why gold doesn't mean much but medals mean a whole lot?

you are brainwashed by the US media.

Gold is always the first. There is no reason gold weighs the same as brown. All over the world, except the US, make the ranking by gold only.

I am happy to trade 100 brown medals for one gold medal. Do you see how players are excited after they got gold and how disappointed if they got the silver? That pretty much tells you that "gold medal" is the only thing counts.