With the haul of gold medals by the US in the last Olympics stood up aside where the US ranks in education does it seem the US is more focused on sports and competition than education?

In another thread it was said that the US produces so many gold metals is because of the money the US spends on its athletes, along with better food/nutrition and training facilities. However, in the realm of education the US ranks around 16th or 17th (statistics from 2015–2016) in education, being bested by nations like Finland, Netherlands, South Korea, Denmark, etc. that doesn’t produce many medals in the Summer Olympic (and sometimes not even the Winter Olympics). By those number or stats, it would appear the US is more concerned with sports and competitions athletically then competing academically, what say you?

(Let the spin begin)