Richest Countries Win at 2006 Winter Olympics
Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal Standings from Turin Olympic Games
Aug 29, 2009
While money cannot buy an Olympic medal, a wealthy economy can go a long way in developing highly skilled athletes with an above-average chance of winning in Olympic competition.
A total of 252 medals were awarded during the Turin 2006 Games. The world’s richest countries, which placed among the top 40 highest Gross Domestic Products (GDP) by nation in 2008, also accounted for 240 of the 2006 Winter Olympic medals.
The GDP numbers for this analysis were garnered from the International Monetary Fund’s interactive World Economic Outlook Database. Those statistics are available online for free. Medal standings were based on International Olympic Committee final statistics.
Countries with Lower GDPs Win Fewer Olympic Medals
At the 2006 Surin Games, athletes from the top 40 wealthiest countries won 80 out of 84 gold medals, 79 out of 84 silver medals and 81 out of 84 bronze medals.
Less wealthy countries in terms of GDP captured 12 Olympic medals at Surin, less than 5% of the total medal count.
- Croatia (65th richest country) won 3 medals, 1 gold and 2 silver medals in alpine skiing
- Estonia (94th richest country) won 3 gold medals in cross country skiing
- Ukraine (46th richest country) won 2 bronze medals, 1 in biathlon the other in figure skating
- Slovakia (59th richest country) won 1 silver in snowboarding
- Belarus (66th richest country) won 1 silver in freestyle skiing
- Bulgaria (73rd richest country) won 1 silver in short track speed skating
- Latvia (81st richest country) won 1 bronze in luge (sledding).
Countries with smaller GDPs scored at total of 4 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. That multi-nation success is 17 medals less than Germany, the world’s fourth richest nation, won on its own. Futhermore, the relatively poorer nations seem to excel in specific sports in which the country specializes. For example, Croatia won all its medals in alpine skiing while Estonia won first place in cross country skiing competition.
Medal Standings for Richest Countries at 2006 Olympics
While the United States and Canada won a creditable number of medals, it was athletes of wealthy countries from Europe that visited the winners’ podium the most during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.
- Germany (4th richest country) won 11 gold, 12 silver, 6 bronze
- United States (world’s richest country) won 9 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze
- Canada (11th richest country) won 7 gold, 17 bronze
- Austria (25th richest country) won 9 gold, 7 silver, 7 bronze
- Russia (8th richest country) won 8 gold, 6 silver, 8 bronze
- Norway (24th richest country) won 2 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze
- Sweden (22nd richest country) won 7 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze
- Switzerland (21st richest country) won 5 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze
- South Korea (15th richest country) won 6 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze
- Italy (7th richest country) won 5 gold, 6 bronze
- China (3rd richest country) won 2 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze
- France (5th richest country) won 3 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze
- Netherlands (16th richest country) won 3 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze
- Finland (33rd richest country) won 6 silver, 3 bronze
- Czech Republic (40th richest country) won 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze
- Australia (14th richest country) won 1 gold, 1 bronze
- Poland (18th richest country) won 1 silver, 1 bronze
- Japan (2nd richest country) won 1 gold
- Great Britain (6th richest country) won 1 Silver.
Reasons Why Richest Countries Win More Olympic Medals
Some analysts speculate that richer countries have more leisure time to devote to competitive sports, while poorer nations are preoccupied with earning a living. Others say that the wealthiest economies are better able to fund Olympic athlete training facilities, higher better coaching staff and employ the latest sports technologies. Poorer nations simply may not be able to fund even the traveling expenses required to send as large a contingent of elite trained competitors to the Winter Olympic Games.
Richest Countries to Compete at Vancouver 2010
Given the severe global economic downturn since the 2006 Olympics, it will be interesting to see how the wealthier countries with battered GDPs perform at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The current economic downturn may adversely affect the winning ways of Olympic athletes from countries like Russia due to cutbacks in Olympic training budgets. European countries including Germany were particularly hard hit by the economic recession, as was the United States.
The flip-side of this logic is that richer countries suffering from shrinking GDP performance will demand even higher levels of athletic achievement at the 2010 Winter Olympics. As the GDP rankings of countries go down, Olympic fans will focus on strong showings at the podium in Vancouver as a rally cry for GDP recovery.
 |
