Gert Scholtz

7 years ago · 1 min. reading time · ~100 ·

Blogging
>
Gert blog
>
Olympic Medals - The Real Winning Countries

Olympic Medals - The Real Winning Countries

889b262e.jpg


By Javier Camara Rica and Gert Scholtz.

The Rio Olympics has finished and the USA tops the list for the nation winning the most medals. Almost double the next best countries China and Great Britain. But this is what we would expect from three superpowers of the world.

A different way of looking at the results is the medal count per population of each country. Medals relative to a nation’s size, is perhaps a more accurate reflection of its sporting success. Any guesses for the number one spot?

Grenada with Kirani James winning the silver medal in the men’s 400m sprint. With a population of only a little more than one hundred thousand, this Caribbean island takes the top rank.

Bahamas follows with two medals. Another Island in the sun with only a few hundred thousand citizens.

Jamaica, the land of the super sprinters, is in third position with eleven medals from a team of only sixty athletes. An island with 2,7 million people. Ya-Maan!

New Zealand is fourth place with eighteen medals from 4,6 million people on the North and South Islands. More than half their medals came from rowing, sailing and canoeing. 

Denmark  for the first time ever had a woman medalist in track and field athletics. They take position five.

As for the main beBee countries, on this ranking the USA is much lower down at forty and Canada at twenty nine. Yes, the Canucks beat the Americans in this one.

Spain, the home of beBee is at forty two and Brazil, the host country is in position seventy three.

Strikingly the Eastern European countries dominate the top ranks.

Here are the top twenty countries ranked by medals relative to population size.


Rank/Country/Medals

1. Grenada 1

2. Bahamas 2

3. Jamaica 11

4. New Zealand 18

5. Denmark 14

6. Croatia 10

7. Slovenia 4

8. Georgia 7

9. Azerbaijan 15

10. Hungary 15

11. Bahrain 2

12. Lithuania 4

13. Armenia 4

14. Australia 29

15. Sweden 11

16. Fiji 1

17. Netherlands 18

18. Great Britain 66

19. Serbia 7

20. Kazakhstan 17


Of course there are various statistical ways of gauging a nation’s sporting prominence. Many factors influence country achievement. Infrastructure, government policies, coaching, GDP, incentives, nutrition and sporting culture to name a few.

What would you think makes for the best (or worst) Olympic nations?


Source: www.medalspercapita.com



"
#USA #Real Winning Countries #Great Britain #Olympic Medals #Grenada
Comments

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #26

#34
Andrew - that's some medal take by a county! Well done. UK sport is to be admired. Having lived in the UK for a few years, the organisation, coaching and infrastructure is superb.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #25

For example, UK is amazing. The half of medals got by USA and it only one fith of USA population. Congratulations to UK!

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #24

#28
Lisa Gallagher exactly. Spain and US clearly need to improve.

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #23

#30
Flavio \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 Souza Now that would be interesting! The Olympics has many team sports as you know and the medal rank could then look quite different. For other interesting statistics - see the reference and website at the bottom of the buzz - I think you will like it. Thank you Flavio!

Donald 🐝 Grandy PN

7 years ago #22

Thanks for this post Gert Scholtz. Very interesting stats. I like to follow the small countries. I admire their ability to produce great results with very limited resources. When these countries Croatia, Jamaica, Grenada, Bahamas etc: produce great results, i.e. metals, the entire population becomes motivated. The younger generation sees first hand what can be accomplished with hard work, focus and determination. This gives them joy and hope for the future.

Lisa Gallagher

7 years ago #21

Quite the interesting list! A few Countries I've never heard of and Australia - GB kicked it. I see the US is missing, appears we have work to do before the next Olympics, Spain too? Thanks for compiling this info Gert Scholtz

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #20

#25
CityVP Manjit Your reply and articles could lead to a really interesting debate - and that is if the Olympics should not be held every year in the same country or at centralized venues. The cost of the games is extreme and I don't think developing countries should incur that amount of expense. Thanks as always Manjit.

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #19

#24
Lada Prkic Congratulations - Croatia did very well at the Olympics relative to its size. My country South Africa did not do so well - still a lot that can be improved in our sport. Thank you Lada.

