CIS medals haul

First place for Commonwealth of Independent States
An excellent Olympics both in terms of sportsmanship and in terms of competitiveness, with the Commonwealth of Independent States (USSR minus the three Baltic Republics) by far outstripping the other nations.

The classification table shows the USA in first place with 35 golds, 39 silvers and 29 bronze medals, a total of 103. Comparing this with the 12 Republics which form the Commonwealth of Independent States (seven of which gained medals), with a total haul of 44 golds, 45 silvers and 63 bronze medals, a total of 152 medals, we see the great success of the sporting and cultural policy adopted in these countries, which have a fraction of the resources used by the USA and also around half the population.

Russia alone gained 27 gold medals, 27 silvers and 38 bronzes, a total of 92 medals, while Ukraine had 9 golds, 5 silvers and 9 bronzes, 23 in total.

Just these two countries together had more medals than the United States.

To mention, the abominable refereeing in the gymnastics, which seemed to favour the USA. However in general these Games must go down in the annals of history as being truly historic, creating an atmosphere of togetherness, of sportsmanship, where for seventeen days the athletes from all competing countries were equal and had equal opportunities to shine. Well, almost.

As a matter of interest, if the medals won by the three Baltic Republics (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) were included in the haul won by the CIS (which would make up the medals won by the 15 republics of the former Soviet Union), the tally would have been even greater: 45 golds, 52 silvers, 65 bronzes and a total of no less than 162 medals.