Friday 15 August 2008

The true Olympics medals table

Halfway through the Olympics and I got to thinking that the official medals table isn't really very accurate, because it doesn't take account of a country's population. Surely the success or otherwise of a country's Olympic efforts should be judged relative to its population?

With that in mind, here is my version of the Olympics table after the conclusion of today's events:

1. Armenia - 1 medal per 593,717 population
2. Slovenia - 1 per 1,003,856
3. Australia - 1 per 1,030,043
4. Slovakia - 1 per 1,363,852
5. Cuba - 1 per 1,427,994
6. Mongolia - 1 per 1,498,041
7. Georgia - 1 per 1,543,614
8. Switzerland - 1 per 1,895,380
9. Hungary - 1 per 1,986,183
10. Azerbaijan - 1 per 2,044,429

32. USA - 1 per 6,604,883
36. Great Britain - 1 per 7,617,989
44. China - 1 per 32,440,112

So while China may occupy the top spot on the official table, it's clear that they're punching below their weight, relative to their population.

It's also worth noting that while GB seem quite far down the table, they are actually performing above average because at present, the average population per medal is 20,113,144.

I'll post daily updates until the conclusion of the games.

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