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #18

#24
Dear Lada I am in full agreement with you that sport global sport produces fabulous moments and memorable stories and is an uplifting story. http://indianexpress.com/sports/rio-2016-olympics/brazil-got-its-golden-olympics-football-moment-but-at-what-cost-2988825/ but historically the costs to host become more challenging and the burden falls on the tax payers http://indianexpress.com/sports/rio-2016-olympics/brazil-got-its-golden-olympics-football-moment-but-at-what-cost-2988825/ In the 21st Century why does anyone need to congregate in one city when the world is 24/7 - technology cuts through boundaries, my personal preference is to look at this at a big picture level, the concerns of this Washington Post reporter can then be alleviated https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/20

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #17

#14
Manjit, I didn't manage to read your comment earlier. At the Olympics people are participating under the flags of their countries, and they win medals for their countries as well. I'm proud of every achievement my country has accomplished because I live here, in Croatia, no matter of my nationality. For me that issue has never been crucial because I'm the "product" of mixing the various nationalities (Serbs, Croats, Czechs...), but I consider myself a Croat because I live in Croatia. The world is changing and through the history many countries have been merged and separated. Who knows how the world will look like in another 20 or 30 years.

Mamen 🐝 Delgado

7 years ago #16

Such a great criteria!! Love this idea!

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #15

#20
Flavio \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 Souza the goal of this buzz is to be discontent with the results! We want more and more medals :)

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #14

#20
Flavio \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 Souza The analysis can be different in many ways - you are correct Flavio. The intention on this Buzz is to give but one different perspective to Nations and Countries winning medals at the Olympics. This could be a prompt for further discussion. Thank you for reading and commenting on the Buzz.

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #13

#10
Joanna Hofman Joseph Schooling's swim against Phelps was one of the highlights of the Games!

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #12

#16
Vincent Andrew of course ! we should be proud of our athletes ! this information is good to open eyes and see who are the best countries in terms of performance (medals per capita). The world's largest economies US, China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, India, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Canada.... only UK is on the top list. The other countries should have got much more medals to be at the same level !

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #11

#10
Joanna Hofman you don't see Poland or Spain for example because their performance is not brilliant. This is a list of de top countries (medals per capita)

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #10

From space there are no boundaries on the Earth, until people draw those lines and then self-identify with that boundary. If countries are in the top 20 list above were counted still as a part of former Yugoslavia and the USSR, then there will be a different spread. The US is actually 50 states of which California is the sixth global economic power. How a list is configured depends on the baseline for the statistic. So Andy Murray won Gold for Great Britain but only because Scotland does not compete as a separate nation, yet Scotland do compete as a separate nation at the World Cup. One of the great footballers other than Pele is Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands. Cruyff is loved in Barcelona and before his death he even managed the Catalonia football team, and he did believe that politics and sport do mix as is outlined in this obituary http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/Johan-Cruyff-the-Catalan-resistance-fighter/articleshow/51561056.cms At the Olympic level nationalism is not a fixed entity, it is a political entity - one where Taiwan is not allowed to be called Taiwan because the Olympics cede the overwhelming power of the China, who do not themselves recognize Taiwan. A baby does not know its nationality but as we grow nationality enters our blood, but when we emigrate that decision changes our blood - at the end of his life was Cruyff really the greatest Dutch player that ever lived or the greatest Catalan? I represent a creature of every nation when the underlying nationality is that of a human being. Then there is Nikola Tesla, who I referenced as a Serb and my Croatian friend Jamie strongly corrected me "He is Croatian!". From space there are ......no what?

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #9

From space there are no boundaries on the Earth, until people draw those lines and then self-identify with that boundary. If countries are in the top 20 list above were counted still as a part of former Yugoslavia and the USSR, then there will be a different spread. The US is actually 50 states of which California is the sixth global economic power. How a list is configured depends on the baseline for the statistic. So Andy Murray won Gold for Great Britain but only because Scotland does not compete as a separate nation, yet Scotland do compete as a separate nation at the World Cup. One of the great footballers other than Pele is Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands. Cruyff is loved in Barcelona and before his death he even managed the Catalonia football team, and he did believe that politics and sport do mix as is outlined in this obituary http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/Johan-Cruyff-the-Catalan-resistance-fighter/articleshow/51561056.cms At the Olympic level nationalism is not a fixed entity, it is a political entity - one where Taiwan is not allowed to be called Taiwan because the Olympics cede the overwhelming power of the China, who do not themselves represent Taiwan. A baby does not know its nationality but as we grow nationality enters our blood, but when we emigrate that decision changes our blood - at the end of his life was Cruyff really the greatest Dutch player that ever lived or the greatest Catalan? I represent a creature of every nation when the underlying nationality is that of a human being. Then there is Nikola Tesla, who I referenced as a Serb and my Croatian friend Jamie strongly corrected me "He is Croatian!". From space there are ......no what?

