Geography of Summer Olympics Medal Winners

In a few weeks London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.  This event will reinforce Europe's hold on being the primary host of the Summer Olympic games.

Like my 2010 post about the geography of Winter Olympics medal winners, I decided to take a look at Summer Olympics medal winners.  The trends are analyzed below the winners table:

	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
USA	929	729	638	2296
USSR	395	319	296	1010
UK	207	255	253	715
Germany	191	217	240	648
France	191	212	233	636
Italy	191	157	174	522
Sweden	142	160	173	475
Hungary	159	141	159	459
Australia	131	137	164	432
East Germany	153	129	127	409
PR China	163	117	105	385
Japan	123	112	126	361
Russia	108	97	112	317
Finland	101	83	115	299
Romania	86	89	117	292
Poland	62	80	119	261
Canada	58	94	108	260
Netherlands	71	79	96	246
West Germany	56	74	98	228
South Korea	68	74	73	215
Bulgaria	51	84	77	212
Cuba	67	64	63	194
Switzerland	45	70	66	181
Denmark	41	63	66	170
Norway	54	48	42	144
Czechoslovakia	49	49	45	143
Belgium	37	51	51	139
Spain	34	49	30	113
Unified Team	45	38	29	112
Greece	30	42	36	108
Ukraine	28	22	46	96
Brazil	20	25	46	91
Yugoslavia	28	31	31	90
New Zealand	36	15	35	86
Austria	18	33	35	86
Turkey	37	23	22	82
Kenya	22	29	24	75
South Africa	20	24	26	70
Argentina	17	23	26	66
Belarus	10	19	35	64
Jamaica	13	25	17	55
Mexico	12	18	25	55
Iran	11	15	22	48
North Korea	10	12	19	41
Kazakhstan	9	16	14	39
Ethiopia	18	6	14	38
Czech Republic	10	12	11	33
Estonia	9	8	14	31
Indonesia	6	9	10	25
Egypt	7	7	10	24
Nigeria	2	9	12	23
Ireland	8	7	8	23
Portugal	4	7	11	22
Morocco	6	5	10	21
Thailand	7	4	10	21
India	9	4	7	20
Slovakia	7	8	5	20
Mongolia	2	7	10	19
Republic of China	2	6	11	19
Georgia	5	2	11	18
Uzbekistan	4	5	8	17
Croatia	3	6	8	17
Latvia	2	11	4	17
Azerbaijan	4	3	9	16
Lithuania	4	4	8	16
Slovenia	3	5	7	15
Algeria	4	2	8	14
Trinidad and Tobago	1	5	8	14
Chile	2	7	4	13
Australasia	3	4	5	12
Colombia	1	3	7	11
Venezuela	1	2	8	11
Bahamas	4	2	4	10
Uruguay	2	2	6	10
Pakistan	3	3	4	10
Armenia	1	1	7	9
Philippines	0	2	7	9
Russian Empire	1	4	3	8
Zimbabwe	3	4	1	8
Tunisia	2	2	3	7
Israel	1	1	5	7
Uganda	1	3	2	6
Puerto Rico	0	1	5	6
Moldova	0	2	3	5
Cameroon	3	1	1	5
Iceland	0	2	2	4
Costa Rica	1	1	2	4
Peru	1	3	0	4
Dominican Rep	2	1	1	4
Malaysia	0	2	2	4
Bohemia (AH Empire)	0	1	3	4
Nambia	0	4	0	4
Lebanon	0	2	2	4
Ghana	0	1	3	4
Serbia	0	1	2	3
Panama	1	0	2	3
Syria	1	1	1	3
Krygyzstan	0	1	2	3
Haiti	0	1	1	2
British West Indies	0	0	2	2
Serbia and Montenegro	0	2	0	2
Ecuador	1	1	0	2
Suriname	1	0	1	2
Mozambique	1	0	1	2
Luxembourg	1	1	0	2
Hong Kong	1	1	0	2
Zambia	0	1	1	2
Vietnam	0	2	0	2
Sri Lanka	0	2	0	2
Singapore	0	2	0	2
Tanzania	0	2	0	2
Qatar	0	0	2	2
Tajikistan	0	1	1	2
Eritrea	0	0	1	1
Guyana	0	0	1	1
Iraq	0	0	1	1
Kuwait	0	0	1	1
Nigeria	0	0	1	1
Netherlands Antilles	0	1	0	1
UAE	1	0	0	1
Djibouti	0	0	1	1
Ivory Coast	0	1	0	1
Bermuda	0	0	1	1
Barbados	0	0	1	1
US Virgin Islands	0	1	0	1
Sudan	0	1	0	1
Togo	0	0	1	1
Burundi	1	0	0	1
Paraguay	0	1	0	1
Afghanistan	0	0	1	1
Macedonia	0	0	1	1
Senegal	0	1	0	1

Like the Winter Olympics, the Summer Olympic results are hardly cosmopolitan.

• Despite only having ten percent of the world's population, Europe has won 60% of all medals.  This is mostly due to European sports being played at the Olympics.
• The United States and Canada have won 18% of all medals.  This is despite the United States' individual dominance of the game.
• Asia, having 55% of the world's total population, has won only 9.6% of all medals.
• Africa has only received two percent of all medals.
• Middle, South, and Caribbean Americas have won 2.5% of all medals.

However, things are changing.  Much of Europe's wins came during the Cold War-era which saw heavy use of steroids from countries like Poland, Romania, and Hungary.  These countries are lucky if they do well now as the Olympics have clamped down on steroid use.  Meanwhile, the People's Republic of China has only competed in the last eight Olympics but has managed to become the eleventh best overall, and will soon surpass the dead East Germany for medals.  Asia will grow along with the People's Republic in the medal count as these countries finally master European-made games.  Africa is also growing its medal count with the increasing number track and field games.

Due to the ability of warm weather around the world and the proliferation of summer sports, the Summer Olympics will become the world's gaming event as the Winter Olympics, with the presence of many mountain sports, will remain a European stronghold.