Which country really wins the Olympics?

Gold medals per population and GDP since 1996

Rank	Country name	Country	Golds	Golds per person	Golds per GDP
	USA	USA	284	0.86	13.649
	China	CHN	226	0.157	15.208
	Russia	RUS	169	1.158	115.431
	Great Britain	GBR	118	1.738	44.726
	Germany	DEU	100	1.194	26.451
	Australia	AUS	89	3.49	66.682
	France	FRA	77	1.18	30.179
	Italy	ITA	70	1.158	37.874
	South Korea	KOR	65	1.268	40.963
	Japan	JPN	79	0.625	16.088
	Cuba	CUB	49	4.326	536.398
	Hungary	HUN	48	4.969	320.13
	Netherlands	NLD	51	2.976	57.540
	Ukraine	UKR	35	0.8	246.046
	Romania	ROU	31	1.611	124.686
	Spain	ESP	30	0.642	24.049
	Poland	POL	29	0.766	49.923
	Brazil	BRA	28	0.132	20.531
	New Zealand	NZL	27	5.599	139.502
	Canada	CAN	25	0.662	15.622
	Jamaica	JAM	22	7.430	1,546.247
	Kenya	KEN	22	0.409	217.718
	Greece	GRC	19	1.823	97.749
	Iran	IRN	20	0.238	32.751
	Ethiopia	ETH	17	0.148	177.847
	Norway	NOR	20	3.689	54.587
	Czech Republic	CZE	19	1.774	78.521
	Kazakhstan	KAZ	15	0.799	90.509
	Denmark	DNK	17	2.935	50.055
	Sweden	SWE	16	1.584	30.243
	Switzerland	CHE	16	1.849	22.603
	Turkey	TUR	15	0.178	23.097
	Belarus	BLR	13	1.376	225.272
	Bulgaria	BGR	14	2.015	206.134
	Croatia	HRV	14	3.41	246.618
	North Korea	PRK	10	0.388	555.556
	South Africa	ZAF	11	0.185	38.926
	Slovakia	SVK	10	1.832	98.143
	Thailand	THA	10	0.143	19.639
	Argentina	ARG	8	0.177	20.901
	Georgia	GEO	10	2.507	612.895
	Azerbaijan	AZE	7	0.69	168.003
	Belgium	BEL	10	0.863	19.864
	Uzbekistan	UZB	10	0.299	167.305
	Bahamas	BHS	7	17.801	605.536
	Colombia	COL	5	0.098	18.873
	Indonesia	IDN	6	0.022	5.511
	Lithuania	LTU	5	1.837	90.803
	Slovenia	SVN	8	3.848	154.434
	Taiwan	TWN	7	0.294	11.014
	Algeria	DZA	4	0.091	27.151
	Austria	AUT	5	0.555	11.550
	Finland	FIN	4	0.722	14.933
	Ireland	IRL	6	1.215	15.035
	Mexico	MEX	4	0.031	3.845
	Cameroon	CMR	3	0.113	76.852
	Dominican Republic	DMA	3	0.277	38.519
	Latvia	LVA	4	2.121	121.157
	Nigeria	NGA	3	0.015	6.772
	Serbia	SRB	6	0.687	115.387
	Tunisia	TUN	4	0.338	101.973
	Armenia	ARM	2	0.675	156.091
	Bahrain	BHR	2	1.175	57.763
	Chile	CHL	2	0.105	8.149
	Estonia	EST	3	2.262	98.464
	Mongolia	MNG	2	0.61	149.421
	Morocco	MAR	3	0.081	26.733
	Portugal	PRT	2	0.196	9.021
	Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	2	1.429	88.036
	Zimbabwe	ZWE	2	0.135	142.837
	Burundi	BDI	1	0.084	319.387
	Costa Rica	CRI	1	0.196	16.766
	Ecuador	ECU	3	0.170	32.231
	Egypt	EGY	2	0.02	5.527
	Fiji	FJI	2	2.231	508.647
	Grenada	GRD	1	8.887	931.099
	Hong Kong	HKG	2	0.267	5.860
	India	IND	2	0.001	0.771
	Israel	ISR	3	0.347	7.824
	Ivory Coast	CIV	1	0.038	16.26
	Jordan	JOR	1	0.098	23.469
	Kosovo	KOS	3	1.657	400.855
	Mozambique	MOZ	1	0.032	68.695
	Panama	PAN	1	0.232	16.588
	Puerto Rico	PRI	2	0.699	21.284
	Singapore	SGP	1	0.171	2.963
	Syria	SYR	1	0.057	15.385
	Tajikistan	TJK	1	0.105	126.614
	Uganda	UGA	3	0.066	79.506
	United Arab Emirates	ARE	1	0.101	2.826
	Venezuela	VEN	2	0.07	41.144
	Vietnam	VNM	1	0.01	2.936

Golds per person = Number of golds ÷ population (millions)
Golds per GDP = Number of golds ÷ GDP (trillions)  

Summer Olympic medal tables often look familiar – USA, China, Great Britain, Russia and Australia usually dominate. But that doesn’t show the whole picture. These nations have larger populations and more money to spend than average.

