Politics

Who Won the Olympics? All the Ways We Could Think Of to Track the Medal Count.

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Which country won the most events involving nets, balls or weapons? We (over) analyzed the medal standings in Paris.

The United States has had an excellent showing at the Summer Olympics. It has won the most medals by far, and has been trading the lead with China for most gold medals (as of early Sunday morning in Paris).

Number of Events Won (the Standard Count)
United States384242122
China39272490
Britain14222763

But that’s not all. The U.S. has won the most medals looking only at men’s events, and the most counting only women’s. It has won the most medals in team events and the most in solo competitions.

Men’s Events
Women’s Events
U.S.13162251
France11141338
China1710734
U.S.24211964
China18151649
Australia139729
Team Events
Individual Events
U.S.118726
Britain75921
China86519
U.S.27343596
China31211971
France13211852

But Americans haven’t won in every way you could slice it. They haven’t won the most medals in events with weapons (yes, the javelin counts). And they haven’t won the most in sports scored by judges.

Events That
Involve Weapons
Events Scored
by Judges
S. Korea105116
U.S.35311
China53311
China148527
U.S.46818
Britain231015
Events That
Involve Nets
Compared With 2020
Tokyo Olympics
China86014
France1427
U.S.2136
France+6+12+11+29
S. Korea+7+4–1+10
U.S.–1+1+9+9

These are extremely unofficial categories. But they do reveal some interesting patterns — if it felt as if South Korean athletes dominated the archery and sharpshooting podiums, they did.

The U.S., by contrast, has won the most medals in events that involved a race of some type. And even if we look only at sports that were also held at the 1900 Paris Olympics, the Americans have the most medals.

Events That
Involve a Race
Sports From the
1900 Paris Olympics
U.S.22221963
Britain8171237
Australia1413835
U.S.33342996
Britain12181747
China15131644

We should note that we are sorting these tables by total medals, not gold medals. Opinions differ on the proper approach.

And the U.S. is, of course, a large country with many resources. If you want to give the small countries a fair shot, the tables below can help out.

Countries Under
10 Million People
Countries Under
$10K G.D.P. per Capita
N. Zealand97218
Hungary57618
Denmark1258
Uzbekistan82313
Ukraine35412
Kenya42410

Which way of counting is best? That’s for you to decide. You can pick your favorite here.

Choose Your Own Medal Table
Number of Events Won (the Standard Count)
United States384242122
China39272490
Britain14222763
France16242262
Australia18181450
Japan18121343
Italy11131539
Netherlands1371232
Germany1211831
South Korea138930

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