Medals per capita – our alternative Olympic rankings
Medals per capita – our alternative Olympic rankings
5
August 2016
The Rio Olympic Games begin on 5 August, and Statistics NZ will again rank New Zealand’s medal tally based on our population.
At the 2012 London Olympics, using this alternative ranking system, New Zealand won the fourth most gold medals of any country, Statistics NZ said.
“We’re crunching the numbers during Rio 2016 to rank countries on how many medals they win relative to their population,” Statistics NZ senior demographer Kim Dunstan said.
This differs from the traditional medal table, which ranks countries solely on the number of gold, silver, and bronze medals they have won.
At the London Games, New Zealand won six gold medals, two silver, and five bronze.
In the traditional medal rankings, this placed New Zealand 15th overall. But in our population-based rankings, New Zealand was behind only Grenada, the Bahamas, and Jamaica.
New Zealand’s population was 4.4 million in 2012. Based on the latest Statistics NZ estimates, our population is now 4.7 million.
“For its size, or even in the traditional rankings, New Zealand produces some of the best sports men and women in the world,” Mr Dunstan said.
New Zealand has medal prospects across a range of sports including rowing, canoeing, sailing, shot-put, golf, and rugby sevens.
The population-based ranking tables will be updated each weekday at 2pm.
For more
information about these statistics:
• Visit Medals per capita – our alternative
Olympic
rankings
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