BEIJING -- Aishath Reesha, a 19-year-old 800-meter runner, had just finished practice at the Chaoyang Sports Center, a proletarian track sequestered from the Olympic mobs. She sat with her back to a recently whitewashed wall, an ice-pack on her neck, and watched as a French sprinter sped past.

'We can't compete with people from other worlds,' she said in a whisper. 'I'm not scared. My goal is to better my personal best.'

Ms. Reesha is from Maldives, a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean with a population of 379,000, per capita income of $4,600, and a serious worry about being washed away. Her personal best in the 800-meter race is 2:32.97; the Olympic record is more than 38 seconds faster.

'We are not qualified for the Olympics,' said her coach, whose name is Ahmed Faail. He was standing over Ali Shareef, his 100-meter runner, who was on flat on his back with a leg in the air. Mr. Faail was helping him work out a kink. 'In the heats there are people with a lot of experience,' he said. 'We will not be winning heats.'

For the richest, brawniest countries here, the medal count is all that counts. China, Russia and the U.S. are in Beijing to 'win' the Olympics. But among the 222 countries that have sent athletes to the modern Games since 1896, only 130 have brought a medal home. The rest, like Maldives, march in the opening parade and then, after a few minutes -- or seconds -- in the pool or on the track, they're out.

The International Olympic Committee seems to commiserate with its medal-deprived delegations. For decades, it clung to the ideal that nations didn't play in its contests at all; people did. It began listing medals by country less than 20 years ago. Yet the IOC, in its own way, is also intent on counting countries: It wants every one on Earth to play its Games, whether they're good or not.

What's billed as a meet for the fittest in truth has a second division of schlumps. Every nation is encouraged with money and training programs to send one man and one woman, even if they don't have a soul who qualifies. The IOC doesn't tally how many of the 10,500 athletes here get in that way, but they appear to number at least in the hundreds. Most end up swimming or running, activities where being inept doesn't automatically result in broken necks.

Olympic universality has bred a line of famous bunglers, from Wym Essajas of Suriname, who missed his 800-meter heat in 1960, to Eric Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea, who took nearly two minutes to swim 100 meters in 2000. Yet for all its promotion of participation, the IOC gives its losers no glory: Its history-packed Web site displays only winning countries and their medal counts.

Asked where to find lists of also-rans, an IOC press officer suggests sending an email to its information center. It's the sort of reply that's long griped a small international club of amateur statistics nuts calling themselves the Oly Madmen. Led by Bill Mallon, a shoulder surgeon in Durham, N.C.

The Madmen have spent five years building an easy-to-manipulate database that comprises every run, jump, throw, dive and somersault in Olympic history. It folds in Hector Hatch's ninth-place welterweight boxing tie for Fiji in 1956, and the 51st-place mixed-free-pistol finish Aferdita Tusha racked up for Albania in 1972. The Madmen have compiled the records of 110,000 Olympic athletes and are at work on thumbnail biographies for each one; so far, they've done 24,000.

'It's one of those hobbies that becomes an obsession,' Dr. Mallon says. He adds: 'We tried for years to get the IOC to do this. They told me in 2006 that they'd look at it again in 2009. They're not going to look at it in 2009.'

The IOC wouldn't say why. Dr. Mallon surmises that it's worried about accuracy. He says the Madmen are fact-checking nonstop to get their labors 'as close to perfect as we can.' In late July, they took their data public: Now anyone can play with it on the Web, free, at a commercial site: www.sports-reference.com.

A statistical juggle even the Madmen don't attempt is a medal count by wealth and population. At least one Web site tries it: http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics.html. Simon Forsyth, a researcher in Brisbane, Australia, began doing his medal math that way because he was sick of hearing that 'the Americans won the Olympics.' By gross domestic product, his winner in 2004 was Eritrea; by population, it was the Bahamas. In the Beijing 2008 count for total medals by population, as of Friday the U.S. was 31st; China was a distant 44th. Armenia recently took the lead from Mr. Forsyth's own country, Australia. 'Should you be proud that your country won more medals than anyone else?' he asks in an e-mail. 'Sure, why not? Should you be proud that your country won more medals per population than any other country? Yes -- at least equally so.'

Togo (per capita gross domestic product: $800) is certainly proud, too. Its slalom-canoe champ, Benjamin Boupeti, won a bronze medal Wednesday, the country's first medal ever. But by one essential measure, Maldives isn't pulling up the rear, either.

True, its one running track is made of soft sand, so it's no wonder Ms. Reesha and Mr. Shareef had modest hopes for their Friday morning heats. And in Maldives, the swimming pools are all for tourists. Its two 50-meter swimmers -- Ibrahim Shameel and Aminath Rouya Hussain -- couldn't have been anything but long shots in their heats Thursday and Friday evenings. At home, they've nowhere to train but the sea.

