The poms are outperforming the aussies at the olympics.

medal tally

Who would ever have thought this possible? What is the world coming to?

I think you'll find that the poms, with a population of over 60 million, didn't beat the aussies (21 million) in the golds.

However, with the help of three other countries they did indeed do better, in comparison, than in the last 5 olympics.

Perhaps it was the recruitment of aussie coaches in swimming and cycling that helped.

Last time I looked, Kiwis were 2nd and Ockors 3rd, on population status.

Gold medals per million population Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Gold/Million

1 Jamaica 6 3 2 2.1582

2 Bahrain 1 0 0 1.4113

3 Estonia 1 1 0 0.7599

4 New Zealand 3 1 5 0.7289

5 Australia 14 15 17 0.6851

6 Mongolia 2 2 0 0.6776

7 Norway 3 5 2 0.6482

8 Georgia 3 0 3 0.6457

9 Slovakia 3 2 1 0.5507

10 Slovenia 1 2 2 0.4977

11 Latvia 1 1 1 0.4425

12 Netherlands 7 5 4 0.4224

13 Belarus 4 5 10 0.4113

14 Denmark 2 2 3 0.3658

15 Great Britain 19 13 15 0.3126

16 Panama 1 0 0 0.3084

17 Hungary 3 5 2 0.3013

18 Czech Republic 3 3 0 0.2933

19 Korea 13 10 8 0.2651

20 Switzerland 2 0 4 0.2647

21 Germany 16 10 15 0.1942

22 Finland 1 1 2 0.1909

23 Romania 4 1 3 0.1796

24 Cuba 2 11 11 0.1755

25 Russian Fed. 23 21 28 0.1627

26 Ukraine 7 5 15 0.1512

27 Italy 8 10 10 0.1376

28 Bulgaria 1 1 3 0.1366

29 Kenya 5 5 4 0.1355

30 Kazakhstan 2 4 7 0.1308

31 Spain 5 10 3 0.1236

32 Azerbaijan 1 2 4 0.1231

33 United States 36 38 36 0.1195

34 France 7 16 17 0.1099

35 Dominican Rep. 1 1 0 0.1068

36 Tunisia 1 0 0 0.0973

37 Belgium 1 1 0 0.0962

38 Portugal 1 1 0 0.0940

39 Canada 3 9 6 0.0898

40 DPR Korea 2 1 3 0.0858

41 Zimbabwe 1 3 0 0.0812

42 Poland 3 6 1 0.0779

43 Japan 9 6 10 0.0706

44 Cameroon 1 0 0 0.0554

45 Ethiopia 4 1 2 0.0523

46 Argentina 2 0 4 0.0496

47 China 51 21 28 0.0386

48 Uzbekistan 1 2 3 0.0360

49 Thailand 2 2 0 0.0307

50 Mexico 2 0 1 0.0184

51 Brazil 3 4 8 0.0158

52 Iran 1 0 1 0.0153

53 Turkey 1 4 3 0.0141

54 Indonesia 1 1 3 0.0043

55 India 1 0 2 0.0009

Total medals per million population

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Medals Total Medals/Million

1 Bahamas 0 1 1 2 6.5433

2 Jamaica 6 3 2 11 3.9566

3 Iceland 0 1 0 1 3.3120

4 Slovenia 1 2 2 5 2.4885

5 Australia 14 15 17 46 2.2511

6 New Zealand 3 1 5 9 2.1867

7 Norway 3 5 2 10 2.1608

8 Cuba 2 11 11 24 2.1064

9 Armenia 0 0 6 6 2.0191

10 Belarus 4 5 10 19 1.9538

I couldn't care less about statistical analysis. I just hate getting done by the poms!

No basis on this whatsoever, but it seems the the lads and laddies from GB have earnt more medals this meet than in the previous three or four combined!

Maybe they have secret performance enhancement products that are un-screenable.

Called the lottery.

If you want a sporting tragedy, Kenny Egan in the boxing, If he had knocked the guy out, he would have still only got silver!!

Interesting that population is brought into the equation. The stastistics prove it doesn't count for much.

Interesting that population is brought into the equation. The stastistics prove it doesn't count for much.

Well, population statistics, is the best way to see the better performing countries.

Gotta admit, Jamaica was brilliant.

Well, population statistics, is the best way to see the better performing countries.

Gotta admit, Jamaica was brilliant.

Not really, as the number of medals is fixed, this year I think 998, and the potential population of a country is infinite. Maybe a better way is to look at the number of medals won based on the number of athletes entered in the games. In that case the best performing countries for total medals would be:

1. Zimbabwe with 30 medals per 100 athletes

2. Kenya, Afghanistan, and Togo with 25 each per 100 athletes

Jamaica would have been in 9th place with 19 medals, the US 11th with 16, China 13th with 15, Great Britain 17th with 14 medals, Australian 30th with 10, and Thailand 38th place with 8.

