According to Vladimir Putin, "the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical tragedy of the twentieth century." Looking at the medal tallies from Beijing, the man should have added sports debacle. Had the Soviet Union been intact this year, it would have won the medal count hands down.
Gold Silver Bronze Total
Soviet Union 43 45 83 171
Russian 23 21 28 72
Ukraine 7 5 15 27
Belarus 4 5 10 19
Kazakhstan 2 4 7 13
Azerbaijan 1 2 4 7
Georgia 3 0 3 6
Uzbekistan 1 2 3 6
Armenia 0 0 6 6
Lithuania 0 2 3 5
Latvia 1 1 1 3
Estonia 1 1 0 2
Kyrgyzstan 0 1 1 2
Tajikistan 0 1 1 2
Moldova 0 0 1 1
USA 36 38 36 110
China 51 21 21 100
Small wonder that Vladimir hurried home after sitting between a gloating George W. Bush and smug Hu Jintao and decided to back the Ossetian freedom fighters in their struggle with Georgia. Though Ossetia claimed no medals in Beijing, it is the site of the Baslan massacre and the first step in rebuilding the Soviet sports machine.
It is also no surprise that the Chinese joined the Americans in disapproval of the Russian Dumas’ recognition of Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Chinese know how threatening the Soviet Union could be to China’s inevitable dominance of the 2012 games if Putin can figure out how to put the Soviet Union back together.
Mr. Putin must also have been piqued by the performance of Nastia Luikin. This little Muscovite would not have been allowed to travel to the US, let alone emigrate to Texas, in the good’ole Soviet Union. Though I was too lazy to do the detailed math, the European Union would have trumped everyone if it had fielded a unified team. I counted roughly 275 medals.
Hat’s off to Australia for winning fifth place though its population ranks 52nd in the world. Shame on Pakistan for failing to win a single medal.