After all, how many medals has my country won in the Olympics? According to the Olympic Games charter, an Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal: gold, awarded to the winner; silver, awarded to the runner-up; and bronze, awarded to the third-place competitor. So, a medal is awarded to a competitor. Mmmm… My country is known for its strength in team sports where groups work together to win matches. Some other countries are good at sports where a single athlete does the competing and the winning.
A victorious archer wins one medal. Why not a football player? 18 football players struggle together to win one medal, which makes each player responsible for just about 5.5% of a medal. That’s wrong. All athletes had to dedicate themselves and sacrifice a big deal of their lives in order to achieve olympian glory.
Well let’s make justice. This is the correct count of the medals awarded during the fabulous London 2012 Olympic Games. What counts here is the number of medal winning athletes, not sport modalities.
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | All medals | Rank | Official rank | Difference | |
| USA |  |
147 | 63 | 46 | 256 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| CHN |  |
56 | 40 | 28 | 124 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| RUS |  |
50 | 38 | 52 | 140 | 3 | 4 | +1 |
| GBR |  |
48 | 30 | 48 | 126 | 4 | 3 | -1 |
| GER |  |
45 | 27 | 22 | 94 | 5 | 6 | +1 |
| FRA |  |
30 | 30 | 18 | 78 | 6 | 7 | +1 |
| NED |  |
21 | 29 | 19 | 69 | 7 | 13 | +6 |
| AUS |  |
18 | 37 | 59 | 114 | 8 | 10 | +2 |
| KOR |  |
18 | 13 | 30 | 61 | 9 | 5 | -4 |
| MEX |  |
18 | 5 | 3 | 26 | 10 | 39 | +29 |
| ITA |  |
16 | 22 | 30 | 68 | 11 | 8 | -3 |
| CRO |  |
15 | 4 | 16 | 35 | 12 | 26 | +14 |
| NOR |  |
15 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 13 | 35 | +22 |
| BRA |  |
14 | 34 | 11 | 59 | 14 | 22 | +8 |
| HUN |  |
12 | 8 | 5 | 25 | 15 | 9 | -6 |
| UKR |  |
9 | 5 | 12 | 26 | 16 | 14 | -2 |
| JAM |  |
8 | 9 | 8 | 25 | 17 | 18 | +1 |
| NZL |  |
8 | 4 | 15 | 27 | 18 | 16 | -2 |
| JPN |  |
7 | 44 | 33 | 84 | 19 | 11 | -8 |
| RSA |  |
6 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 20 | 24 | +4 |
| ESP |  |
5 | 34 | 25 | 64 | 21 | 21 | 0 |
| CUB |  |
5 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 22 | 15 | -7 |
| BLR |  |
4 | 12 | 8 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 0 |
| IRI |  |
4 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 24 | 17 | -7 |
| CZE |  |
4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 25 | 19 | -6 |
| PRK |  |
4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 26 | 20 | -6 |
| BAH |  |
4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 27 | 50 | +23 |
| DEN |  |
3 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 28 | 29 | +1 |
| ETH |  |
3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 29 | 25 | -4 |
| SWE |  |
2 | 18 | 3 | 23 | 30 | 37 | +7 |
| ROU |  |
2 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 31 | 27 | -4 |
| KEN |  |
2 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 32 | 28 | -4 |
| KAZ |  |
2 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 33 | 12 | -21 |
| POL |  |
2 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 34 | 30 | -4 |
| AZE |  |
2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 30 | -5 |
| TUR |  |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 36 | 32 | -4 |
| SUI |  |
2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 37 | 33 | -4 |
| LTU |  |
2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 38 | 34 | -4 |
| CAN |  |
1 | 21 | 35 | 57 | 39 | 36 | -3 |
| ARG |  |
1 | 16 | 3 | 20 | 40 | 42 | +2 |
| COL |  |
1 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 41 | 38 | -3 |
| GEO |  |
1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 42 | 39 | -3 |
| IRL |  |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 43 | 41 | -2 |
| SLO |  |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 43 | 42 | -1 |
| SRB |  |
1 | 1 | 14 | 16 | 45 | 42 | -3 |
| DOM |  |
1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 46 | 46 | 0 |
| TUN |  |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 47 | 45 | -2 |
| TRI |  |
1 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 48 | 47 | -1 |
| UZB |  |
1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 49 | 47 | -2 |
| LAT |  |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 50 | 49 | -1 |
| ALG |  |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 50 | -1 |
| GRN |  |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 50 | -1 |
| UGA |  |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 50 | -1 |
| VEN |  |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 51 | 50 | -1 |
| MNE |  |
0 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 55 | 69 | +14 |
| IND |  |
0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 56 | 55 | -1 |
| EGY |  |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 58 | +1 |
| MGL |  |
0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 58 | 56 | -2 |
| THA |  |
0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 59 | 57 | -2 |
| POR |  |
0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 69 | +9 |
| BUL |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| EST |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| INA |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| MAS |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| PUR |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| TPE |  |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 61 | 63 | +2 |
| FIN |  |
0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 67 | 60 | -11 |
| SVK |  |
0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 67 | 59 | -12 |
| ARM |  |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 69 | 60 | -13 |
| BEL |  |
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 69 | 60 | -13 |
| BOT |  |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 69 | +2 |
| CYP |  |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 69 | +2 |
| GAB |  |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 69 | +2 |
| GUA |  |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 71 | 69 | +2 |
| KSA |  |
0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 75 | 79 | +4 |
| SIN |  |
0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 75 | 75 | 0 |
| GRE |  |
0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 77 | 75 | -2 |
| MDA |  |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 78 | 75 | -3 |
| QAT |  |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 78 | 75 | -3 |
| AFG |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
| HKG |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
| KUW |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
| MAR |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
| TJK |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
| BRN |  |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 79 | -1 |
The way one counts the medals makes a significant difference. Look at Mexico, for instance. Positioned at 39th place in the official rank, when we count the number of people who is actually bringing gold medals to the aztec territory, Mexico jumps 29 places and ends up at the terrific 10th position in the rank, justly in front of Brazil, which they trashed at the football pitch in the final match. Similar things happen with Norway and the Bahamas.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan drops 23 places from 12th to 33rd. USA and China stay safely in the lead, but Team GB drops one position behind the Russian Federation.
Sidetrack 