Counting Olympic Gold: USA? Jamaica? Uzbekistan?

gold
USA! USA! USA! Yes, we dominated the Rio Olympics, our athletes were magnificent, and I’m really proud. But, as we Americans count our gold medals and celebrate the dominance of our team over all other nations, I thought it might be fun to tally the medals in a way that is perhaps more fair. After all, if you’re Jamaica, Kenya, or Croatia, going up against the big Yankee machine, you might feel the playing field is not quite level in population and money power.

So, here are the top 20 countries in gold medals won, organized three ways: the conventional tally, by simple numbers; medals per capita; and medals per dollar, taking into account GDP (as it takes money to build and support a team):

Top 20 Gold Medal Winners

United States 46

Great Britain 27

China 26

Russian Federation 19

Germany 17

Japan 12

France 10

South Korea 9

Italy 8

Hungary 8

Australia 8

Netherlands 8

Brazil 7

Spain 7

Jamaica 6

Kenya 6

Cuba 5

Croatia 5

New Zealand 4

Uzbekistan 4

 

Gold Medals per 100m People (Out of Top 20 Gold Medal Winners)

Jamaica 200 (3m people)

Croatia 125 (4m)

New Zealand 80 (5m)

Hungary 80 (10m)

Netherlands 47 (17m)

Cuba 46 (11m)

Great Britain 42 (65m)

Australia 33 (24m)

Germany 21 (81m)

South Korea 18 (51m)

Spain 15 (46m)

France 15 (67m)

United States 14 (321m)

Russian Federation 13 (144m)

Italy 13 (61m)

Kenya 13 (46m)

Uzbekistan 13 (31m)

Japan 10 (127m)

Brazil 3 (208m)

China 2 (1,371m)

 

Gold Medals per Trillion $ in GDP (Out of Top 20 Gold Medal Winners)   

Jamaica 400 ($15b in GDP)

Kenya 177 ($34b)

Uzbekistan 89 ($45b)

Cuba 82 ($61b)

Croatia 78 ($64b)

Hungary 57 ($140b)

New Zealand 31 ($131b)

Great Britain 14 ($2t)

Netherlands 10 ($836b)

Russian Federation 10 ($2t)

South Korea 9 ($1t)

Australia 8 ($1t)

Italy 4 ($2t)

Germany 4 ($4t)

Spain 4 ($2t)

China 4 ($7t)

France 3 ($3t)

United States 3 ($15t)

Brazil 2 ($3t)

Japan 2 ($6t)

Congratulations to all who competed. As the Games have been even since the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece, the 2016 Rio Olympics were a celebration of peace and nations coming together in a beautiful way. (How would you measure and celebrate the winning-est country?)

Comments

11 Replies to “Counting Olympic Gold: USA? Jamaica? Uzbekistan?”

  1. Love the different way of looking at the medals. I am always sad that we count our wins so strongly, I cheer for all the winners and losers. It take a lot to even be able to make the different teams. Yeah for all that made their countries teams and those who missed going but tried.

  2. Cool! Thanks for giving us another way to see the data. It gives us a much better view of reality, something we all need on a regular basis.
    Have grand voyages!

  3. Love that way of looking at medals. The thing I love best about the Olympics is how the athletes are brought together from all different countries and religions and races. I was humbled by the refugee team, and the few stories of athletes that overcame so much to be there to participate. I disagree with giving every kid on the team a trophy but I think every athlete that participates is a winner in the Olympics, no matter if they placed last. I am proud of all the US Athletes (except for 4 swimmers) but feel that too much is made about the gold medals and our athletes in general, and wish NBC and other media outlets would have given us more info about athletes with personal stories outside our borders that participated, even if they didn’t win.

  4. You haven’t mentioned Canada, who also got 4 gold medals. What an insult not to mention your neighbour to the north, where you have so many followers.

  5. What a terrific comparison, Rick. Once upon a time, the Olympic games used to be about the struggle; now they’re only about the finish. How dull and superficial.

    Years ago, I used to live for the Olympics. Now, I don’t even watch them. Too many bad boys and girls being admired for behavior that’s less than professional. Too much USA and not enough about other nations’ athletes who struggle a lot more then ours. Too much about the USA’s wealth (i.e. the gymnasts’ leotards were studded with thousands of dollars worth of Swarovski crystals; and each girl had more than one leotard!).

    And let’s not forget, entirely too many commercial breaks. Oh, one gymnast goes through a routine, time for a commercial. Another goes through his/her routine, time for another commercial. Insulting to my intelligence.

    What should be lauded is the para-Olympics … and broadcast TV doesn’t even cover their events. What a shame.

  6. It’s time to rethink the Olympics–from the ground up. Nothing wrong with encouraging super fitness and bringing together participants from all over the world BUT the amount of money spent in total to prepare for and to put on the Olympics–including advertising, travel, impact on the host country, etc.etc, etc. could be spent more wisely. Let’s start the discussion about a total rethink.

  7. Please count me among your overlooked, disappointed, bewildered and yes, “insulted” readers, most of whom will not take the time to express their displeasure with being left off the list of Gold Medal Winners – but they’re out there, and they’re angry! We also earned 4 Gold Medals and 9 more in total than Uzbekistan – yet they made your list, and the achievements of our athletes were ignored! WHY???

  8. USA, and the population thing crossed my mind too as the games went on. I think we are 3rd in population, so it only makes sense we would win more, plus affluent enough to support young people training expense.

  9. I think that we gained more medals this year because of doping Russia was pretty much eliminated and they are strong in the Olympics. I hate to see all the negativity! It this all Americans can do now is find fault in everything. People get out there and live your life, what is happening here! You are responsible for your own happiness. Our future generation of athletics should not be punished because there was one bad boy! There always is. Everyone loves different things, some music, some sports,some travel what ever! Just find happiness in the short time God puts us on earth.

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