Olympics - India finishes 55; Germany 6th and some statistics

The Summer Olympics is over – India is happy – overall ranking of 55 and winning  6 medals including 2 silver and 4 bronze which is by far the best performance by India in terms of number of medals won at any single Olympic games.  Gagan Narang was the first as he  won the country's first medal at the Games, a bronze in the 10 metre air rifle event. Vijay Kumar won Silver in Men’s 25M rapid fire pistol; Saina Nehwas won bronze in Badminton; Mary Kom added Bronze in Women’s Flyweight category; Yogeshwar Dutt bronze in 60 Kg Freestyle wrestling and Sushil Kumar faltered in the finals winning Silver in 66kg Freestyle wrestling. 

Indian athletes were are at the receiving end - Boxer Sumit Sangwan, lost a closely contested bout 14–15 against Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino of Brazil in the light heavyweight category - Round of 32. The ESPN commentators described the loss as "daylight robbery."  A win by Vikas Krishan in the welterweight pre-quarters was overturned after an appeal by the opponent Errol Spence. The Indian was given four penalty points and the score was changed from 11–13 to 15–13 in favour of Errol Spence. Boxer Manoj Kumar lost his pre quarter final Light Welterweight bout against Great Britain's Tom Stalker in a controversial manner. The boxer was at the wrong end of some of the dubious judging calls and he cried "cheating" openly before leaving the boxing arena.

This time,  as it has been with every time, there have been some upset for Nations in the ranking list.  Before we see, this year’s toppers, here is something from 1988 Seoul Olympics

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union	55	31	46	132
2	East Germany	37	35	30	102
3	United States	36	31	27	94
4	South Korea	12	10	11	33
5	West Germany	11	14	15	40

Arithmetically, if only the Germans were to play as a single entity, they could have won 48 Golds and 142 medals in all -- but it never happens that way in real life situation is what this post is about. 

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany was approved on 8 May 1949 – then there was West Germany the East Germany under  Soviet occupation zone was transformed into the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) with its own constitution.  There had been numerous deaths at the Berlin Wall, which stood as a barrier between West Berlin and East Germany.  3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin, from where they could then travel to West Germany and other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989, the Wall prevented almost all such emigration. 

The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls.  The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.

In 1989, a radical series of political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc, associated with the liberalization of the Eastern Bloc's authoritarian systems and the erosion of political power in the pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, a euphoric public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of the rest. The physical Wall itself was primarily destroyed in 1990. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990.

After the  German reunification  process in 1990 Berlin reunited into a single city.  From then on apart from the political repercussions, in Sports, particularly in Olympics, Germans participated under the single unified banner.  In London Olympics, it was USA at the top, followed by China, host Great Britain, Russia, South Korea and Germany ………………………….

Top 6 of the London Olympics
Rank	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	46	29	29	104
2	China	38	27	22	87
3	Great Britain	29	17	19	65
4	Russia	24	25	33	82
5	South Korea	13	8	7	28
6	Germany	11	19	14	44

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.