August 22, 2004
I've Got The United States Ranked 30th In Olympics Medal Count
Typically, we see medal counts ranking countries by raw medal numbers. Something like this, where the total score is derived by having the Gold worth 3, Silver worth 2, and Bronze worth 1. (This isn't a complete count -- I got sick of cleaning tabular data.)
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | "Total" | |||
| 1 | United States | 20 | 17 | 12 | 106 | ||
| 2 | China | 20 | 13 | 10 | 96 | ||
| 3 | Russia | 7 | 13 | 14 | 61 | ||
| 4 | Germany | 10 | 9 | 11 | 59 | ||
| 5 | Australia | 11 | 7 | 11 | 58 | ||
| 6 | Japan | 12 | 5 | 5 | 51 | ||
| 7 | France | 6 | 8 | 7 | 41 | ||
| 8 | Korea | 5 | 10 | 5 | 40 | ||
| 9 | Italy | 6 | 6 | 6 | 36 | ||
| 9 | Great Britain | 5 | 7 | 7 | 36 | ||
| 11 | Netherlands | 3 | 6 | 7 | 28 | ||
| 12 | Ukraine | 6 | 2 | 5 | 27 | ||
| 13 | Romania | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | ||
| 13 | Belarus | 2 | 3 | 5 | 17 | ||
| 15 | Greece | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | ||
| 16 | Hungary | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | ||
| 16 | Poland | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | ||
| 18 | Slovakia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 18 | Spain | 0 | 5 | 1 | 11 | ||
| 20 | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 21 | Cuba | 0 | 2 | 5 | 9 | ||
| 22 | Georgia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 22 | Thailand | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 24 | Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 24 | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 24 | Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 24 | Denmark | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 24 | Austria | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 24 | DPR Korea | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 30 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 30 | Croatia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 30 | Czech Republic | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 33 | Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 33 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 33 | Canada | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 36 | Chile | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 36 | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 36 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| 39 | New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 39 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 39 | United Arab Emirates | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
But, this approach doesn't take into account what I consider an obvious advantage of the leading countries -- population size. Of course the United States has a lot of medals -- it has a lot of people from which to draw a select group of athletes. If you factor a country's population size into their total, you get a very different ranking. "Score" is the "Total" divided by the population, multiplied by 10,000,000 (to get a nice, readable number).
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | "Total" | Population | Score | |
| 1 | Australia | 11 | 7 | 11 | 58 | 19,731,984 | 29.39 |
| 2 | Slovakia | 2 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 5,430,033 | 20.26 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 3 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 16,150,511 | 17.34 |
| 4 | Belarus | 2 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 10,322,151 | 16.47 |
| 5 | Georgia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4,934,413 | 16.21 |
| 6 | Croatia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4,422,248 | 13.57 |
| 7 | Greece | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 10,665,989 | 13.13 |
| 8 | Denmark | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 5,384,384 | 13.00 |
| 9 | Hungary | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 10,045,407 | 12.94 |
| 10 | U Arab Emira | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2,484,818 | 12.07 |
| 11 | Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 7,537,929 | 9.29 |
| 12 | Austria | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 8,188,207 | 8.55 |
| 13 | Korea | 5 | 10 | 5 | 40 | 48,289,037 | 8.28 |
| 14 | Cuba | 0 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 11,263,429 | 7.99 |
| 15 | Romania | 5 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 22,271,839 | 7.63 |
| 16 | New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3,951,307 | 7.59 |
| 17 | Germany | 10 | 9 | 11 | 59 | 82,398,326 | 7.16 |
| 18 | France | 6 | 8 | 7 | 41 | 60,180,529 | 6.81 |
| 19 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4,546,123 | 6.60 |
| 20 | Italy | 6 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 57,998,353 | 6.21 |
| 21 | Great Britain | 5 | 7 | 7 | 36 | 60,094,648 | 5.99 |
| 22 | Czech Repub | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10,249,216 | 5.85 |
| 23 | Ukraine | 6 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 48,055,439 | 5.62 |
| 24 | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7,318,638 | 5.47 |
| 25 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 10,289,088 | 4.86 |
| 26 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12,576,742 | 4.77 |
| 27 | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8,878,085 | 4.51 |
| 28 | Russia | 7 | 13 | 14 | 61 | 144,526,278 | 4.22 |
| 29 | Japan | 12 | 5 | 5 | 51 | 127,214,499 | 4.01 |
| 30 | United States | 20 | 17 | 12 | 106 | 290,342,554 | 3.65 |
| 31 | Poland | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 38,622,660 | 3.37 |
| 32 | DPR Korea | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 22,466,481 | 3.12 |
| 33 | Spain | 0 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 40,217,413 | 2.74 |
| 34 | Chile | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 15,665,216 | 2.55 |
| 35 | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 42,768,678 | 1.64 |
| 36 | Canada | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 32,207,113 | 1.55 |
| 37 | Turkey | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 68,109,469 | 1.47 |
| 38 | Thailand | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 64,265,276 | 1.24 |
| 39 | Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 66,557,553 | 0.75 |
| 40 | China | 20 | 13 | 10 | 96 | 1,286,975,468 | 0.75 |
| 41 | Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 234,893,453 | 0.30 |
Congratulations, Australia, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, for being the leading countries (so far)!
