Five Top Olympic Medal-Winning Countries by Continent

For each continent, name the five countries that have won the most total medals in the modern Summer and Winter Olympics.

According to Wikipedia

Not counting the combined team of Australasia

Includes one country that NO LONGER EXISTS

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Last updated: August 13, 2024

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First submitted	September 30, 2016
Times taken	116,538
Average score	93.3%
Rating	4.94

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Europe
1339	Soviet Union
1316	Germany
1015	Great Britain
936	France
799	Italy

Asia
804	China
618	Japan
399	South Korea
111	Turkey
88	Iran

Africa
124	Kenya
95	South Africa
62	Ethiopia
41	Egypt
27	Nigeria

North America
3085	United States
578	Canada
244	Cuba
94	Jamaica
77	Mexico

South America
170	Brazil
80	Argentina
38	Colombia
19	Venezuela
15	Chile

Oceania
619	Australia
163	New Zealand
4	Fiji
1	Samoa
1	Tonga

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86 Comments

Level ∞

Aug 13, 2024

Note: USSR includes the Unified Team and Germany includes West Germany and the United Team.

+37

Level 86

Oct 4, 2018

As a Turkish person, I always forget Turkey in Asia segment. Yeah, I know Turkey is classified as an Asian nation in JetPunk but in sports competitions and other cultural events It generally lays in Europe.

+20

Level 89

Oct 4, 2018

So....Cyprus IS in Europe.

+15

Level 61

Oct 5, 2018

Sorry, but Turkey - at the moment - has in a cultural way nothing in common with the rest of europe. Thanks to your GOD-like president.

+60

Level 76

Oct 6, 2018

Heracles96 was talking about sporting connection, not political.

+57

Level 83

Oct 7, 2018

Even so "nothing in common" is a bit much, one president doesn't wipe out the whole culture.

Level 57

Nov 16, 2020

Turkey has more in common with central asians than with europeans.

Level 50

Nov 22, 2023

I'd argue its 50/50 or 60/40 for Turkic vs. European influence, especially because of the influence on Southeastern European culture

Level 70

Aug 13, 2024

You don't understand. That guy's one of those racist, europe-supremacist supranationalists that think european means good and non-european means bad

Level 62

Dec 22, 2020

What does president have to do with who Turkish people are.

Level 59

Aug 13, 2021

the Turkish people are the people who vote in the Turkish president I think

Level 26

Aug 27, 2019

This is wear Jetpunk's inisistence that Turkey is treated as an Asian country falls down. To pick just three Olympic sports at random - Turkey competes in the official European Championships for athletics, swimming and wrestling.

Level 62

Aug 29, 2020

So is Israel, Qatar was playing in Copa America and Australia sometimes is in Asian competitions.

Level 64

Mar 15, 2021

Australia competes in the eurovision songfestival, but I have never heard someone say that Australia is in Europe

Level 71

Jul 21, 2024

It feels European/ like a neighbour ;) just like Canada.

We should tow them over, Canada can be another scandinavian country and Australia can go off the coast of France/Spain (yes I know, that is not the normal Lattitude, but this isn't real anyway).

I ended up going to the "true size of" website and dragged some countries around. Quite please with the setup up I ended up with. Was fun to do :)

Level 63

Aug 13, 2024

Well at first it was supposed to be a one time thing that they competed as a special guest for the 60th contest so their circumstances are a bit different in this regard and not comparable to the european olympic comittee or whatever it is called

Level 67

Aug 11, 2021

Same for Kazakhstan.

Level 66

Dec 6, 2021

*where

Level 62

Aug 29, 2019

Turkey is culturally more Asian but geographically European I would say

+18

Level 59

Sep 30, 2019

How can it be geographically European? That's like saying Spain is geographically African because of Melilla and Ceuta.

Level 62

Sep 30, 2019

As it’s part of that region, north of the Mediterranean. It also borders the Aegean, and the Black Sea. It also historically ruled lots of Europe.

Level 62

Aug 22, 2020

What? How is Turkey geographically Europe? Eastern Thrace is, but that's only a small part of their land and population. Anatolia is completelly in Asia by pretty much every definition of Europe

Level 45

Feb 6, 2024

The population of Turkey that lives in Thrace is more than basically any Balkan country

Level 56

Jul 24, 2021

That's like saying Morocco is European because historically they ruled iberia

Level 38

Aug 11, 2021

Other way around, in fact.

Level 67

Aug 11, 2021

Turkey is even in the Council of Europe so are Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Cyprus.

Level 78

Oct 18, 2018

A nice, non-political quiz. My non-political comment is that it's time those Pacific island nations (New Zealand excepted) started winning a few more medals.

