1304.5 - Stats Talk WA (Newsletter), Oct 2004  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/12/2004   
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ABS Medal Tally - Australia Finishes Third

On 18 August, the ABS released an alternative view of the traditional Olympic medal tally to take into account the populations of competing nations.

The traditional measure of medals as a 'raw score' does not take into account the population of the competing country, a possible factor in the ability of nations to field medal winning athletes. When this was considered, it presented a different picture to the traditional measure.

The ABS analysis shows that Australia's tally at the close of the Athens Olympics equates to one Gold Medal for each 1,186,000 of the population.

This ranks Australia in third place behind Norway (one Gold medal for each 910 000 of its population) and The Bahamas (one Gold medal for each 317, 000 of its population).

Using this methodology, the TOP TEN countries using Population per Gold Medal is as follows:

1. Bahamas

2. Norway

3. Australia

4. Hungary

5. Cuba

6. New Zealand

7. Jamaica

8. Greece

9. Sweden

10. Georgia

The United States finished in 34th position (one Gold medal for each 8,487,000 of its population), and Great Britain finished at 29 (one Gold medal for each 6,602,000 of its population).