LONDON — For the handful of countries sitting at the top of the medal count, the Olympics have been a source of joy and a cause for celebration.

Then, there is the rest of the world.

More than 200 nations are competing, and so far fewer than half have landed a single medal. But the carping among fans and in the news media is loudest and most merciless in countries that have turned up on the winners’ podium, though not as often as expected.

In Germany, there has been hand-wringing about its swimmers, who failed to win a medal for the first time in decades. In India, there has been rage about the disastrous showing of the men’s field hockey team. And in Australia the news media have poked fun at their athletes for underachieving in nearly every sport.

“We will have a team of psychologists on standby at the Sydney airport,” joked Cassandra Murnieks, a reporter at The Australian, a daily newspaper with an office in the media center here.