Level 66

Sep 20, 2021

I got so excited when Fiji won a medal this year

Level 28

Jan 22, 2019

I got USSR With 0:01 left!

Level 65

Aug 14, 2019

Can someone explain why huge countries like Indonesia & India are comparatively so bad at sports?

+13

Level 73

Aug 26, 2019

Lack of government investment in Olympic sport, focus on other sports/cultural activity, talented athletes having a lack of time and resources to train and compete...

+15

Level 82

Aug 26, 2019

Because success at the Olympics has almost nothing at all to do with population or the size of your country which is why looking at per-capita figures is nonsensical. Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of Congo, etc also have virtually no presence at the Olympic games. It's much more about economics, physical geography (hard to get a ski jumping team going in Namibia), politics (how interested a country is in the Olympics, how much support the government gives to its athletes), athletic tradition, and competitive spirit than population. Also a bit to do with genetics (a big part of why Kenya shows up here). Population doesn't start being a factor until you look at some micronations.

Level 46

Nov 29, 2019

Well, it's debatable... Having more people also mean you have more athletes to choose from, more genetic diversity, more competition inside your country... Big olympic nations tend to have a big population (China, USA, Japan, France, Germany...).

It's not the only factor certainly, but going as far as saying it's a non factor is a bit much

+20

Level 62

Apr 19, 2020

Also for that fact that the most popular sports in India don't show up at the Olympics

Level 82

Jun 30, 2021

It's really not debatable. The statistics do not support your (isdaril) opinion at all, while they lend enormous weight to my own. It's only a factor, like I said, with micronations where there just aren't enough people to find enough skilled athletes to field a team. I think the primary reason people want to believe it is a factor is so that they can dismiss the huge number of medals that the USA has gotten as some kind of irrelevant fluke of demography... but... these people are ignorant, biased, and wrong and the numbers bear this out very clearly.

Also I said "almost nothing" not "nothing"... the stats suggest "almost nothing" is accurate.

Level 63

Aug 13, 2024

I am curious which study you are referring towards

* https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=nl&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=factors+that+determine+the+amount+of+medals&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1723586626724&u=%23p%3DBYFAMksSN-MJ this one maybe?

* https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=factors+that+determine+the+amount+of+medals&hl=nl&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_qabs&t=1723587057399&u=%23p%3D-4PN2zDQpK4J maybe this one?

Hmm thats weird both describe population as being a real factor of course they also say other factors are important but maybe i am reading the wrong studies. Sorry if that is the case

Level 74

Aug 20, 2024

“A good big man always beats a good little man”. Same is true for countries with a big population and a strong Olympic program versus a country that also has a strong Olympic program, but has a small population

Level 57

Nov 16, 2020

Because Indians give way too much importance to cricket which sadly is not even featured in Olympics.

Level 70

Aug 11, 2021

Some truth in this, look at Australia where the main sport is Australian Rules Football (a mixture of rugby, football and basketball played with a rugby ball). If the younger population of Australia was to play other world-wide sports instead of Aussie Rules they would win many more medals at Olympics.

Level 71

Aug 11, 2021

I think India will improve in the future--it's not unheard of it. Case in point: Brazil. For most of history they haven't had much of a presence at the Olympics, but in the past decade they've improved significantly, coming in 12th in Tokyo (just behind Canada). I think growing interest in the games and the development of better sports infrastructure (especially due to the fact they hosted in 2016) helped with this.

From what I've heard, India is taking more interest in the Olympics now, and as they become more developed, I think their sports infrastructure will improve. I'm not sure we'll ever see India on the level of China or America, but I could see them being the next "Brazil."

Level 17

Aug 27, 2019

I got all the countries right, but I almost missed one because I consider Turkey a European country!

Level 69

Sep 30, 2019

Just saying, it’s Capital is in Asia, most of it’s area is in Asia, most of the population is in Asia and they are culturally Asian. You MIGHT consider it historically European due to Constantinople, but this is nothing to do with History.

Level 68

Sep 30, 2019

Got them all with 3 seconds to go, the last one being... ahh, Turkey!

Level 75

Sep 30, 2019

Really wish I'd read the caveat. I couldn't figure out which European country I was missing that was number one. Sigh. (It finally dawned on me it must be a former country as time was running out, but unfortunately West Germany was the first one that came to mind.)

Level 63

Sep 30, 2019

isn't turkey considered to be in europe?

Level 82

Sep 30, 2019

Only a small part of it.

Level 50

Dec 9, 2019

I got the last one (Tonga) with 10 seconds left on the clock... lol

Level 61

Dec 31, 2019

Though geographically an Asian country, in sports Turkey is a European country. Also a member of European Olympic Comittee.

I'd suggest, replace it with a country that competes in Asian games, not European games.

