All-Time Olympic Games Medal Tally (Summer Olympics)

Which country is the most successful at the Olympic Games? Here are the top ranked countries in terms of total medals won when all of the summer Games are considered (including results from the 2016 Rio Games though not with subsequent adjustments). There are two tables presented, the first just lists the top countries based on the total medals won, the second table factors in how many Olympic Games the country appeared, averaging the total number of medals per Olympiad. A victory in a team sport is counted as one medal.

The USA Has Won the Most Medals

The US have clearly won the most gold medals and the most medals overall, more than doubling the next ranked country (these figures include medals won in Rio 2016). Second placed USSR had fewer appearances at the Olympics, and actually won more medals on average (see the 2nd table). The top 10 includes one country no longer in existence (the Soviet Union), so their medal totals will obviously not increase, however China is expected to continue a rapid rise up the ranks. With the addition of the 2016 data, China has moved up from 11th (in 2008) to 9th (2012) to 7th (2016). The country which has attended the most games without a medal is Monaco (20 Olympic Games), the country which has won the most medals without winning a gold medal is Malaysia (0 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze).

rank Team total games gold silver bronze Total 1 United States 27 1,022 794 704 2,520 2 Soviet Union # 10 440 357 325 1122 3 Germany * 24 275 313 349 937 4 Great Britain 28 263 295 289 847 5 France 28 212 241 260 713 6 Italy 27 206 178 193 577 7 China 10 227 165 151 543 8 Australia 26 147 163 187 497 9 Sweden 27 147 170 179 494 10 Hungary 26 175 147 169 491

The USSR were the most successful on average

It seems unfair to rank countries on total medals won when some countries have appeared at the Olympic Games many more times. The following list averages the medals won per Olympiad, so the success of countries can be compared more directly. Based on this calculation, the former Soviet Union was most successful country with 112 medals per appearance compared to the US with 93 medals per appearance. The ranking in this table is based on the average total medals per Olympiad, though whether using total golds or total all medals, the list order is essentially the same.

rank Country no. of Games gold silver bronze total medals gold medals per Olympiad total medals per Olympiad 1 Soviet Union # 10 440 357 325 1122 44.0 112.2 2 United States 27 1,022 794 704 2,520 37.9 93.3 3 East Germany 5 153 129 127 409 30.6 81.8 4 Russia 6 149 136 161 446 24.8 74.3 5 China 10 227 165 151 543 22.7 54.3 6 Germany * 24 275 313 349 937 11.5 39.0 7 Great Britain 28 263 295 289 847 9.4 30.3 8 France 28 212 241 260 713 7.6 25.5 9 Italy 27 206 178 193 577 7.6 21.4 10 Ukraine 6 35 31 58 124 5.8 20.7

# combining the results of USSR and the 1992 Unified Team

* combining the results of Germany, West Germany, and the Unified Team of Germany

Share:

Facebook Twitter

Related Pages

Old Comments

Commenting is closed on this page, though you can read some previous comments below which may answer some of your questions.