One of the gold medals brought home by the Black Ferns.
Photo: RNZ/Finn Blackwell
It’s probably a question Kiwis have asked since New Zealand first competed in the Olympics as its own national team in 1908: “But wouldn’t New Zealand be winning if we divided the medal tally by population?”
Sure enough, that question is in play again. New Zealanders have been Googling the heck out of some variation of “per capita medal tally,” according to Google analytics. It provides a very convenient way to vault ourselves to near the top of the medal tally and ahead of that annoyingly talented sibling – Australia.
On the Paris Olympics official count, national population size is not a factor. Gold is king. If there is a tie on that number, then silver followed by bronze medals determines a country’s place on the ladder.
Officially, the US is edging out China by one gold medal (30 and 29), which is a big whatever considering their population size and the cash they pour into their Olympic programmes (and that they are locked in a Cold War-like quest for world superpower). Australia is a distant third with 18 gold. New Zealand comes in at an honourable 12th place.
Finn Butcher won a gold medal for New Zealand in the kayak cross.
Photo: Olivier MORIN / AFP
But of course, if we answer our original question, New Zealand conquers almost all countries including China, the US and (yes yes YES!) Australia. That’s according to the website Medals Per Capita, which was started by – not surprisingly – a New Zealand computer scientist (Also, the medal tally isn’t quite up to date, but let’s ignore that because this whole story is about skewing data to suit us).
On a per capita count, New Zealand places fifth. Australia is down the hill at eight. America is in their place at 42 and China with its billion plus population is at 67.
Caribbean nations Dominica (population 67,408) and Saint Lucia (population 184,100) are on top of the per capita medal tally. Saint Lucia won its first Olympic gold medal ever with Julien Alfred in the women’s 100 metres.
Julien Alfred won St Lucia’s first ever Olympic gold medal.
Photo: photosport
We’re not the only ones to find favourable ways of viewing the medal tally. Some US news organisations weigh up total medals giving gold, silver and bronze medals equal value (that does not make any sense).
Conveniently, that puts the US way out in front with 103 medals compared to second-placed China’s 73 (as of Friday in New Zealand). That method has drawn criticism for American exceptionalism.
“Every country in the world ranks by gold medals. It’s never by total,” wrote Australian Bradley Jurd on X. “But this is a country that insists on Fahrenheit and pounds, when almost no one else does.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-08 13:02:00
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