ABS medal tally: Australia finishes third, Aug 2004

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MEDIA RELEASE

August 30, 2004
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
135/2004


ABS medal tally: Australia finishes third

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

The ABS said the traditional measure of medals as a 'raw score' did 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 final rank order of countries using Population per Gold Medal is as follows:

MEDAL TALLY BY WORLD POPULATION
Country
Medals Won
Population
Population
Population
(Ranked by Population per Gold Medal)
(As at close of competition day 16)
per Gold Medal
per Medal
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
'000
'000
'000
1.Bahamas
1
0
1
2
317
317
159
2.Norway
5
0
1
6
4,551
910
759
3.Australia
17
16
16
49
20,164
1,186
412
4.Hungary
8
6
3
17
9,830
1,229
578
5.Cuba
9
7
11
27
11,323
1,258
419
6.New Zealand
3
2
0
5
3,902
1,301
780
7.Jamaica
2
1
2
5
2,677
1,339
535
8.Greece
6
6
4
16
10,963
1,827
685
9.Sweden
4
1
2
7
8,887
2,222
1,270
10.Georgia
2
2
0
4
5,073
2,537
1,268
11.Denmark
2
0
6
8
5,373
2,687
672
12.Slovakia
2
2
2
6
5,407
2,704
901
13.Romania
8
5
6
19
22,278
2,785
1,173
14.United Arab Emirates
1
0
0
1
3,049
3,049
3,049
15.Lithuania
1
2
0
3
3,421
3,421
1,140
16.Bulgaria
2
1
9
12
7,830
3,915
653
17.Ireland
1
0
0
1
3,996
3,996
3,996
18.Netherlands
4
9
9
22
16,220
4,055
737
19.Austria
2
4
1
7
8,116
4,058
1,159
20.Croatia
1
2
2
5
4,413
4,413
883
21.Belarus
2
6
7
15
9,854
4,927
657
22.Russia
27
27
38
92
142,365
5,273
1,547
23.Korea (South)
9
12
9
30
47,913
5,324
1,597
24.Ukraine
9
5
9
23
48,163
5,351
2,094
25.France
11
9
13
33
60,428
5,493
1,831
26.Italy
10
11
11
32
57,310
5,731
1,791
27.Germany
14
16
18
48
82,504
5,893
1,719
28.Israel
1
0
1
2
6,556
6,556
3,278
29.Great Britain
9
9
12
30
59,416
6,602
1,981
30.Switzerland
1
1
3
5
7,160
7,160
1,432
31.Japan
16
9
12
37
127,738
7,984
3,452
32.Chile
2
0
1
3
15,993
7,997
5,331
33.Azerbaijan
1
0
4
5
8,453
8,453
1,691
34.United States
35
39
29
103
297,031
8,487
2,884
35.Dominican Republic
1
0
0
1
8,869
8,869
8,869
36.Czech Republic
1
3
4
8
10,227
10,227
1,278
37.Belgium
1
0
2
3
10,337
10,337
3,446
38.Canada
3
6
3
12
31,731
10,577
2,644
39.Chinese Taipei
2
2
1
5
22,794
11,397
4,559
40.Poland
3
2
5
10
38,547
12,849
3,855
41.Zimbabwe
1
1
1
3
12,900
12,900
4,300
42.Uzbekistan
2
1
2
5
26,477
13,239
5,295
43.Spain
3
11
5
19
41,098
13,699
2,163
44.Kazakhstan
1
4
3
8
15,419
15,419
1,927
45.Morocco
2
1
0
3
31,073
15,537
10,358
46.Cameroon
1
0
0
1
16,275
16,275
16,275
47.Argentina
2
0
4
6
38,864
19,432
6,477
48.Thailand
3
1
4
8
63,450
21,150
7,931
49.Turkey
3
3
4
10
72,298
24,099
7,230
50.Kenya
1
4
2
7
32,389
32,389
4,627
51.Iran
2
2
2
6
69,829
34,915
11,638
52.Ethiopia
2
3
2
7
72,469
36,235
10,353
53.China
32
17
14
63
1,312,861
41,027
20,839
54.South Africa
1
3
2
6
45,058
45,058
7,510
55.Brazil
4
3
3
10
180,598
45,150
18,060
56.Egypt
1
1
3
5
73,459
73,459
14,692
57.Indonesia
1
1
2
4
222,562
222,562
55,641
58.Estonia
0
1
2
3
1,367
456
59.Slovenia
0
1
3
4
1,990
498
60.Latvia
0
4
0
4
2,287
572
61.Trinidad and Tobago
0
0
1
1
1,289
1,289
62.Mongolia
0
0
1
1
2,500
2,500
63.Finland
0
2
0
2
5,177
2,589
64.Portugal
0
2
1
3
10,067
3,356
65.Eritrea
0
0
1
1
3,712
3,712
66.DPR Korea (North)
0
4
1
5
22,754
4,551
67.Serbia-Montenegro
0
2
0
2
10,555
5,278
68.Paraguay
0
1
0
1
5,470
5,470
69Hong Kong (S.A.R.)
0
1
0
1
6,807
6,807
70Venezuela
0
0
2
2
24,277
12,139
71Syrian Arab Republic
0
0
1
1
16,560
16,560
72Mexico
0
3
1
4
104,895
26,224
73Colombia
0
0
1
1
42,120
42,120
74Nigeria
0
0
2
2
114,746
57,373
75India
0
1
0
1
1,016,938
1,016,938
Data sources:
Media organisations are invited to create links from their own web sites to this page as part of their Olympic coverage.

For the duration of the Athens Olympics, the content of this media release will be updated each week day at approximately 11.30am, using the medal tally from the close of events the previous day.