Sports Perspectives

By Alex

With the Olympic games in full gear let’s have a look at some statistics.

First, I wanted to have a look at the medal count since Albertville, 1992 for selected countries.

- Germany has amassed 144 total medals – more than any country on the list. They also topped the list with 54 gold. Norway is next with 115 and 45 gold – although just two in Torino; its lowest gold output of the five Olympics – they won 13 in Salt Lake. Russia (including the Unified Team) is third with 99 medals and 42 gold.

- Long a winter power, Sweden’s production has stalled. Consider since 1992 they’ve won 31 medals with 10 gold. In two of those Olympics (Nagano and Salt Lake) they didn’t win a gold. Seven of the 10 came in Torino where the program seems to have been set back on track with 17 medals.

-Finland, another traditional power, also slowed. 41 total medals with nine gold.

-Switzerland earned 37 medals and 14 gold while Austria clocks in at 84 medals (23 gold) – fourth on the list.

-The United States 96 medals and 36.

-This is a big year for Canada. They’re predicted to win anywhere between 37 and 41 medals in Vancouver. For Canada, it’s been a steady uptick since Albertville winning 7, 13, 15, 17 and 24 medals during that time. Speaking of gradual improvements, China has seen its numbers move along the 3,3,8,8, 11 mark.Italy’s numbers have remain relatively steady.

-In the interesting fact corner, coming into the Olympics, 75 of Holland’s all-time 78 medals (96%) have come in speed skating. Now there’s a philosophy. Pick a sport, master it and reap the rewards.

Here’s how the total medals table looks:

Germany 144, Norway, 115, Russia 99, Austria 84, United States 96, Canada 76, Italy 68 (22 gold), France 42 (12 gold), Finland 41, Switzerland 37, Netherlands 36 (12 gold), China 33 (4 gold), Sweden 32, Korea 31 (17 gold), Japan 25 (8 gold),

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Just a quick note on the calculation of countries by population to determine who are the most successful countries. I never was a fan of it. Here’s why. Countries with big populations (especially the United States) will always be penalized thus skewing the numbers against them since there are only a finite amount of medals available. I prefer to use number of athletes performing per country and dividing that number into the total number of medals available. You can break that down, if you wish, per event.

So no, as I’ve seen on the Summer tables, Bahamas is not the “best” or most “successful” sports nation.