There is a mistake in this article. The author confused Dominican Republic, ranked in place 79th in GDP table, with the island of Dominica, ranked as 179th. Jamaica, 124th in GDP table and 13th in the medals table, did a much better job.

Carolina Ruiz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

I am very proud of the two olympic medals obtained in Beijing by our humble Dominican atheles. Our country if full of joy because of this. My congratulations to all competitors for their friendly participation and to China for being a fabulous host.

Rosamna Reynoso, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Visit this link and you'll see the humble "mansion" where the dominican gold medalist resides!!! and his family.
(picture taken before his last performance)

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=716762&s=box&t

I strongly agree with your article!

Horacio Perdomo, Miami, US

Be fair, it takes a while for government policy to filter through and have an effect, we are only just starting to feel the effect of ten years of Labour on the UK's GDP. We still have a chance to outstrip Dominican Republic in four years time.

Will Rees, Reading,

Charles from SD : "Athletes depend on their own money"?

What?

You think Nike doesn't pay to have the swoosh all over our athletes? Do the athletes own the facilities they train in? What about all the trainers & everything else?

so poor NBA basketballers rent their own gym and shoes?

Abe, Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana

Argument is fundamentally flawed since it does not recognize that a very large number of athletes train in one country and compete in the Olympics for another.

Just look at the large number of swimmers from outside the US who train (and went to universities on free Scholarships) in the US

james Culhane, Boston, USA

Using the SAME yardstick, What will be the situation for Cuba?
Cuba won a total of 24 medals:
2 G , 11 S , 11 B = 24 medals!

Lora, Portland, USA

Everybody knows that you need many resources to train a medallist and small countries don’t count with them.
The athletes of Dominican Republic as first priority have to solve a lot of problems in a daily basis, before they start the training program.

Victor Justo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep

Considering I'm Dominican and knowing how our athletes work without almost no help from our government, just out of sheer dedication, against all odds, I'd say these are not meaningless statistics. And I agree, the Dominican Republic outperformed you all. ;-)

Celia, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Taiwan is not a loser. Chinese Taipei is.

CT, Austin, TX,

Meaningless statistics. Nations ought to be judged according to genetics-come on smart ones! For example, we don't expect pygmies to excel in basketball-that is not their game &, mutatis mutandis, Chinese to excel in football, Brits in gymnastics (heavy bones), Blacks in swimming (weak Achilles heel

ian cheese, london, uk

To all those claiming the USA is losing its grip on Olympic domination I have only one thing to ask: Does your country have a Ministry of Sports with a large government budget? The USA does not. Athletes depend on their own money, or donations and sponsorships. Put that into the equations next time

Charles, San Diego, USA

As usual, an economics writer/economist comparing apples and oranges using statistics.

Olympics medal total for a nation is the sum total of individual competitors.

If a superb one competes from Jamaica, then all deductions go down the drain as we notice in economies of US and more nations!

Krishna R. Kumar, Udupi, India

To Tim Worstall:

So do you want your slaves back or are you just happy taking the medals that belong to the Empire?

What an awful idea was that?

By the way, are we talking about national income or income per capita? Big difference!

These medal tables remain annoying and useless, still.

Andras Szucs, Southampton,

Peter, I think you missed the point, the author is questioning the fact that are we better than Australlia, hence the question mark. In fact he concludes that no we are not. Australia, our long time competative ally conistently over achieves and that is to be applauded and respected, well done.

Gareth Jenkins, Pwllheli, Wales

If we are going to re-examine how we judge a country's olympic performance, let us look at where many of the olympians from poor countries train and practice. Mostly in the USA or Europe.

Matt, Houston, USA

Bronze is the same as gold.
If you do not believe me, ask any blind person here.
It is harder to LET two others to win.
NBC should interview bronze winners only as they are the real winners.
Phelps, we love you more with 8 bronze medals - it is no easy job to let 2 and ONLY 2 EIGHT times.

tonypow, birlinton, ma usa

Surely it should be Team UK? Northern Ireland is neither part of Great Britain nor of the Republic of Ireland... I did hear mention of members of both the GB and ROI teams having either been born in or coming from Northern Ireland.

Rick, Belfast,

Tsk Chris, Tsk.

Everyone knows that the British Empire won the most medals at these games: as it has won over 30% of all medals ever awarded....

Tim Worstall, Messines,

I'm sorry to say this, but nr 179 on the World Bank list is Dominica, not the much bigger Dominican republic which is nr 73. The approach is relevant, and the other examples are, as far as I can see, OK.

Juha Kajander, Helsinki, Finland

Typical. The Olympics are over only a few hours and already you lot are looking for ways to diminish the athletes' accomplishments.

If squeezing spots on a purulent behind ever becomes an Olympic event then you can put your years of training to better use.

Scot Richards, Brisbane,

We Chinese take too much attention on the winning of the games.51 golden medals in 2008y to 32 golden medals in 2004y seems that we get 16 more medals is because we're host of the Game ,more or less ,at least .

Asia Xin, xuzhou, China

India is big economy and second largest population after China, but still managed to win only 2 medals.

Srinivath Aekboke, London, UK

Five nil five nil five nil five nil five nil five nil
Now, what were you saying?

Matt Starczak, Aberfoyle Park, South Australia

Peter from Australia, you say that the UK comparing itself against Australia is pathetic but that you're the best country in the world. Those statements can't both be correct - take your pick.

Harry, London,

Congratulations to Australia. With a population of only twenty million the medals count was excellent. Great Britain has a population of sixty million and thinks they did so well. No I do not think so. The Olympic games have turned away from the intended purpose, friendly competition..

LX Norris, Adelaide, Australia

Given the population the performance of Australia and Spain over a number of sports is amazing

GMNorm, Wiltshire, UK

Most people in the US are not interested in the Olympics. they are more interested in football, baseball and basketball. I do not think football is an Olympic sport, but even in baseball and basketball most American athletes choose to stay away from the Olympics. No one can stay on top all the time.

Ted Baines, New York, USA

Another starking fact is the fall out of USA from top notch to second in medals tally. Is it the tilt of the wind mills, with economic slow down and recession on wall street affecting the US sports , or is it mere global warming which is making the heat of competition too hot and unbearable..ponder?

sanjeev dheer, New Delhi, India

Why do you always refer to us, as if we were someone you just have to beat. I call that as pathetic. We are a small country
on the world scene, but because of a flow of migrants who have contributed much to our appreciation of life, we have develloped into the best country in the world. .

Peter Barrett, Melbourne, Australia