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THE BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES − CHINA, AMERICA, AND RUSSIA WON THE MOST GOLD; BUT THE TOP GOLD-PER-CAPITA WINNERS ARE JAMAICA, BAHRAIN, AND MONGOLIA

Released: 27 August, 2008.
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America refuses to accept defeat in Olympic medal count, wrote Kevin Eason in the TIMES ONLINE. According to Eason:

"The race for the Olympic title is measured in medals . . . The IOC issues its league table based on the number of golds won, which gives China the honours, but then admits that there is no official system in place to decide who is top dog. So the American public is reading tables counting the total number of medals, including silver and bronze, won at the Games. On that measure, the US keep the whip hand over the home nation."¹ [My emphasis.]

For big powers, the Olympic "top dog" is the political power with the highest count of medals − gold or total. But for others, the big-power logic is too narrow, too limiting − even groundless.

Why do I say groundless? Well, suppose that both China and Switzerland (a rich small nation), or both the United States and Haiti (a poor small nation) win the same large number of gold medals. Then, can you really conclude that China and Switzerland or the United States and Haiti  are equal Olympic powers? The medal counts are equal, but the Olympic powers float in groundlessness.

DECIDING WHO IS TOP DOG

There are many ways to determine top-dog status. We can rank countries or regions

1. By medal count
2. By medal count per capita
3. By medal count per GDP dollar (GDP=gross domestic product),

Regions can be sets of countries grouped geographically or geopolitically.
 

• When the number of gold medals is used to rank countries, the top 3 winners of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are China, the United Sates, and Russia. And when the total number of medals is used, the top 3 winners are the United States, China, and Russia.
   
• When the gold medal count per capita is used, the top 3 winners are Jamaica, Bahrain, and Mongolia. And when the total number of medals per capita is used, the top 3 winners are The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Iceland.
   
• Most curious: when the gold medal count per GDP dollar is used, the undisputed top dog is North Korea.
   
• Finally, when the ranks from all the methods − the medal count method, the per capita method, and the per GDP dollar method − are averaged, the top 3 gold winners are Jamaica, Georgia, and Mongolia. China, the United States, and Russia are ranked 27, 30, and 13, respectively.

Comprehensive country rankings and data sources^2-5 are provided below.

MEDALS RANKINGS BY COUNTRY

Note that China, the United States, and Russia − the top 3 ranked gold medalists −, are ranked

• On a per capita basis: 47, 32, and  25, respectively.
• On a per GDP dollar basis: 29. 47, and 27, respectively.