The Olympic medal table is a method of sorting the medal placements of countries in the modern-day
Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
and
Paralympics. The
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) does not officially recognize a ranking of participating countries at the Olympic Games.
Nevertheless, the IOC does publish medal tallies for information purposes, showing the total number of
Olympic medal
An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...
s earned by athletes representing each country's respective
National Olympic Committee
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
.
The convention used by the IOC is to sort by the number of gold medals the athletes from a country have earned. In the event of a tie in the number of gold medals, the number of silver medals is taken into consideration, and then the number of bronze medals. If two countries have an equal number of gold, silver, and bronze medals, they are ordered in the table alphabetically by their
IOC country code
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses three-letter abbreviation country codes to refer to each group of athletes that participate in the Olympic Games. Each geocode usually identifies a National Olympic Committee (NOC), but there are ...
.
Background
The Olympic Charter, Chapter 1, section 6 states that:
The Charter goes even further in Chapter 5, section 57, expressly prohibiting the IOC from producing an official ranking:
According to Australian IOC member
Kevan Gosper
Richard Kevan Gosper, AO (born 19 December 1933) is an Australian former athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He was formerly a Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, and combined Chairman and CEO of Shell Australia ...
, the IOC began to accommodate medals tables in 1992, releasing 'information' based on the 'gold first' standard.
The medal tables provided on its website carry this disclaimer:
Official reports
Each
Olympic Games organising committee (except in 1904) has published an official report after the conclusion of the Games, which among other things list the results of each event. Some early reports included an overall national ranking, including those of 1908,
1912,
1924 (Summer
and Winter
) and 1928 (Winter
). The 1912 and 1924 tables are described as "official" while that of 1928 is "unofficial".
The 1932 Winter Games report states, "There is no official point score in the Olympic Games" and quotes General Rule 19 of the 1930 Olympic Charter, "In the Olympic Games there is no classification according to points".
It states that the country-based organisation of teams is "chiefly for practical convenience" and that country rankings are "a grave injustice on the smaller countries".
It continues that "it has been the experience of all previous Olympic Games that the press of the world insist on exploiting the aspect of national rivalry by creating and publishing a wholly unofficial point score of their own devising, most often on the basis of 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for the six places recognized on the table of honour". The report itself provides such a table "for ready reference".
National goals
The sports funding agencies of some nations have set targets of reaching a certain rank in the medals table, usually based on gold medals; examples are Australia, Japan, France, and Germany.
Funding is reduced for sports with low prospects of medals.
After London's
successful bid to host the
2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
,
UK Sport
UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
It was created ...
submitted a funding request to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = Gove ...
setting an "aspirational goal" of fourth place in the
2012 medals table, to be reviewed after the
2008 Olympics, for which a target of eighth place was set.
The
British Olympic Association
The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...
dissociated itself from setting targets.
When Britain
finished fourth in 2008, the 2012 target was settled at fourth, with the team
ultimately finishing third.
Australia's disappointing 10th-place in the 2012 medals table prompted the
Australian Sports Commission
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as Sp ...
to draw up a ten-year plan which included a "medium-term" goal of a top-five place in the Summer Olympics and Paralympics and a top-15 place in the winter games.
When
Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics
The Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful bid, first recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on September 14, 2007. The IOC shortlisted four of the seven applicant cities—Chicago, United Sta ...
, the
Japanese Olympic Committee
The is the National Olympic Committee in Japan for the Olympic Games movement, based in Tokyo, Japan. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams and raises funds to send Japanese competitors to Olympic events organised by the Internati ...
set a 2016 target of third place in gold medals, which it retained even after the games were awarded in 2009 to Rio de Janeiro.
Ranking systems
As the IOC does not consider its sorting of nations to be an official ranking system, various methods of ranking nations are used. Some sort rankings decided by the total number of medals the country has but most list by the gold medals counted. However, if two or more teams have the same number of gold medals, the silver medals are then judged from the most to the least and then the bronze medals.
Medal count ranking
The gold first ranking system described above is used by most of the world media, as well as the IOC. While the gold first ranking system has been used occasionally by some American media outlets, newspapers in the United States primarily publish medal tables ordered by the total number of medals won.
This difference in rankings has its origins in the early days of the Olympics, when the IOC did not publish or recognise medal tables.
Before the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
the difference in ranking system received scant notice, since in recent Olympic history the country that led in total medals also led in the gold count. However, during the 2002 Winter Olympics Germany won the highest number of medals (36), but earned one gold medal fewer than Norway - the latter winning 13. A similar situation occurred at the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
, with China and U.S. topping the gold and total medal tallies respectively,
and then again at the
2010 Winter Olympics
)''
, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...
when Canada and the U.S. finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the "gold first" ranking and 3rd and 1st respectively in terms of total medals won.
