USA has dominated the Modern Olympics winning over 2600 medals since the first games in 1896. It topped the medal table on 18 of the 29 occasions. However, China is catching up with significant improvement in its performance especially in the 21st century.
The 2024 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, will take place in Paris, France, from 26 July to 11 August 2024. This marks a historic return of the Olympics to Paris, exactly 100 years after the city last hosted the Games in 1924. Paris will be hosting the Olympics for the third time, after the 1900 and 1924 Games, making it one of the few cities to have hosted the Games multiple times like London, and Los Angeles. Over 10,000 athletes from across the world are expected to compete in Paris this year. Paris 2024 is also introducing breakdancing to the Olympics.
As the world gears up for the 2024 Paris Olympics, we analyse the performance of India, the USA, and China in their sporting endeavours. The data is sourced from Dataful which is in turn curated from the International Olympic Committee’s website. It should be noted that the details of medal-wise winners for some events/sports before 1980 are not available on the Official International Olympic Committee (IOC) Website, and hence, the sport-wise, medal-wise data may not match with the country-wise medals data even though both the datasets have been sourced from the same website.
USA continues to dominate the Olympics
Apart from the USA, some of the other top-performing countries at the Olympics include China, Russia, Hungary, and Japan. Russia was banned from participating in the 2020 Olympics due to a doping scandal. Russian athletes who could prove they were clean and not implicated in the doping scandal were allowed to participate under a neutral flag and as part of the “Russian Olympic Committee” team, known as Team ROC.
The USA’s dominance in the Olympics dates back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and continues to the present day. Between 1896 and 2020, the USA has won over 2,600 medals including 1065 gold, 835 silver and 738 bronze medals. This is the highest a country has ever won. Whenever the USA participated, it ended in the top 3 countries with the most gold medals.
The USSR once posed a formidable competition to the USA during its existence and participation in the Olympics. However, since its dissolution, China has emerged as a strong competitor, winning more medals each year and increasingly competing with the USA.
The Olympics have been cancelled only thrice in its history- 1916, 1940 and 1944 due to World Wars. Even during the COVID-19 outbreak, the 2020 Olympics was postponed to 2021.
USA emerged first in 18 of the 29 Olympics held between 1892 and 2020
Out of the 29 Olympic games held between 1892 and 2020, USA emerged first in 18 and second in 8 of them. In the three years that the USA did not bag the first two positions, the USSR emerged first, and the German Democratic Republic came second (in 1976, 1980, and 1988). The USA boycotted the Olympics held in Moscow in 1980 to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A total of 65 nations boycotted the Olympics that year.
France and China defeated USA when they hosted the Games
It’s worth noting that the countries that have pushed the USA to second place and emerged first are the USSR (three times), Germany, France, Great Britain, and China. Importantly, each of these countries achieved this feat during the years when they hosted the games.
In 1992, the Unified Team defeated the USA to emerge first. The Unified Team consisted of athletes from several former Soviet republics that had declared independence but agreed to compete together under the Olympic flag as a single team for the 1992 Games following the USSR’s dissolution in December 1991. These republics included Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan, among others.
2020 Olympics saw the narrowest gap (1 gold) between the USA and China
If the difference in the number of gold medals won by the countries that finished first and second in the medal table is considered, it is observed that in the early years from 1900 to 1928, the gap fluctuated significantly, with the USA frequently leading with considerable margins, especially in 1904 (72 golds) and 1924 (31 golds).
Between 1932 and 1968 too, the gap remained substantial, with the USA and USSR often dominating the medal table. Their domination continued until the late 20th century. In the early 21st century, from 2004 to 2020, the gap generally decreased, with China’s emergence as a strong contender, particularly in 2008 and 2012. The 2020 Olympics saw the narrowest gap (1 gold) between the USA and China after 1896 when the USA and Greece had a gap of only gold.
China’s performance in some sporting events has improved significantly in recent years
Different countries dominate specific Olympic sports due to a mix of historical interest, cultural emphasis, and targeted development programs. For example, China excels in table tennis and badminton while the USA shines in tennis. These variations arise from each country’s unique priorities, resources, and traditions in sports. However, a shift has been witnessed in recent years.
Even though the USA has a total of 138 medals in Diving and China has 81, the average number of medals won in each Olympics since 2000 reveals that China won an average of ten medals each year while the USA won 10 in total during this period marking an increasing dominance of China in the sport. Likewise, China’s performance has improved in recent years in Wrestling, Cycling- Track, Shooting, and weightlifting.
Even though the USA and Australia have more than 500 and 200 medals each, respectively in Swimming, China and Russia dominate the medal table in Synchronised Swimming. In Fencing, France and Hungary usually won the most medals. However, since 2004 China and USA have consistently won at least one medal each, during each Olympics.
In other words, data indicates a potential shift in the global landscape of Olympic dominance. While historical trends and traditional powerhouses remain relevant, emerging nations like China are strategically investing in and prioritizing specific sports, leading to a rapid rise in their medal tallies.
India has won a total of 35 medals including 10 Golds
India has won a total of 35 medals in the Olympics by the end of the 2020 games. India performed well historically in sports like hockey and shooting. Hockey has been particularly strong, with a total of 12 medals (8 Gold, 3 Bronze, 1 Silver) contributing significantly to India’s overall medal count. However, these were achieved in the Olympic Games from 1928 to 1980, with a streak of six consecutive golds from 1928 to 1956. India has not won a single medal in the sport in recent years.
Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was a historic moment as it marked India’s first individual gold medal in the Olympics. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in Men’s Javelin Throw creating a record of India’s first gold in an athletics event.
In recent years, badminton has emerged as a successful sport for India in the Olympics, with medals won by players like Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu. Indian wrestlers have also performed well, with medals won in both men’s and women’s categories in recent editions of the Olympics.
