1. United States (930 Gold, 728 Silver, 639 Bronze – 2297 total)
us-olympics
Whatever one wants to say about the United States of America, one truth that cannot be ignored is that the country has been extraordinarily successful in Olympic competition (surprisingly this includes the Winter Games as well, with an overall medal total second only to Norway).
In 26 Olympiads (4 of which were hosted by US cities – 1904, 1932, 1984 and 1996), Team USA has typically led the medal count. America stands alone at the top of the medal heap with 2,296 total medals (and the only country to reach 2000). More to the point, the US has more gold medals than the entire number of medals of any nation on this list, save Russia and Germany. The summit is an elite plateau indeed, with the next challenger falling roughly 900 medals shy of the US’s total.
One explanation for this is that the United States, at least in the recent history of the Games, has fielded competitors in practically every Olympic event (or almost so, lacking a pre-Olympic qualifying failure here and there). For certain, the US has the biggest national contingent more frequently than not. Americans being Americans, there is an enormous desire to be competitive (which is to say an expectation of winning gold) in each and every sport.
Alas, this is not the always the case. With the exception of the rare spectacular athlete, the US hasn’t generally had particularly impressive showings in sports such as lacrosse and field hockey. On the other hand, in activities like men and women’s basketball, track and field, and swimming, the US generates dominating teams. In reality, the U.S. leads the medal count in track and field, swimming, shooting, diving, boxing, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and golf. There are a lot of other events that the US doesn’t dominate, but stays extremely competitive in (such as wrestling).
Individually, many US sportsmen are household names — from modern athletes such as swimmer Michael Phelps to historical icons like sprinter Jesse Owens. Amazingly, six out of the top 10 Olympians with the most medals are Americans. Without question, the US has left an unmistakable foot print on the contemporary Olympiad, one that will most certainly endure long into the future.
2. Russia (549 Gold, 458 Silver, 440 Bronze – 1447) russian-olympics
The Russian Federation has had a number of distinct incarnations under which it has participated in the Olympics. This covers its heyday as the Soviet Union (1952 – 1988), the lesser known, but legally recognized, Russian Empire (1900-1952) and a term as a component of the Unified Team (1992). The medal count from the Soviet and Unified Team periods, which are included in this total, may be a little deceptive since they contain medals earned by athletes who were from Soviet nations that are now sovereign countries (such as the Ukraine).
Nevertheless, it was during the Soviet period that Russia went on a concentrated attempt to create athletes who were capable of competing at the top levels on the world scene. In this, they were exceedingly successful. The Soviets were dominating in a variety of sports such as gymnastics, wrestling, and synchronized swimming (and Russia maintains this history of superiority in these sports). In reality, the Olympian with the second greatest total medal count ever is Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina, with 18 medals, 9 of them gold. Up until this year, because to the continuous domination of American swimmer Michael Phelps, she held the record for most amount of medals, period.
Russia has four Olympians (including Latynina) who are in the top 20 for most Olympic medals. At any case, the time of Soviet rule is characterised by the Cold War, and the resultant tensions typically entailed a “East vs. West” struggle. I would emphasise, though, that athletic strain on the field of competition was better than nuclear armed armies confronting one another across a battlefield. At any rate, the Soviet apparatus supported the training and lifestyle of its sportsmen.
The ensuing breakdown of the Soviet state has detrimentally damaged the Russian sports establishment, resulting in a reduction of athletic significance throughout a broad spectrum of sporting events. Indeed, although Russia is still competitive in a few sports, they no longer appear to be the traditional adversary to U.S. for Olympic domination across a large range of activities. This responsibility has passed to the Chinese. The Russians, no question, want to fix this problem and, as they continue to have one of the bigger total contingents of athletes at the Games, you can guarantee they will be competitive and ready to display their physical skill.
3. Germany (400 Gold, 413 Silver, 447 Bronze – 1260) german-olympics
Germany has the distinction of making me perform a little of arithmetic to figure out their medal totals. For this list, I merged the medal totals of both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (formerly West and East Germany, respectively). Nevertheless, notwithstanding the ideological differences of their various administrations when Germany was two independent and sovereign countries, they were still all Germans (in reality, the Germans played as a combined team in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Games).
And despite some somewhat ugly episodes in recent history (notably the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics), Germany has been, and continues to be, tremendously competitive on the Olympic stage.
This is particularly true in equestrian sports, in which the German team has taken home 81 total medal (twice as many as their closest opponent, the US). The Germans also have excellent cycling, canoeing and track & field teams. Germany has long been a significant European country, and its athletic program is emblematic of this.
Germany is just one of three countries that boast a medal count that surpasses 1000. When you take in the fact that Germany was prohibited from three Olympic games because everyone was still irritated at them for the two of World Wars they instigated, then the achievement is all the more important. In this context, it’s not unexpected that a German, Birgit Fischer (canoeing), holds the 6th slot on the all time individual medal count list with 12 medals (8 gold, 4 silver).
The most renowned German Olympian is, without doubt, figure skater Katarina Witt — but, this list is about the Summer Games, so she only earns an honorable mention here.
Though Germany is sending its lowest delegation since the unification of East and West to the 2012 Games in London, the German government has invested in a more organised sports training system and pipeline (akin to the East German model) to address the nation’s diminishing Olympic performance. In the meanwhile, you should anticipate the Germans to continue to perform well in the events that they remain strong in.