'I'm being a little political here,' said their coach, Adam Mohamed, dropping by the practice track for a visit, 'but there has been land allocated for a pool since 1988. It's drawings, drawings, drawings.' Not that Mr. Mohamed expects much investment in an Olympic team from a country still in post-tsunami recovery. 'The priority is to attend ceremonies,' he said. 'We are an unqualified country. The most important thing is to hoist the flag.'

As things turned out, Ms. Hussain came in next-to-last in her 50-meter swim Friday evening, and didn't succeed in bettering her best. On Thursday, Mr. Ibrahim placed next-to-last in his heat, too, with a time of 29:28. But it was the very first time he'd ever raced in a 50-meter pool, so he can say that he did achieve his personal best.

On a sunny Friday morning at Beijing's Bird's Nest, Ms. Reesha trailed 30 seconds behind the field in her 800-meter run, and came in last against all 40 runners. But she still met her own goal, beating her personal best by more than two seconds. And Ali Shareef, running the 100 meters in 11:11 and finishing 69th in a field of 80, not only set his personal best -- he set the Maldives' national record as well.

But it's in flag-hoisting that this little country has scored its own personal best in Beijing. Anyone who sweated through the opening ceremony here knows how the fun faded as the parade of nations crept toward the two hundreds. Ms. Hussain was there, carrying Maldives' white-crescent flag and trailing a small, smiling contingent in long sarongs.

This time, though, they weren't in their usual place, way back among the M's. The Chinese-character equivalent of alphabetical order produced an upset: At these Olympics, Maldives marched seventh.

十九岁的800米运动员爱莎斯·瑞莎(Aishath Reesha)刚刚在远离奥运场馆群的朝阳体育中心结束训练。她背靠在新粉刷不久的墙壁上，脖颈处敷了个冰袋，看着一名法国短跑选手飞奔而过。

“我们没法跟世界其他地方的人比，”她低声说道，“我不是害怕。我的目标就是突破自己的最好成绩。”

瑞莎来自马尔代夫，这个印度洋岛国由一系列的环状珊瑚岛组成，人口37.9万，人均年收入4,600美元，还随时面临着被淹没的危险。瑞莎800米的个人最好成绩是2分32秒97，比奥运会记录整整慢了38秒。

她的教练阿姆德·法埃尔(Ahmed Faail)说，我们参加奥运会其实是不够格的。预赛中就有许多经验丰富的选手，我们不会冲出在预赛的。说话时法埃尔正在帮百米跑选手阿里·沙里夫(Ali Shareef)缓解肌肉抽筋，沙里夫平躺着，一条腿伸在空中。

对那些富裕强大的国家来说，奖牌数最重要。中国、俄罗斯和美国都志在成为北京奥运会奖牌榜冠军。但是，自1896年以来共有222个国家曾派出过运动员参加现代奥运会，其中只有130个赢得过奖牌。而其他那些国家，比如马尔代夫，他们参加开幕式，然后在泳池中或跑道上参加几分钟──甚至几秒钟──比赛，他们便彻底出局了。

国家奥委会(The International Olympic Committee)显然对这些无缘奖牌的代表团很是同情。几十年来，国际奥委会一直坚守这样一个理念：奥运会不是国家与国家之间的竞争，而是运动员的比赛。近二十年前，奥委会才开始列出国家奖牌榜。不过，国际奥委会也一直以自己的方式来体现它对国家概念的重视：它希望地球上每一个国家都可以参加奥运会，不论他们的表现好坏与否。

事实上，奥运会注定了是最强者的盛会，不过，它也为一些成绩一般的选手提供了舞台。即便没有合乎奥运会竞技要求的运动员，一些国家也会接到经济或培训项目上的帮助，以此鼓励他们派出男女选手各一名参加奥运会。在参加北京奥运会的10,500名运动员中，有多少人是通过这种途径参与进来的，国际奥委会并未进行过统计，不过显然，这样的运动员至少有几百名。他们大多数都是参加游泳或赛跑项目的，这类运动就算你并不擅长也不至于摔断脖颈。

奥运会的普遍参与性已经造就了很多知名菜鸟：苏里南的维姆·爱沙加斯(Wym Essajas)在1960年奥运会错过了田径800米预赛；赤道几内亚的恩里克·姆莎姆巴尼(Eric Moussambani)在2000年奥运会上花了近两分钟完成100米游泳比赛。不过，尽管国际奥委会一直努力让更多的人参与奥运会，但他们并没有给失败者任何的荣誉：在国际奥委会充满历史回顾的网站上，只有取得过奖牌的国家名录以及相应的奖牌数。

当被问及在哪里能找到奥运会的失败者名录时，一位国际奥委会新闻官员建议大家给国际奥委会信息中心发邮件索取。这样的回答长期困扰着由热衷于数据统计的业余人士组成的一个国际俱乐部。这个自称“奥运狂人”(Oly Madmen)的牵头人是比尔·马龙(Bill Mallon)，他是美国北卡罗来纳州德拉谟市的一位肩外科医生。