Other exceptions are the
1896,
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
, and
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
Summer Olympics when the United States finished first in gold medal count, but second in the overall medal count.
In an 24 August 2008 news conference, IOC President
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge beca ...
confirmed that the IOC does not have a view on any particular ranking system.
[
Finally, an inherent bias has been observed in these medal rankings against team sports. While in individual sports there are multiple chances for a single athlete to win a medal, in team sports a group of athletes can only win one medal for their country. If we combine the men's and women's swimming events, there are 90 possible medals that can be achieved by success in the sport. Basketball or soccer, on the contrary, have just 2 possible medals each.] This circumstance is detrimental to countries with a strong tradition in team sports, and has led some to propose a system where all the individual medals given out to team members are counted. It has also been noted that, with medals standing as an indicator of Olympic success, the current system acts as an incentive for countries to increase funding and support to individual sports.
During the Cold War
The Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
brought considerable support for the adoption of a formal ranking system, with the top three countries being awarded overall gold, silver, and bronze medals at the closing ceremonies. Proposed formats varied as to how many points were to be awarded for each gold, silver, and bronze medal (with team medals only counting once) — but nothing was ever officially proceeded with. After the Cold War ended, support for doing this quickly evaporated.
Population-size, resources-per-person and multivariate prediction models and ratings
Sporting success predictions and ratings can be univariate
In mathematics, a univariate object is an expression, equation, function or polynomial involving only one variable. Objects involving more than one variable are multivariate. In some cases the distinction between the univariate and multivariate cas ...
, i.e. based on one independent variable, such as a country's population size and the number of medals is divided by the population of the country, or multivariate
Multivariate may refer to:
In mathematics
* Multivariable calculus
* Multivariate function
* Multivariate polynomial
In computing
* Multivariate cryptography
* Multivariate division algorithm
* Multivariate interpolation
* Multivariate optical c ...
, where resources-per-person in the form of GDP per capita and other variables are included.
Resources per person in the form of GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
per capita has been included in an article by ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' published during the 2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and again by Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's News Lab for the Rio 2016 games. Already in 2002, the research done by Meghan Busse of Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
suggested that both a large population and high per capita GDP are needed to generate high medal totals, and predictive models have been built trying to predict success with multivariate analysis
Multivariate statistics is a subdivision of statistics encompassing the simultaneous observation and analysis of more than one outcome variable.
Multivariate statistics concerns understanding the different aims and background of each of the dif ...
, taking also past results and host-nation advantage into account.
Weighted ranking
Systematic rankings based upon a weighted point system with the most points awarded to a gold medal have also been devised. Those used in the official reports were:
* 1908: 5:3:1 — gold medals 5 points, silver medals 3 points, and bronze medals 1 point.
* 1912: 3:2:1 — the report also compares this "Swedish" method with the 5:3:1 "English" method.
* 1924: 10:5:4:3:2:1 — so points were awarded for 4th to 6th places, where no medals were awarded. The IOC did require top six finishers to be listed in the report in a "table of honour".
* 1928: 6:5:4:3:2:1 — separate totals are listed depending on whether the military patrol
Military patrol was a team winter sport in which athletes competed in cross-country skiing, ski mountaineering and rifle shooting. It was usually contested between countries or military units.
The military patrol competition encompassed 25 ki ...
was included or not, as its status was downgraded belatedly to demonstration sport
A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events.
Demonstration spor ...
.
* 1932: same as 1924, and described as the usual scheme in newspapers.
The 1908 and 1924 systems share the points for tied placings: for example, in a two-way tie for second, each gets half the sum of the points for second and third place.
In 2004, a 3:2:1 system was used by the Australian Geography Teachers Association. This weighting values a gold medal as much weight as a silver and a bronze medal combined. In response to the 2008 controversy over medal rank, Jeff Z. Klein in a ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' blog post proposed a 4:2:1 system as a compromise between the total-medals and golds-first methods. These systems have been popular in certain places at certain times, but none of them have been adopted on a large scale.
See also
*All-time Olympic Games medal table
The all-time medal table for all Olympic Games from 1896 to 2022, including Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games, and a combined total of both, is tabulated below. These Olympic medal counts do not include the 1906 Intercalated Games which ...
*All-time Paralympic Games medal table
An all-time medal table for all Paralympic Games from 1960 to 2020. The International Paralympic Committee does not publish all-time tables, and publishes unofficial tables only per single Games. This table was thus compiled by adding up single e ...
*All-time Youth Olympic Games medal table
An all-time medal table for all Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 2010 to 2018 is tabulated below. This is a summary of medal tables published by IOC on every YOG edition. A total of 126 nations have won at least one medal in the Youth Olympic Game ...
References
{{Use dmy dates, date=March 2020
Olympic medals