DecryptionClassification of “lose”, classification by inhabitants or even by “cost” of a medal in relation to the GDP… Defining which nations win the Olympic Games depends a lot on how one counts.
It was expected, the United States are at the top of the ranking of medals for the Olympic Games in 2021. As we suspected, China was to be second, undoubtedly followed by another developed or large country. And as with each new Olympiad, the ranking of the number of medals per country is often a mirror of other factors such as the economic power of this territory, its (high) population or, depending on the sport, performances that are linked to the past. or the culture of the country. Unsurprisingly, the rich and populous countries dominate the rankings of the 93 award-winning nations, and the rest look like they are going without our attention.
To rebalance the accounts, we have decided to offer three alternative rankings.
Ranking of the number of inhabitants per medal
First, a ranking of the medals reported to the population (for 10 million inhabitants). Because, with a larger pool of athletes, it is statistically more obvious to find champions. This classification brings up less populated and less powerful states as soon as they win one of the metal trophies.
Bermuda thus snatched their second all-time medal, the first in gold thanks to the triathlete Flora Duffy, and thus have among the lowest ratios of inhabitants per medal won. In fact, micro-states such as San Marino (three medals for its 34,000 inhabitants landlocked in northern Italy) or the Caribbean island of Grenada (one gold charm for 113,000 inhabitants) are logically repositioned favorably in this weighted ranking, as listed in the table below.
Ranking in relation to GDP
Less spectacular but more economically realistic: the number of medals in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) is a good way to show the “cost” for developing countries of an Olympic charm. Here, we calculated the national price, in billions of dollars of GDP, of an award reported from Tokyo before ranking the countries from the one with the lowest amount to the one that paid the most for a medal.
This classification makes it possible to put into perspective the investment, both human and pecuniary, of the States in the race for medals. China is thus emerging in the 85e place on 93, the United States on 87e place and France at the 70e ; among developed Western countries, New Zealand is doing the best, with a modest 21e square.
In a more predictive style, our colleagues from Financial Times have taken and adapted an algorithm which takes into account the economic and social health of a country as well as other factors such as the culture of a sport in an attempt to predict the number of medals won by each delegation.
Classification of the “lose”
France, queen of fourth place. This is sometimes how some like to paint sportsmen and women in France, so much so that some, like the French Federation of “lose”, celebrate this “talent” with self-mockery. Except that the Tokyo 2021 Olympics seem to contradict the French reputation. In the ranking of countries failing at the foot of the podium, France is far from being the champion, even when we report the number of fourth places to the medals actually reported.
The United States, in addition to being among the best in the ranking of medals, shines in that of chocolate medals; it must be said that Washington is also leading the number of athletes sent with 636 Americans who made the trip, just ahead of Japan with 616 athletes.
On the other hand, when we relate the number of fourth places to the number of medals actually won, it is Mexico which wins, by far, with eight chocolate medals for three real charms. And France rises to the 23e place with a modest ratio of 0.33, or eleven fourth places for 33 medals.