Five alternative Olympics medals tables

The official Olympics medals table is based on the number of gold medals and it puts China top and Great Britain third. But what happens if other factors are taken into account?

Much has been made of the Great Britain team's lofty position in third place in the official Olympics medals table.

That is based on the number of gold medals, with the number of silver and bronze medals only counting when two countries have the same number of golds.

We have won one gold medal in the last 48 hours and our six-gold advantage has almost disappeared entirely BBC's Matt Slater Official medals table Olympics blog: Battle for third

This system counts against countries like France which, as of 1000 BST on Friday morning, had enjoyed 32 podium finishes but only a handful of wins.

Maybe with this in mind, and half an eye on China, media in the US have been publishing a table of total medals won, regardless of colour, and that puts the US top.

Here are five alternative ways to interpret how countries rank, taking into account gold, silver and bronze, population size, gross domestic product and size of the Olympic team. The medal tallies were counted at 1000 BST on Friday.

TOTAL MEDALS WON

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL
1	United States	100
2	China	83
3	Russia	53
=4	Australia	41
=4	Great Britain	41
=6	France	33
=6	Germany	33
8	South Korea	26
=9	Japan	24
=9	Italy	24

POINTS SCORED (THREE FOR GOLD, TWO FOR SILVER, ONE FOR BRONZE)

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL
1	China	212
2	United States	190
3	Russia	101
4	Great Britain	89
5	Australia	77
6	Germany	67
=7	France	56
=7	South Korea	56
9	Japan	48
10	Italy	45

POPULATION PER MEDAL

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL
1	Bahamas	307,451
2	Jamaica	311,592
3	Slovenia	401,542
4	New Zealand	463,717
5	Australia	502,459
6	Armenia	593,717
7	Belarus	645,717
8	Estonia	653,803
9	Norway	663,499
10	Lithuania	713,041

GDP - BILLION DOLLARS PER MEDAL

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL
1	North Korea	0.36
2	Jamaica	0.53
3	Zimbabwe	0.85
4	Armenia	1.28
5	Georgia	1.29
6	Tajikistan	1.40
7	Krygzstan	1.41
8	Mongolia	1.57
9	Togo	2.21
10	Belarus	2.46

NUMBER OF ATHLETES AT GAMES PER MEDAL WON

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL
1	Uzbekistan	2
2	Jamaica	2.95
3	Panama	3
3	Togo	3
5	Zimbabwe	3.25
6	Afghanistan	4
7	Indonesia	4.8
8	Georgia	5.83
9	US	5.95
10	Tajikistan	6.5

Sources include the CIA Factbook and the World Bank.

Argentine dog saves abandoned baby

By Daniel Schweimler BBC News, Buenos Aires

La China has become a celebrity in her shanty town (Photo courtesy of Clarin)

An eight-year-old dog has touched the hearts of Argentines by saving the life of an abandoned baby, placing the girl safely alongside her own new puppies.

The country's media are calling her "the miracle baby".

She was born prematurely to a 14-year-old girl in a shanty town outside the capital, Buenos Aires.

The mother is said to have panicked and abandoned the baby in a field, surrounded by wooden boxes and rubbish.

Then along came La China, the dog which somehow picked up the baby and carried her 50m to place him alongside her own puppies.

The dog's owner heard the child crying and found her covered with a rag.

The baby, weighing 4kg (8lb 13oz), had some slight injuries, but no bite marks. The owner called the police and the child is now being looked after by the authorities, while a decision is taken about her future.

The frightened mother appeared shortly after her baby was found.

The Argentine media has descended on the shanty town, talking of "the Argentine Romulus and Remus", the founders of Rome, abandoned as babies and rescued by a wolf, nearly 3,000 years ago.

La China, worried about her own puppies, is reported to be petrified by her new-found fame, and her owner says he is worried that she is not eating.