American news outlets have been mocked for ranking countries at the Tokyo Olympics by total medals won instead of golds.
The longstanding practice keeps the US on top of the leaderboard with a two-medal lead as of Tuesday morning, even though China has seven more golds.
The New York Times posted a medal count to Facebook on Sunday which quickly came under the scrutiny of international readers.
Many were quick to point out the newspaper ranked the countries by the total amount of medals won, instead of the number of gold, silver and bronze.
American news outlets have been slammed for ranking countries by total medals won instead of golds in a bid to keep the United States on top of the leaderboard
The New York Times posted a medal count from the Tokyo Olympics to Facebook on Sunday which quickly came under the scrutiny of international users
The ranking system placed the US firmly on top with a total of 56 medals at the time, followed by China with 50, the Russian Olympic Committee with 40, Britain with 32, and Japan with 31.
The US is the only major sporting country to rank the count by total medals, and faces criticism every year for being out of step with the rest of the world.
One NYT reader went as far to say Americans had a 'superiority complex' that prompted them to 'rearrange an entire competition so that it looks like they're winning'.
'It is ranked according to the number of gold medals won and then silver, etc. It is not ranked on the number of medals won,' another added.
'Surely that is the reason why the athletes aim for the gold for their countries.
'I will keep posting this until The New York Times complies with how it should be presented properly.'
The ranking system placed the United States firmly on top with a total of 56 medals, followed by China with 50, adding fuel to the long-standing competition between the two nations
The comment received over 1,400 likes with another user adding the tally made them incorrectly assume the US was leading in the Games instead of China.
'I've been staring at this tally for a long time from here in Australia completely confused,' another woman wrote.
'Then I realised The
