If you look at the ranking of Olympic medal list, can you draw a similar line of the military power of the countries? I see almost all big powers are on the top 20 list. Well Russia will climb much higher at the end of the Games.

Medal Ranking:
http://www.athens2004.com/en/OlympicMedals/medals

Top 20 so far:

Rank-----------Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total-TotalRank
1 USA United States 25 27 19 71 1
2 CHN China 24 15 12 51 2
3 JPN Japan 15 8 9 32 5
4 AUS Australia 14 9 14 37 4
5 FRA France 9 7 9 25 7
6 RUS Russia 8 17 21 46 3
7 GER Germany 8 10 13 31 6
8 ITA Italy 8 6 7 21 =9
9 ROM Romania 8 4 4 16 13
10 UKR Ukraine 8 3 6 17 12
11 GBR Great Britain 7 8 7 22 8
12 KOR Korea 6 10 5 21 =9
13 GRE Greece 5 2 2 9 17
14 NED Netherlands 3 7 8 18 11
15 HUN Hungary 3 6 1 10 16
=16 SWE Sweden 3 0 1 4 =27
=16 TUR Turkey 3 0 1 4 =27
18 CAN Canada 2 4 1 7 =20
19 BLR Belarus 2 3 6 11 =14
20 POL Poland 2 2 3 7 =20

Its because sports cost money. only one missing is Israel, cause we spend all our money on the military...

Yeah, I've noticed that. Israel is also under-represented because the have a pretty tiny population overall, but like Sherman says, its also not a major priority for the Israelis.

You see the two most powerful economies showing. Japan and the USA. You also have three most powerful militaries sitting 1, 2, 3. Australia sets higher in the list than their military power would seem to rate, but nobody said the parallel is perfect, just somewhat close.

I dont mean to sound jingoistic or unintellegent, but frankly I just think the culture of sports In the USA is greater then In many places In the world...

Hmm, I think you are right. The sports culture here is non-exitant...

Thats a shame, sports can go along way In breaking down borders.

Originally Posted by GuyontheRight

Thats a shame, sports can go along way In breaking down borders.

Or creating them (just go to Italy and root for the wrong soccer club ).

On topic, bigger nations generally have bigger militaries, and also have larger resources (personnel and other) to draw on for athletes, so I doubt the militarism and the athleticism of any of these states are actually directly linked.

Originally Posted by GuyontheRight

Thats a shame, sports can go along way In breaking down borders.

Ocaisionally You think about European soccer teams and are reminded of the British and German "hooligans" who riot every time there team plays. Now, a bit America is starting to look like this, too(the 2003 Browns game with all the bottles flying around )

But friendly competition, like the US and Australia in swimming, or the US and Canada at EVERYTHING, is what brings countries closer together

australia don't have that good of an army so why are they up there

because there are too many medals for swim.....I think they should cut some games in swimming pool