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Originally Posted by tater
A single team would have the exact same number of athletes as a US team. So the EU has hundreds of athletes winning 71 gold, but they'd have to eliminate the large majority of their athletes and only pick a few best.
Having to eliminate the large majority of their current team would be a HUGE impact, not a small one.
Take a team sport, there are 10 teams competing, and the EU fields 5 of them. IF they ad a single team, they'd be far less likely to medal.
Take women's gymnastics. Apparently a team is 6 members, and 3 alternates. The EU has 27 countries. That means they field 162 gymnasts and 81 alternates.
The only fair comparison would be to allow the US 50 teams. Sure, we picked what we thought were the 6 best women, but you never know when the 7th best might have her best day ever...
Not saying the EU wouldn't have a great team, they would. But it would not be anything like the medal count you show with the HUGE advantage they have by fielding 27 teams.
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Bingo. The EU would certainly field a much deeper team. Of course, they would only get to submit
one team, not 27. Happy Times' figures are, thus, skewed.