Here's a list:

rgds

Zimbabwe has only ever won 8 medals of any colour at the Olympics.

One by the womans hockey team in 1980, and the other seven by the great swimmer Kirsty Coventry who is based in the US. She won 1 gold and 3 silver at Beijing.

The other 12 members of the team in Beijing contributed nothing.

So really one swimmer was responsible for Zim sitting on the top of that list.

To my mind not an accurate method for judging national performances.

Zimbabwe has only ever won 8 medals of any colour at the Olympics.

One by the womans hockey team in 1980, and the other seven by the great swimmer Kirsty Coventry who is based in the US. She won 1 gold and 3 silver at Beijing.

The other 12 members of the team in Beijing contributed nothing.

So really one swimmer was responsible for Zim sitting on the top of that list.

To my mind not an accurate method for judging national performances.

Have another look Old Croc. The list is normalized per 100 athletes entered. Zimbabwe only had 13 athletes entered in competition yet they received 4 medals. 4/13=0.30 x 100 = 30 medals per 100.

rgds

Zimbabwe has only ever won 8 medals of any colour at the Olympics.

One by the womans hockey team in 1980, and the other seven by the great swimmer Kirsty Coventry who is based in the US. She won 1 gold and 3 silver at Beijing.

The other 12 members of the team in Beijing contributed nothing.

So really one swimmer was responsible for Zim sitting on the top of that list.

To my mind not an accurate method for judging national performances.

Have another look Old Croc. The list is normalized per 100 athletes entered. Zimbabwe only had 13 athletes entered in competition yet they received 4 medals. 4/13=0.30 x 100 = 30 medals per 100.

rgds

I get the maths mate, I just don't think it's an accurate method of assessing performance of a country. My point was that one person made that country top of the list, and it wasn't really a guide to how nations are going.

The numbers of athletes sent can vary according to whether they are a host country, a near neighbor, have a high GDP, etc, etc. A poor country with one athlete is not neccesarily the best.

I think Great Britain won the gold for gloating.

Yeah, but it was their best performance for over 100 years!

Interesting that population is brought into the equation. The stastistics prove it doesn't count for much.

Atols with less than eleven people on them find it hard to win the Football !!

Gold medals per million population Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Gold/Million

Great post, I was just reading this thread when that thought occured, and there was the answer, fantastic. Thank you.

I wonder what the ratio of medals to sport spending is?

I get the maths mate, I just don't think it's an accurate method of assessing performance of a country. My point was that one person made that country top of the list, and it wasn't really a guide to how nations are going.

The numbers of athletes sent can vary according to whether they are a host country, a near neighbor, have a high GDP, etc, etc. A poor country with one athlete is not neccesarily the best.

Ranking by country population automatically puts high population countries at a disadvantage and low population countries at an advantage for reasons already mentioned. Look at your gold metal rankings. Countries ranked 2 and 3 have only won one gold each and China with 51 golds only ranks 47th. If China had won 500 golds they's still only rank 14th and if they won 997 of the 998 golds issued they'd still only rank 2nd!! Do you think that's a good system?

Maybe, as Cuban suggested, a better ranking would be medals per monetary unit spent on athletes.

rgds

The convicts strike back

I think Great Britain won the gold for gloating.

Of course the Aussies, ever gracious in victory, would never lower themselves to gloating.

Never been known to happen!

Did I mention the last Ashes series whitewash?

You might have done but only in passing.

That would have been the take-away curry.....................Passing........

I think Great Britain won the gold for gloating.

Remember that the Sun is a Murdoch rag, so the gloating is probebly an Aussie import

Most bars in London have at least one " Gloat" working in them

Australia can afford to gloat - we took AC/DC to be Aussies even though they come from Scotland (English with attitude ) and gave you Kylie Minogue.

CB

I can forgive them anything for beer.

and gave you Kylie Minogue.

CB

And her sister ........ for which we thank you very much....... as long as the sound is turned down.

And we want to give 'er back - but, like herpes, we can't get rid of her.

And we want to give 'er back - but, like herpes, we can't get rid of her.

We even threw in Jason Donovan as revenge for Peter Foster and Sam Fox

CB

Nothing can ever, ever, ever, ever make amends for Skippy.

Tck, tck tck tck tck.

What's that Skip? say again, the rayyyydio was too loud.

Tck, tck tck tck tck.

Ah, Sonny is trapped down a well with a broken leg.

Never mind the melting ice-caps, sometimes I'm surprised that we have managed to last this long.