Level 55

Jul 1, 2020

kazakhstan and turkey both with 5 seconds left

Level 72

Aug 14, 2020

What's the policy on why West Germany and Germany are put together (but not East Germany?) while USSR and current-day Russia don't have their totals combined?

Level 64

Sep 27, 2020

West Germany and Germany are the same country. The BRD annexed the DDR and Germany is still BRD today.

Level 72

Oct 6, 2020

Thanks, that makes sense!

Level 68

Feb 15, 2021

Exactly. Some quizzes used to count both separately, but now, jetpunk seems to have come to the right conclusion - maybe my relentless and passionate arguing has in a small way contributed to this change (or maybe my insufferable comments have actually delayed it, who knows). Anyway, cool quiz!

Level ∞

Aug 13, 2024

Yes, your comments helped me see the light.

Level 46

Aug 11, 2021

to be honest- I feel kind of sad for the East German athletes who competed so hard and so professionally but now can not be part of the German count but rather have to be part of a ghost team doomed to slowly fall down until their dedication and hard work is forgotten forever; sort of like the whole reunification, which was overall great news for Germany but rushed too much to incorporate the good sides of the DDR and form a more sustainable structure for both states as equals rather than directly annexing.

Level 77

Aug 11, 2021

Really? If modern drug testing technology was available when East Germany was an independent country they would have won exactly zero medals due to disqualification. East Germany athletes were systemically doped harder than the Soviets/Russians.

Level 64

Aug 20, 2024

Most of the major Olympic teams in our time can be excluded for the same

Level 44

Aug 11, 2021

Are you able to add Russian Olympic Committee ?

Thanks

Level 70

Aug 11, 2021

No because they only have 71 medals.

Level 45

Aug 11, 2021

Plz add Russia as a type in

Level 70

Aug 11, 2021

I agree

Level 77

Aug 11, 2021

It goes to show the massive imbalance between medals given out at Summer Olympics versus Winter Olympics. Norway has more winter olympic medals than any country in the WORLD, but don't even crack the top 5 of EUROPE when summer and winter are added together.

Level 42

Aug 11, 2021

I enjoy watching arguments about which continent Turkey and Israel belong to.

As for Australians, we also find it amusing that we have been included in Eurovision, and know that we will never actually be permitted to win. Hell, we may only be there so that the Europeans have another nation to give a vote to instead of the U.K.

Level 77

Aug 12, 2021

Agree, particularly when there is no geographic basis for dividing Eurasia into two continents to begin with.

Level 43

Aug 13, 2021

I feel like Russia should be accepted for the USSR entry. I know the USSR was more than just Russia, but they contribute the majority that total

Level 35

Nov 4, 2021

yes

Level 47

Apr 25, 2022

yes.

Level 75

Mar 21, 2023

But Russia also can't participate in the Olympics.

Level 60

Aug 26, 2024

I don't think Quizmaster includes Russia's medals under the Soviet Union, so it wouldn't make sense to accept Russia.

Level 46

Dec 23, 2021

more people got Samoa than turkey

Level 67

Oct 17, 2022

Asia has much more countries than Oceania.

Level 60

Aug 26, 2024

And many people don't think of Turkey as Asian.

Level 69

Jan 29, 2023

Surprisingly easy. Only Kazakhstan took a while

Level 36

Sep 28, 2023

for oceania im guessing that the countries like fiji , samoa just won it from rugby?

Level 68

Aug 13, 2024

But they're not the best at rugby.

Level 20

Aug 22, 2024

It's because its rugby sevens, not normal rugby union.

Level 84

Aug 14, 2024

Fiji won its 4 medals in Rugby sevens, starting from Rio 2016

Samoa won its sole medal in Weightlifting in Beijing 2008.

Tonga won its sole medal in Boxing in Atlanta 1996.

Level 78

Aug 13, 2024

This pretty quickly became “type every Oceania country in two minutes”.

Level 77

Aug 14, 2024

Tonga & Samoa ftw

Level 43

Aug 20, 2024

All were pretty easy, apart from Kenya, it took me quite a bit

Level 54

Aug 20, 2024

i didnt read the description so i thought this was about 2024 olympics only lmao

Level 38

Aug 20, 2024

please add Russia as a type in for soviet union

Level 20

Aug 22, 2024

I agree. They should get rid of soviet union and replace it with Russia. It is called Russia now and has been since 1991.

Level 73

Aug 24, 2024

But the medals were won as USSR.

Level 91

Aug 23, 2024

What a strange way of dividing up countries! The five olympic rings symbolize the continents of America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania. What is this pish-posh about North and South America? Poppycock!

Level 60

Aug 26, 2024

We really ought to get some Antarctic representation!

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