OLYMPICS:  NATIONS, MEDALS & MEDALISTS

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OLYMPICS ---   AT the 2008 summer Olympics held at Beijing, the United States led in number of medals earned: 110, consisting of 36 Gold, 38 Silver and 36 Bronze. That’s a lot more than the 19 won by the U.S. during the first “modern” summer Olympiad, held at Greece in 1896, when only 311 athletes from 13 nations attended (11 Gold, six Silver, two Bronze).

Of the 29 summer Olympics held between 1896 and the Beijing games of 2008, the U.S. has been the top medal winner during fifteen of them, for a total of 2,307 medals, of which 934 have been Gold, 730 Silver, 643 Bronze.

And if the rate at which the U.S. has picked up medals since the start of the  London, U.K., 2012 games the U.S. could again be the top medal winner among the 204 nations competing. Only four other countries can be cited as top medal winners during multiple summer Olympiads---France, Greece, Russia (a.k.a., USSR, until 1988), and China.

The U.S. is also far ahead when it comes to being top medal recipient across time “sequentially.” The U.S. has been top medal winner for five Olympiads straight, from 1992 at Barcelona, Spain, through the 2008 games, and before that the U.S. had the most medals during four Olympiads in a row, 1920 through 1932.

Second to the U.S. in total medals won throughout the long string of Olympiads is Russia/USSR, with 1,010 medals (395 Gold, 319 Silver, 290 Bronze). Third on the list of top medal winners among nations is the U.K., with 725, including 209 Gold, 259 Silver, 258 Bronze.

            Among the top 15 individual male medalists at the summer games, six have been from the U.S., followed by Russia/USSR, with five medal-winning athletes, next by Japan, having two. Of the top 15 male medalists, three have been swimmers, three from among gymnasts, and three from track and field. The male athlete with the most Olympic medals prior to the London games is U.S. swimmer, Michael Phelps, with 14 Gold and two Bronze; next the Russian gymnast, Nikolai Andrianov, with seven Gold, five Silver, three Bronze.

The only other male athlete with double digit Gold medals is U.S. track and field star, Ray Ewry; he has 10 Gold. U.S. track star, Carl Lewis, is close behind with nine Gold, one Silver. Swimmer Mark Spitz is also a recipient of nine Gold.   

Among the top 13 women medalists from the many summer Olympiads are first place Russian gymnast, Larissa Latynina, with nine Gold (the most won by any woman athlete), plus five Silver and four Bronze, for a total of two more medals than Michael Phelps has attained, followed by U.S. swimmer, Jenny Thompson, who has eight Gold, three Silver, one Bronze.

Of the top 13 women Olympic medalists, only two others are from the U.S., both swimmers. Russia leads on the list of 13 top Olympic women athletes, with four.    

            By midweek of the first week of the current London games, the top medalist nation turned out to be the U.S., with a total of 37, comprising 18 Gold, nine Silver and 10 Bronze. China listed second with 34, consisting of 18 Gold, 11 Silver and five Bronze, Japan third with 19 medals (two Gold, six Silver, 11 Bronze), Germany behind Japan with a total of 17, tied with Russia’s 17.

Among the top 13 women Olympic medalists of all time, seven are gymnasts, six are swimmers. The five least among them have eight medals each, three with four Gold, two with two Gold.

            A planned summer Olympics that failed to take place was the 1940 Olympiad, cancelled because of World War Two (it was scheduled to be at Tokyo, Japan). Since then, the nation that has achieved the most medals during a single Olympiad is Russia, in 1980, venue: Moscow---195 medals, including 80 Gold.

The highest total of medals accrued by the U.S. during a single Olympiad since WW-2 occurred at the Los Angeles games in 1984---174 medals, of which 83 were Gold.

While that mysterious value we like to call “Home Court Advantage” has failed to work for most countries that have hosted the summer Olympics, the concept may have had its start during that first “modern” Olympiad (1896) held at Greece, when Greece led with 47 medals---10 Gold, 19 Silver, 18 Bronze. During the next five summer Olympics that were held (1900 through 1912), four of the host nations were those with the most medals (France, the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden). However, it wasn’t until 1980, at Moscow, when a host nation accrued the most medals; afterward, no host nation accrued the most medals until the U.S. did so at Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996, winning 101.

Given what’s been seen to date (August 3), and from the strength of its swim, gymnast and track and field teams, it’s a fair bet that the U.S. will leave London with more medals than it won during the Beijing-2008 games.     

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