have made great progress from the last two Olympics.

Linyo: Chinese Olympic athletes are already great! With plenty of room to grow in swimming and track and field, they will be ever greater in the future!

Shushu Xin:  The U.S. now leads in gold medals. Isn’t it just normal? The United States has been a sports power, always number one in Olympics, except in 2008. It is not bad at all for China to have dominated the medal count for so long, with veteran athletes as well as new athletes, a very good performance.

Liao Xiaoli:  Even though the Team U.S.A. has come up even with us in gold medals, and even surpassing us, Chinese athletes have won same number of golds as in London Olympics 2012. Not to say Team China led the gold medal count for 14 days. That was a great breakthrough!

Chong Baixu:  It is still the U.S. that’s awesome, not only number one in Olympic gold medals, but also number one in Covid-19 cases.

Housha moonlight deity: The U.S. will be number on in gold medals. Congratulations. Now the New York Times and CNN can take a break from trying so hard to maneuver the medal list or working on a per capita medal count.

Important_Hu:  Nothing to argue about. Our Olympic athletes already did their best. Besides, the American hard power in sports is obvious. It is already extraordinary that we are shoulder to shoulder in gold medals with the U.S.