Key observations:
- The United States leads with 2,764 medals, followed by the United Kingdom (981) and France (815).
- China has accumulated 727 medals, while Russia has 423.
- Several countries, particularly in Africa and Central Asia, have won very few or no medals at all.
- The median number of medals per country is only 5, highlighting the dominance of a few nations.
- The average number of medals across all countries is 93.5.
The map emphasizes a significant disparity in medal distribution, with a few countries dominating the total count while many others have little or no representation in Olympic success.
It should be noted that the map does not include medals won by the USSR or states like East Germany, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, etc.
A few stand outs for poor showing are Bangladesh with a population 170 million having never won a single medal compared to San Marino population 35,436 who has won 3 and India, now the most populous country in the world, having won 1 fewer medals than Ireland.
Conversely, Sweden and Hungary’s performances have been amazing given the relatively small size of each country.
Here is a total for all teams:
| Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States (USA) | 1,105 | 879 | 780 | 2,764 |
| Soviet Union (URS) | 395 | 319 | 296 | 1,010 |
| Great Britain (GBR) | 298 | 340 | 343 | 981 |
| France (FRA) | 239 | 277 | 299 | 815 |
| China (CHN) | 303 | 226 | 198 | 727 |
| Germany (GER) | 213 | 220 | 255 | 688 |
| Italy (ITA) | 229 | 201 | 228 | 658 |
| Australia (AUS) | 182 | 192 | 226 | 600 |
| Japan (JPN) | 189 | 162 | 191 | 542 |
| Hungary (HUN) | 187 | 161 | 182 | 530 |
| Sweden (SWE) | 151 | 181 | 182 | 514 |
| Russia (RUS) | 147 | 126 | 150 | 423 |
| East Germany (GDR) | 153 | 129 | 127 | 409 |
| Netherlands (NED) | 110 | 112 | 134 | 356 |
| Canada (CAN) | 80 | 117 | 156 | 353 |
| South Korea (KOR) | 109 | 100 | 111 | 320 |
| Romania (ROU) | 93 | 101 | 123 | 317 |
| Poland (POL) | 73 | 93 | 142 | 308 |
| Finland (FIN) | 101 | 85 | 119 | 305 |
| Cuba (CUB) | 86 | 70 | 88 | 244 |
| Bulgaria (BUL) | 57 | 89 | 85 | 231 |
| Denmark (DEN) | 50 | 80 | 84 | 214 |
| Switzerland (SUI) | 54 | 81 | 79 | 214 |
| West Germany (FRG) | 56 | 67 | 81 | 204 |
| Spain (ESP) | 53 | 76 | 58 | 187 |
| Norway (NOR) | 65 | 53 | 53 | 171 |
| Brazil (BRA) | 40 | 49 | 81 | 170 |
| Belgium (BEL) | 47 | 57 | 63 | 167 |
| New Zealand (NZL) | 63 | 40 | 54 | 157 |
| Ukraine (UKR) | 38 | 41 | 72 | 151 |
| Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 49 | 49 | 45 | 143 |
| Greece (GRE) | 36 | 46 | 47 | 129 |
| Kenya (KEN) | 39 | 44 | 41 | 124 |
| United Team of Germany (EUA) | 28 | 54 | 36 | 118 |
| Unified Team (EUN) | 45 | 38 | 29 | 112 |
| Turkey (TUR) | 41 | 29 | 41 | 111 |
| Austria (AUT) | 22 | 35 | 44 | 101 |
| South Africa (RSA) | 28 | 36 | 31 | 95 |
| Jamaica (JAM) | 27 | 39 | 28 | 94 |
| Iran (IRI) | 27 | 29 | 32 | 88 |
| Belarus (BLR) | 13 | 30 | 42 | 85 |
| Yugoslavia (YUG) | 26 | 29 | 28 | 83 |
| Argentina (ARG) | 22 | 27 | 31 | 80 |
| Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 15 | 25 | 38 | 78 |
| Mexico (MEX) | 13 | 27 | 37 | 77 |
| Czech Republic (CZE) | 22 | 22 | 28 | 72 |
| ROC (ROC) | 20 | 28 | 23 | 71 |
| Ethiopia (ETH) | 24 | 15 | 23 | 62 |
| North Korea (PRK) | 16 | 18 | 27 | 61 |
| Azerbaijan (AZE) | 9 | 16 | 31 | 56 |
| Uzbekistan (UZB) | 18 | 8 | 23 | 49 |
| Croatia (CRO) | 16 | 15 | 17 | 48 |
| Georgia (GEO) | 13 | 15 | 19 | 47 |
| Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 9 | 11 | 23 | 43 |
| Ireland (IRL) | 15 | 10 | 17 | 42 |
| Egypt (EGY) | 9 | 12 | 20 | 41 |
| India (IND) | 10 | 10 | 21 | 41 |
| Thailand (THA) | 11 | 11 | 19 | 41 |
| Indonesia (INA) | 10 | 14 | 16 | 40 |
| Colombia (COL) | 5 | 16 | 17 | 38 |
| Estonia (EST) | 10 | 9 | 17 | 36 |
| Slovakia (SVK) | 10 | 14 | 9 | 33 |
| Portugal (POR) | 6 | 11 | 15 | 32 |
| Mongolia (MGL) | 2 | 12 | 17 | 31 |
| Slovenia (SLO) | 10 | 10 | 11 | 31 |
| Lithuania (LTU) | 6 | 9 | 15 | 30 |
| Serbia (SRB) | 9 | 8 | 12 | 29 |
| Nigeria (NGR) | 3 | 11 | 13 | 27 |
| Morocco (MAR) | 8 | 5 | 13 | 26 |
| Mixed team (ZZX) | 11 | 6 | 8 | 25 |
| Armenia (ARM) | 2 | 11 | 9 | 22 |
| Latvia (LAT) | 4 | 11 | 6 | 21 |
| Algeria (ALG) | 7 | 4 | 9 | 20 |
| Israel (ISR) | 4 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| Trinidad and Tobago (TTO) | 3 | 5 | 11 | 19 |
| Venezuela (VEN) | 3 | 7 | 9 | 19 |
| Philippines (PHI) | 3 | 5 | 10 | 18 |
| Tunisia (TUN) | 6 | 4 | 8 | 18 |
| Bahamas (BAH) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
| Chile (CHI) | 3 | 8 | 4 | 15 |
| Dominican Republic (DOM) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| Malaysia (MAS) | 0 | 8 | 7 | 15 |
| Hong Kong (HKG) | 4 | 3 | 6 | 13 |
| Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) | 0 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| Uganda (UGA) | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Australasia (ANZ) | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| Puerto Rico (PUR) | 2 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| Pakistan (PAK) | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| Ecuador (ECU) | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Moldova (MDA) | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Uruguay (URU) | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Qatar (QAT) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Bahrain (BRN) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Russian Empire (RU1) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Tajikistan (TJK) | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Cameroon (CMR) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Singapore (SGP) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Ivory Coast (CIV) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Ghana (GHA) | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Grenada (GRN) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Kosovo (KOS) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Namibia (NAM) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Peru (PER) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Vietnam (VIE) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Bohemia (BOH) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Botswana (BOT) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Costa Rica (CRC) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Fiji (FIJ) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Iceland (ISL) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Jordan (JOR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Lebanon (LBN) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Panama (PAN) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Syria (SYR) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Guatemala (GUA) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Kuwait (KUW) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Luxembourg (LUX) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| San Marino (SMR) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Zambia (ZAM) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Independent Olympic Participants (IOP) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Afghanistan (AFG) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Albania (ALB) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bermuda (BER) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| British West Indies (BWI) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Burundi (BDI) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Cyprus (CYP) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Haiti (HAI) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mozambique (MOZ) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Niger (NIG) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| North Macedonia North Macedonia (MKD) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Saint Lucia (LCA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Sri Lanka (SRI) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Suriname (SUR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Tanzania (TAN) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Barbados (BAR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Burkina Faso (BUR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cape Verde (CPV) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dominica (DMA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Eritrea (ERI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gabon (GAB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Guyana (GUY) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Iraq (IRQ) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mauritius (MRI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Montenegro (MNE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Netherlands Antilles (AHO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Paraguay (PAR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Samoa (SAM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Senegal (SEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sudan (SUD) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Togo (TOG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tonga (TGA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Turkmenistan (TKM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Virgin Islands (ISV) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Map of European Cities That Have Hosted The Summer Olympics
Which country are you most impressed with or surprised by?
Tom Kinne says
Sure, Germany won 688 medals — if you leave out the other 731 medals won by German athletes. This adds up to 1,419 medals altogether.
Y.D. Robinson says
South America, particularly Argentina but also many if not its neighbours, would be performing far better at the medals counts (up to 10 times better) if Argentina had remained wealthy and stable beyond the early 20th century. Because building training facilities and running training programs does involve money as well as political stability, things that South America has been frequently missing.
Bernie Gilbert says
If your country is below the equator, you’re pretty much SOL.