If the European Union were the great political entity Hugo, Schuman and other Founding Fathers had in mind (and not this 25 country loose union, with 12 countries in the Eurozone, even less in the Schengen zone...), then Europe would rank #1 at the current Olympics (at least it's the case tonight!!!!=.
Since I can't link to the official site, google the official results page, and you'll see with some maths, that if you add up the medals from the following countries: FRA GER ITA GBR GRE NED HUN SWE POL SVK ESP DEN BEL AUT CZE POR SLO EST FIN LAT LTU, then Europe ranks:
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | S/T |
| Europe | 51 | 66 | 66 | 183 |
| China | 23 | 15 | 11 | 49 |
| USA | 22 | 23 | 16 | 61 |
Makes you wonder what defines Europe really. There was some discussion recently about this topic at the WEF event in Poland.
Think about it: I went to the Olympics the other day: I hardly understood any word on the street, and it took me a while to start reading some greek. BUT: I came through the Eleftherios Venezolos airport without going through customs, and used my credit card to get some money (hey... EUROS, a currency I use at home everyday) at an ATM (by bank did not even charge me anything for that). After a while, I was walking by the Acropolis and discussing the greek heritage in our modern western world; even words started to become familiar and etymologies converged!
Compare that with going to London, one of the most important European capitals, and one of the great European powers with Germany: you have to queue at customs, get a different currency (my bank charges me almost 6€ every time I use an ATM), and wherever you go, you talk to euro-sceptics! Hey, Tony!!! are you making an effort to have the European constitution approved, or what ? Your alternative is to join the USA, with other "associate" states such as Guam, the Marshall Islands and Puerto-Rico!
Final words: I wish we had seen more European flags and heard the European anthem more often at these Olympiads!
