The Summer Olympics just keep getting bigger. There are 302 gold medals up for grabs in Beijing. That’s a gold medal every 47 minutes for the sixteen-day span of the games. Doesn’t sound so special when it’s put that way, does it? But is that BMX gold medal really as significant as the historic one Michael Phelps won last night? No, and there are good reasons why. Follow the jump for an in-depth analysis of the most valuable gold medals and the sports that don’t even deserve to be in the Olympics.

In Finneye’s post on the Swedish wrestler who threw away his bronze medal, he gave some of the background surrounding the players involved. For another look at the act, we got this from Roger Brigham, himself a wrestler at the Gay Games.

Writes Brigham: “Look at the expression on the Swede’s face. He’s screaming because he can think a bronze will carry much less endorsement value than a gold or silver. He’s screaming because he’s convinced that anything less than a gold was a ‘failure.’ ”

Not all Olympic medal winners are happy. Extremely unhappy was the 33-year old Armenian-born Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian who was handed a bronze medal in the men’s Greco-Roman 84kg wrestling category. The Globe and Mail, Canada reports:

Abrahamian lost a 3-1 decision to Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi in the 84-kilogram Greco-Roman semi-final at the Chinese Agricultural University Gym. After the match, Abrahamian shouted at the referee and judges and had to be restrained by a team official.

Steeve Guenot of France (right) won his country’s first wrestling gold since 1924 when he won the 66 kg (145 pounds) class in Greco-Roman wrestling. The railway worker said, “This is the most beautiful day of my life.”

Guenot’s older brother Christophe won the bronze in the 74 kg (162 pounds) class. Photo of the two brothers after the jump.