CityVP Manjit

7 years ago #8

From space there are no boundaries on the Earth, until people draw those lines and then self-identify with that boundary. If countries are in the top 20 list above were counted still as a part of former Yugoslavia and the USSR, then there will be a different spread. The US is actually 50 states of which California is the sixth global economic power. How a list is configured depends on the baseline for the statistic. So Andy Murray won Gold for Great Britain but only because Scotland does not compete as a separate nation, yet Scotland do compete as a separate nation at the World Cup. One of the great footballers other than Pele (who could not light the Olympic torch) is Johan Cruyff of the Netherlands. Cruyff is loved in Barcelona and before his death he even managed the Catalonia football team, and he did believe that politics and sport do mix as is outlined in this obituary http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/top-stories/Johan-Cruyff-the-Catalan-resistance-fighter/articleshow/51561056.cms At the Olympic level nationalism is not a fixed entity, it is a political entity - one where Taiwan is not allowed to be called Taiwan because the Olympics cede the overwhelming power of the China, who do not themselves represent Taiwan. A baby does not know itsbut as we grow where we grow, nationality enters our blood, but when we emigra nanter our blood - at the end of his life was Cruyff really the greatest Dutch player that ever lived or the greatest Catalan? I represent a creature of every nation when the underlying nationality is that of a human being. Then there is Nikola Tesla, who I referenced as a Serb and my Croatian friend Jamie strongly corrected me "He is Croatian!". From space there are ......

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #7

#7
Lada Prkic yes congratulations !

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #6

#6
Gert Scholtz you are right!

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #5

I agree with Javier beBee.

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #4

Javier beBee I find Cuba also commendable. The nation won 11 medals with a population of 11m people. Cuba is no 21 on the list. Also the Netherlands which won medals over a wide array of sporting disciplines. A smaller European country and nation compared to its neighbors. These two countries must be doing something right.

Laurent Boscherini

7 years ago #3

Thank you Gert Scholtz for sharing your excellent post which shows us so well "diversity " following an insightful prism. Well done to the Olympic Spirit game !

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #2

#2
Praveen Raj Gullepalli this ranking is just to arise that for example US (despite of being always the winner in terms of quantity) should perform better , India and Mexico need to change and bet on sport. Spain needs to improve despite of being on the top 13th in the official list.... You can get a lot of different things from this list...... Again the real winners are those in this list :)

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #1

Thanks Gert Scholtz. You took over me!! LOL.... Yes. Exactly... Medals per capita is an excellent Criteria in my humble opinion.... Among the most developed countries and biggest ones should have much more medals. For example a special mention for Mexico and India with huge population but poor performance. Spain also needs to improve.

Articles from Gert Scholtz

View blog
6 years ago · 9 min. reading time

Interview with Phil Friedman

Phil Friedman kindly agreed to an interview with me. We both have been on BeBee for some time, and I ...

5 years ago · 1 min. reading time

About Time

Time goes fast, time goes slow. · There are times when we stop to think about time itself. How we se ...

6 years ago · 3 min. reading time

High Five

Today I have been on BeBee for two years. My main motivation for being here is to learn more about b ...

Related professionals

You may be interested in these jobs

  • First Degree Recruitment

    Vehicle Sales executive New/Used

    2 hours ago

    First Degree Recruitment Johannesburg, South Africa Full time

    We have a vacancy for a New Vehicle Sales and Pre-owned Sales executive with a large, fast-selling branded dealership in Johannesburg/Pretoria. · Duties and responsibilities: Cold calling and finding new business, Follow up on new and existing clients, Structuring finance options ...

  • TSM Consulting

    Fitter & Turner

    1 day ago

    TSM Consulting Cape Town, South Africa

    Our client, a well-known manufacturing organisation is seeking to employ a Fitter and Turner. · Key Responsibilities · Preventative maintenance · Conducting risk assessments · Inspecting and selecting tools for various tasks · Assembly of machinery parts · Construction and fabric ...

  • EY

    Mining Tax Senior Manager

    2 days ago

    Direct apply
    EY Johannesburg, South Africa

    As a Senior Manager primarily responsible for mining tax assurance services within the Tax Accounting and Risk Advisory (TARAS) business, you will combine your tax technical and tax accounting skills with practical commercial, legislative and industry knowledge to provide assuran ...