Study: China will win more medals than U.S in Beijing

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has come out with a study that estimates China to win one more medal than U.S in the Beijing Olympics.

Accountants got their turn in the Olympics with the publication of a report that predicts China to top the medal tally in the Beijing Olympics in terms of overall medals as well as number of gold medals won. The report predicts China to win a total of 88 medals, one higher than United States overall tally of 87. John Hawksworth, the report's author, says a number of factors such as population, average income level and being the host nation are taken into consideration while preparing the report.

As the host nation in Beijing and (with) an economy which has grown very strongly since 2004, the medal 'target' of 88 for China according to our model is much higher than its actual medal totals in Athens (63) or Sydney (59).

Hawksworth predicts Russia will drop to third place at Beijing with an overall tally of 79 medals , down 13, followed by Germany (43), Australia (41), Japan (34), France (30), Italy (29), Britain (28) and South Korea (27). He also said former Eastern bloc nations are likely to do better because of their planned approach.

Despite it being nearly two decades since the fall of the Berlin Wall, many former Eastern bloc countries are expected to win significantly more medals than would be predicted by the size of their economies. The benefits of these countries’ earlier “planned” approach to Olympic sport were still evident in their Sydney and Athens medal tallies and this is expected to continue in Beijing.