It has medals to its name. The United States of America is at the top of this list. It owns Olympic medals in swimming, which includes gold. USA has been in a league of its own when it comes to pool races. Michael Phelps, who is the most decorated Olympian in history, is an American and led the way in swimming over the past two decades. It may come as a surprise to some but badminton was introduced at the Olympics only a few decades ago.
The sport made its Olympic debut at the Barcelona Games in and ever since then, it is China that has been head and shoulders above the rest. It has won 41 Olympic medals in badminton: 18 gold, eight silver and 15 bronze.
China has been a major reason why Asian counties own 92 of the medals in badminton at the Olympics. When it comes to boxing, Cuba has always had stiff competition from the United States of America. But what gives Cuba the edge is the fact that each time these two countries have participated together at the Summer Olympics since , it is Cuba that has won more boxing medals. Mr Forrest believes that's because Britain was a pioneer in developing sport as we know it today, and brought that enthusiasm for athletic competition with them around the world.
Australia, which often cracks the top for total medal count, is a prime example. In India, cricket is the de facto national sport but is not played at the Olympics. India also does tend to excel at hockey, which is played at the Olympics, but that only yields a maximum of two medals, one for men and one for women. Whereas sports competed by an individual, such as gymnastics, swimming and athletics, can yield several per athlete.
But using variables like population and GDP are not true indicators of performance either, says Simon Gleave, head of sport analysis at data company Nielsen Gracenote, because they don't show which countries are doing better or worse than before.
Past performance, he says, is a much better predictor of who will do well - and it allows you to set expectations against achievement. To better gauge the Olympic winners, Gracenote takes into account how each country has done at other international sporting competitions since the last Olympic games.
Taking that into account, they predicted that India would actually have its best year yet , which it did, finishing 33rd in terms of most medals won. That smashed its previous record of 51st, from Image source, Getty Images. Tokyo - all the best stats Tokyo Olympics medals table.
The US, normally top dog, lagged behind at number Rowing has been dominated by German athletes for decades, followed closely by the United States.
Britain is catching up quickly, though, and has won more medals in the sport than any other country in the last 20 years. Cycling events are largely dominated by European athletes, with France , Germany , Britain and Italy taking the top four spots. The British cyclist Chris Froome, who has won the Tour de France three times since , was a candidate for gold in Rio but ended up with bronze. Speaking of European dominance: Italy , France and Hungary have dominated fencing for as long as it has been an Olympic sport.
Recently, China has been cleaning up, winning 25 out of 70 gold medals since Another sport in which Chinese athletes currently excel is shooting. The number of shooting events was reduced to ten after the United States team won 13 out of 21 gold medals in Canoeing and kayaking first appeared at the Olympics in the Summer Games in Berlin.
Many nations are competitive, but Germany is almost always on the podium. With the most Olympic gold medals in the sport, Germany is one of the most successful equestrian nations in the world. Living up to its reputation as a nation of proficient sailors, Britain has won 26 gold medals in the long history of Olympic sailing. Racewalking, of all things, was at the epicenter the Olympic doping problems. With most Russian track and field athletes banned in Rio, China was able to expand its dominance.
Tennis was dropped after the Summer Olympics, but returned to the Games in Please upgrade your browser. See next articles. United States boycott of the Olympics in Moscow. United States. Unified Team. Soviet Union. Nazi Germany. East Germany.
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