China has won 40 gold medals at the 33rd Summer Olympic Games, tying with the U.S. and ranking second in total medal count (91), just 35 medals behind the Stars and Stripes team. But is China really that good at sports as it has been proclaiming after each Olympics in recent years?

The modern Summer Olympics were revived from the ancient Greek Olympics, which had been discontinued for centuries. This tradition was resurrected in 1896, when the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, the sacred site where ancient Greeks gathered to compete for glory.

To honor the ancient traditions, the modern Olympic Games have restored many of the original competitions. Although new events continue to be introduced to the Olympics -- such as the recent addition of Breaking, an athletic street dance -- athletics and swimming remain the most popular competitions in the Olympic stadiums. These two categories not only best reflect the events of the ancient Greek Olympics, but they are also the most common daily sports in modern life.

This year's Olympic Games featured a total of 83 events in athletics and swimming (48 and 35 events, respectively). By comparing China's performance with that of the U.S. in these events, one can see how poorly China fared in these premier Olympic sports.

The United States won a total of 62 medals (22 gold, 24 silver, and 16 bronze) in these two categories, accounting for a quarter (24.9%) of the medals available in these 83 events. In contrast, China won only 16 medals (3 gold, 4 silver, and 9 bronze), or just 6.4% of the total medals in these categories.

The huge gap in achievements between China and the United States in the two most popular sports is not only shown in Olympics stadiums, but even more profoundly reflected in everyday life. For instance, in the United States it is common to see people jogging on city streets, while in China people are more inclined towards non-physical leisure activities. In the United States, gyms are as numerous as churches, and at least half of the gyms have swimming pools. In China, however, the number of adults who can swim is far smaller than those who cannot, and swimming pools are almost nonexistent.

It is apparent that the public participation rate in sports is extremely low in China, even though many of those sports cost little.

So, how did China manage to rise to the top of the Olympic medal counts? Below is a breakdown of China's medal composition.

Among China's 91 medals, less than one-fifth (17.6%) came from the most popular and highly competitive Olympic events, athletics and swimming. A significant portion of China's medals came from sports like badminton (two gold, three silver), diving (eight gold, two silver, one bronze), table tennis (five gold, one silver), and shooting (five gold, two silver, three bronze). These are the events in which China has held a long-standing advantage. They accounted for half of China's gold medals and one-third of its total medals. The remaining medals were won in events that attracted much smaller audiences. For example, in boxing (three gold, two silver) and weightlifting (five gold), China performed remarkably well. The surprising aspect is not that China secured numerous medals in these two categories, but that out of the 10 medals awarded to China, eight were earned by female athletes, illustrating China's unique medal-winning strategy.

Once again, those sports that brought medals for China have seen little public participation back home in China, including badminton and table tennis.

Another noteworthy phenomenon is China’s near-total absence in the 22 cycling events, where the country earned only one medal (a gold in BMX Freestyle). Despite being the "kingdom of bicycles" and having the highest number of daily cyclists in the world, China has failed to turn its most popular daily activity into a mass-participation sport -- cycling, the third-largest category in the modern Olympics, only after Athletics and Swimming.

China's nearly absence from cycling's podiums further highlights that its Olympic successes are not rooted in widespread public participation.

Taiwan won a total of seven medals (two gold and five bronze). Although this tally pales in comparison to China's impressive 91, the humble island actually outperformed China when population size is factored in: Taiwan earned 0.30 medals for every million residents, while China only 0.06.

For China, an even harsher reality is that when comparing the number of Olympic medals earned per million residents, China ranks in the bottom 10th percentile among participating nations. This is a significant blow to a nation that claims to be a top Olympic performer and aspires to be a sports powerhouse.

Whether a country is a superpower in sports is not determined solely by the number of Olympic medals it has earned, but by the overall physical fitness of its population. Although China ranks second in the total number of medals, public participation in almost all the sports where China excels is extremely low. China's Olympic success is not the natural result of widespread public enthusiasm for sports, but rather a twisted product of the country's "only-medals-matter" mentality.

Without genuine public interest in sports and active participation, China will never become a true sports power, regardless of how many medals it wins at the Olympics.

Daniel Jia is the founder of consulting firm DJ Integral Services. He writes analytical reports on public-related matters.

Image: U.S. Department of Defense