这个俱乐部花了五年时间，建起一个操作简易的数据库，涵盖了历届奥运会上每一次赛跑、跳跃、投掷、跳水、翻转的成绩：1956年赫克托·哈奇(Hector Hatch)代表斐济获得次中量级拳击并列第9名；1972年，阿尔巴尼亚的阿芬尔迪塔·图沙(Aferdita Tusha)在混合自选手枪比赛中位列51。“奥运狂人”收集了11万名奥运选手的成绩，并着手为每一位选手建立简传，目前已完成了24,000份。

马龙说，这个俱乐部的成立是从他的业余爱好发展而来。多年来他们努力想要说服国际奥委会来做这个事情。2006年的时候，他们跟我说，他们等到2009年再考虑，到那时候他们也不会真的去考虑的。”

国际奥委会对此没有做出解释。马龙猜测他们可能是担心准确性的问题。他说，“奥运狂人”一直在不遗余力地核对事实，以保证自己努力的结果“尽善尽美”。7月下旬，他们将自己的数据向公众开放，现在任何人都可以在www.sports-reference.com这个个商业网站上免费了解这些信息。

至于按国家财富和人口来排列的奖牌榜，这是一项非常庞杂的统计工作，即便是“奥运狂人”也没有涉足。不过至少有一个网站进行了这个尝试：http://simon.forsyth.net/olympics.html，这个网站的创始人西蒙·弗西斯(Simon Forsyth)是澳大利亚布里斯班的一位研究员，他之所以进行这项计算工作是因为他很不喜欢听到“美国人赢了奥运会”这种说法。他按国内生产总值来进行奖牌榜排列，这么算的话，2004年的冠军应当是厄立特里亚；如果按人口来排的话则是巴哈马群岛。如果将2008北京奥运会截至上周五产生的奖牌总数同人口作比，美国排名31，中国则排在44名，相当地靠后了。按照这个标准，亚美尼亚最近则取代了弗西斯的祖国澳大利亚，位列第一。“你的祖国比其他国家赢得了更多的奖牌，你该自豪吗？”他在一封邮件中这样问道，“当然，为什么不骄傲啊？你的祖国人均比其他国家赢得了更多的奖牌，你该自豪吗？可以啊──至少跟前者一样地自豪。”

多哥（人均国内生产总值800美元）当然也很自豪。上周三该国选手邦雅曼·布克佩蒂(Benjamin Boupeti)在皮划艇激流回旋赛中赢得一枚铜牌，是这个国家有史以来得到的第一枚奥运奖牌。其实，如果按照一个最基本的标准，马尔代夫也并不是最差劲的。

没错，全马尔代夫全国唯一的一条跑道还是用软沙子铺成的，难怪瑞莎和沙里夫对于周五上午的预赛并没有抱很大的期望。马尔代夫的游泳池全是为游客而设，两位马尔代夫五十米游泳选手──伊布拉希姆·萨米尔(Ibrahim Shameel)和阿米纳斯·卢娅·侯赛因(Aminath Rouya Hussain)──在周四及周五晚上的预赛中也只能是碰碰运气了。在国内，他们只能在海里进行训练。

“我这么说好像有点太政治了，”他们的教练亚当·莫哈穆德(Adam Mohamed)顺路到训练跑道来看看，“可是从1988年开始，就划拨了一块土地来建游泳池，然后就是不停地规划、规划。”其实莫哈穆德也并没有指望自己的国家能为奥运代表团投入太多的资金，这个国家现在还一直在努力进行海啸后的重建。“最首要的是参加仪式，”他说，“我们这个国家其实并没有参赛资格。最重要的事情是挥舞起我们的国旗。”

上周五晚上，侯赛因在五十米泳中位列倒数第二，也没能超越自己的最好成绩。周四，伊布拉希姆在预赛中也是排在了倒数第二，成绩是29秒28。不过这是他第一次在50米泳池中参加竞技，所以他也可以说他其实已经实现了个人的最佳成绩。

周五早晨阳光明媚，瑞莎在800米比赛中落后其他队员30秒，在所有40名参赛选手位列倒数第一。不过她还是实现了自己的目标，比自己的历史最佳成绩快了两秒。阿里·沙里夫在百米赛跑中跑出了11秒11的成绩，在总共80名选手排在第69位，不过他不仅改写了个人最佳记录──还创造了马尔代夫的全国记录。

不过，在入场式上，这个小国在北京也取得了最佳成绩。在开幕式上汗流浃背的那些人都知道，当两百多个国家的队列绕场结束、进入场中央后，大家的兴致也就慢慢地减退了。侯赛因当时也在场中央，她举着马尔代夫的国旗，身后跟着一支小小的队伍，个个都裹着长纱笼，满脸的笑意。

不过，这一次，他们入场位置今非昔比了，以往他们都排在M字母开头的国家后面。但北京奥运会采用了汉字比划排序，使得整个次序发生了大逆转：在本届奥运会开幕式中，马尔代夫排在了第七位。