Number of medals

Fun, games and money

EVEN in China, a century is a long time to wait. In 1908, as the fourth modern Olympic games took place in London, a magazine called Tianjin Youth posed three questions. When would a Chinese athlete take part in the games? When would the country send a team? And when would it stage the games?

USA looks back then ahead

BEIJING — As the last gold medals won by U.S. athletes were awarded Sunday, as The Star-Spangled Banner was cued one last time, U.S. Olympic basketball player Jason Kidd turned to his teammates on the medal podium and reminded them to put their hands over their hearts. "You can forget, in the emotion of winning, about the country and what that means," Kidd says. "We did it the whole tournament, put our hands over our hearts. I didn't want any slippage, because it wasn't over yet."

China's Unusual Golden Haul

China’s gold rush aligns with the country’s — and much of the world’s — preferred measure of Olympics dominance: The gold-medal count. And the U.S. can claim that it is on top at these Games, because it leads in total medals. If this holds up, the medal count will have a split title for just the fourth time in history. Ironically, it was the U.S. that led in golds but not medals — its preferred measure — in each of those three earlier Olympics (in 189...