[Hyack]

China, U.S. dominate the standings, but smaller countries have much to celebrate

$1:

Over the past two weeks, the medal tables have told us which countries are leading in the battle for Olympic supremacy.

The names at the top — the U.S., China, Britain, France, etc. — have hardly been shocking. They're among the world's biggest and most developed countries and have always done well in Olympic sports.

But if you level the playing field — and account for such things as the size of a country and its GDP per capita — the contest for Olympic bragging rights becomes less clear-cut.

Some countries are able to do relatively more with less: they outperform based on the number of athletes they sent to London or because of their smaller population base.

So how does the performance of Grenada — an island nation of a little more than 100,000 that claimed a gold medal with a team of just nine athletes — compare to the Olympic giants? Well, it depends on how you rank the IOC nations.

Some interesting facts and figures in the charts below, Canada does come first, or last....in the number of athletes per gold medal.

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[Lemmy]

I always figure that if we have at least 10% of the USA's total, we're right where we, logically and statistically, should be. I consider 17 Canadian medals to be a national achievement similar to the USA earning 170.

[TattoodGirl]

Summer olympics? really?...there is noting interesting about it. Oh except for dude that is the double amputee...that was cool.

[ShepherdsDog]

German dude dislocated(maybe broke) his shoulder on the 10 m platform, after a nearly perfect dive. She were hanging pretty good after they pulled him out of the pool.

[Brenda]

TattoodGirl TattoodGirl:

Summer olympics? really?...there is noting interesting about it. Oh except for dude that is the double amputee...that was cool.

So what are the Paralympics for then?
I don't understand what made them decide it was fine for him to compete in the Olympics. If he can, anyone who can make the cut should.

[sandorski]

Lemmy Lemmy:

I always figure that if we have at least 10% of the USA's total, we're right where we, logically and statistically, should be. I consider 17 Canadian medals to be a national achievement similar to the USA earning 170.

Ya, I basically do it the same.

[bootlegga]

I think one factor that separates Canada from most smaller nations is that Canada sends athletes for a wide variety of sports, while smaller nations tend to specialize in fewer sports.