Winter Olympic Medals Table

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The 24rd edition of the Winter Olympics is just around the corner. The Olympic champions of skiing, skating, snowboarding, hockey and many other sports will be competing from February 4th to 20th in Beijing, China. The nations that are participating in this new edition of the Winter Olympics are a good 91. Among these there are also some nations that will be participating for the first time: Saudi Arabia and Haiti. But which are the nations that have won the most medals in the history of the Olympics? And who are the most successful athletes ever? In today’s article we are analyzing several interesting facts about the Winter Olympics. Winter Olympic Medals Table.

Winter Olympic Medals Table – 1924-2018

The Chinese Olympiad is the XXIV edition of the Winter Olympics. But which nations have won the most from the first edition, in 1924, to today? To go further on this it is useful to analyze the Winter Olympic Medals Table.

As of 2018, the first nation by number of gold medals won in the Winter Olympics is Norway. Norway has won a total of 132 gold medals from 1924 to 2018 – last edition in Pyeongchang. So, Norway is up on the United States – the second nation in the world – by 27 medals. The United States, as a matter of fact, have won a total of 105 medals in the history of the Winter Olympics. On the third step of the podium, among the nations that have won the most gold medals at the Winter Olympics, is Germany with 92. Then followed by the Soviet Union with 78, Canada with 73, and Austria with 64. South Korea closes the ranking of the top 15 nations in the world for the number of gold medals at the Winter Olympics with 31 medals.

The history of the Olympics is also linked to Geo-politics. For this reason, if it is true that up to 2018 Germany is in third position with 92 medals, it is also true that the calculation of Germany is done by excluding the data of East and West Germany in addition to the United Team of Germany, which was the German team from 1956 to 1964. If we added up all this data, Germany would have reached a good 150 Olympic gold medals.

If we used the same reasoning for Russia, adding up the different appearances as the Soviet Union, and Unified Team (in 1992), the total of gold medals would be 196.

Nations that have won the most Olympic medals

We saw which are the nations that have won the most gold medals from 1924 to 2018, but which are the nations that have won the most winter Olympic medals overall? In first place we always find Norway. In total, Norway has won 368 Olympic medals. Among these, as we have seen, 132 golds, 125 silvers and 111 bronzes. Therefore, Norway is not only the nation to have won the most golds, but also the one to have won the most silvers and bronzes. Among the nations that have won the most medals in second place we find the United States again with 305. Of these, 105 golds, 112 silvers and 88 bronzes. In third place we find Germany with 240: 92 golds, 88 silvers and 60 bronzes. Austria, if we count all the medals, reaches 232, surpassing Canada and the Soviet Union. In total, Austria won 64 gold medals, but also 81 silvers and 87 bronzes.

There are also nations that have never won an Olympic medal. Among these, Andorra who participated in 12 winter games without ever winning one. Or Monaco with 10 winter games but zero medal wins. It will be curious to see if, in this new edition of the Winter Olympics, some countries that have never won a medal will finally succeed in the challenge.

The athletes who have won the most medals

Comparing the data of the different nations showed us that Norway is the most successful nation in the history of the Winter Olympics. But which are the athletes who have won the most? At the top of the ranking, we find the cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen. Marit Bjørgen won 8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals from 2002 to 2018. She is, to date, the athlete who has won the most in the history of the Winter Olympics. In second position, distanced by two medals, we find the Norwegian athlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Ole won a total of 13 medals from 1998 to 2014. Like Marit he won 8 gold medals, four silver but “only” 1 bronze. In third position we find another Norwegian athlete, Bjørn Dæhlie. He won 12 total medals (8 golds and 4 silvers) in cross-country skiing. Following, we find Ireen Wust with 11, Raisa Smetanina with 10, and among the top positions also the Italian Stefania Belmondo, who won a total of 10 medals in cross-country skiing from 1992 to 2002: 2 golds, 3 silvers and 5 bronzes.