To uncover the real Olympic champion, we worked out which countries have won the most gold medals per person and per national wealth since 1996. Click on golds per person and golds per gross domestic product (GDP) on the table above to get a better picture.

We start at Atlanta ’96 because that was the first summer Olympics without the USSR. The USSR were a huge medal winner so a time span both with and without them gives inconsistent data.

Jamaica are top dogs

The standout nation from our research is Jamaica. They rank number 1 for golds per GDP, with 1,546.247 golds achieved for each $1 trillion of GDP. For comparison the USA scores 13.6!

Jamaica’s 7.43 golds per million people stat is also impressive, with only 2 nations able to beat it. For comparison China scores 0.157.

This is in no small part down to their sprinting ability. Every gold medal won by the Jamaican Olympic team since 1996 has been on the track (100m, 110m hurdles, 200m and 400m). What makes this even more impressive is that Jamaica only really came to the party from 2004. In Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 they won just 1 gold medal. So hats off to the sprinters, who have pushed their nation to dizzy Olympic heights!

Cuba gets second place

Cuba rank an impressive 6th for both golds per person and golds per GDP. The reason for this is combat sports. 22 of their 49 gold medals since 1996 have come in boxing, with each Olympics providing a minimum of 2 boxing golds. 13 gold medals have come from Judo and Wresting since 1996, meaning just over 70% of their overall triumphs have been in combat sports.

Boxing is a huge deal in Cuba. Of the 99,000 registered athletes in Cuba currently, 19,000 are boxers, with only 12 making the Olympic team.

North Korean flexing

Despite only having a GDP of $18 billion North Korea managed a monumental 10 golds. That gets them 5th place in golds per GDP behind only Grenada, Jamaica, Georgia and Bahamas. While the nation is getting great value for money here, they’re not doing so well per person, ranking 52nd.

The North Korean’s perform admirably in weightlifting, winning 5 golds since Atlanta ’96. 3 of their triumphs have come in gymnastics, with the other 2 in wresting and judo. Clearly they are excelling in strength based events and reaping the rewards.

The recipe for their success is unknown. When their weightlifters were quizzed about their training methods back in 2014 they responded in cryptic fashion, with Om Yun Chol saying “I have a question for the journalists here, have you ever heard that an egg can break a stone?”. I have not heard that but I have heard of steroids.

Former Soviet strength

The USSR was an Olympic force to be reckoned with before its dissolution. However, their legacy remains alive within the former states. Since 1996, these 15 countries have won 274 gold medals combined, being most successful in wresting (51 golds) followed by gymnastics (34), athletics (33), and boxing (27). Russia won 61.6% of those.

Each former soviet state performs well in golds per GDP. In fact, 10 of the 15 countries rank in the top 30. Georgia performs best, ranked 3rd for golds per GDP and 13th for golds per person. 8 former Soviet states beat Russia itself in golds per GDP and 5 do so in golds per person.

New Zealand beats Australia

For gold medals per person New Zealand ranks 4th and Australia ranks 9th.

For golds per GDP New Zealand ranks 23rd, they highest of any major first world country. Meanwhile, Australia achieve almost half as many golds per GDP ranking 40th.

The sporting prowess of the 2 nations comes on the water. An amazing 68.1% of their combined gold medals since 1996 have come in water sports, with swimming being the most fruitful. Rowing is the next best with 16.38% of the 2 nation’s gold medal haul.

USA and China not so mighty after all

Anyone looking at the raw data for Olympic gold medals would assume China and The USA are performing admirably. However, our data suggests otherwise.

Ranking 75th (China) and 78th (USA) in golds per GDP proves the 2 powerhouses aren’t getting the best bang for their buck. The USA then ranks 37th in golds per person while China come a lowly 68th.

Substandard Subcontinent

By far the worst performing region by our metrics is the Indian Subcontinent – made up of;

• India
• Pakistan
• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Nepal
• Bhutan
• The Maldives

Between these 7 countries only 2 gold medals were mustered since 1996. Both of these were won by India – Abhinav Bindra in shooting at Beijing 2008 and Neeraj Chopra in the javelin at Tokyo 2020.

On this day, the 11th August at 2008 Beijing Olympics, Abhinav Bindra won India’s first-ever and the only individual Olympic Gold Medal! We are extremely proud of this historic achievement by @Abhinav_Bindra 🥇 pic.twitter.com/N6DpLBH1DD

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) August 11, 2020

Combined, the 7 nations have a population of 1.8 billion people so a haul of 2 gold medals seems pretty pitiful. As developing nations you would assume their athletes are not getting the funding needed, but that is why we measure golds per GDP, at which they do just as poorly.

As the Head of the Indian Olympic Association mentions below, families traditionally favor giving their children a good education over focusing on sport, with the possible exception of cricket. India and Pakistan can match anyone on the global cricketing stage. This suggest these countries could do better in the olympics if the desire was there.

Sport has always taken a back seat vis a vis education

Narayana Ramachandran, Head of the Indian Olympic Association