I've not followed the Beijing Summer Olympic Games too closely, partly due to my belief that authoritarian regimes, such as China, are not deserving hosts. But the BBC article linked below has some interesting medal count remarks.
The US media counts total medals won, regardless of color; under this system, the US is the leader in the medal count.
The British, the Chinese, and most other nations, count gold medals, considering silver medals only in case of identical gold medal count, and bronze medals only in case silver medal count is also identical. Under this system, the Chinese are the clear leaders, and the British, the next hosts, claim a strong third.
There are alternate ways to count the medals, which are listed in the article, including taking the population, the GDP, and the number of athletes.
BBC
