Countries that underachieve vs countries that overachieve in sports relative to their size

**Jehan** · 10-03-2023, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by Sebastianus Rex

I mean, swimming gives aways hundreads of medals because there's countless styles, distances, individual x team events etc, same for many otger irrelevant sports while truly popular sports with a high level of professionalization and with massive competition with millions of practioners dreaming to achieve a professional status such as football or even to a lesser extend rugby or basketball etc, which count only as 1 olympic medal. So the Olympics do not truly reflect the sporting might of a country since nobody cares about about most of those sports and the number of medals given is just ridiculous.

I agree with you. I would also be curious to see this kind of classment even I imagine it would be hard and open to endless discussion the importance of each sport.
Like You give football 1000 for a world cup victory and 1 for an olympic gold medl in swimming?

For the moment I don't find anything. I might ask quora if something like this exist.

**Nurzat** · 10-03-2023, 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by Petalpusher

...

in that table Russia is counted for after 1991 only, for example, without Soviet Union medals, and the medals are combined Summer and Winter, I'd keep them separately, as you cannot count a lot of warm climate countries against winter sports. still relevant, of course, and broadly same countries show at the top, but I'd look at them by Summer and Winter each, to make an idea of the dynamics of these sports in those countries. available on the wiki link below.

for example, from the wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-ti...es_medal_table, for the Summer + Winter Olympics combined, Russia, including Soviet Union and the various names under which Russian athletes competed, has a count of 750 gold medals, while Germany (including East and West), has a count of 600 gold medals.

for Eastern Europe alone, Olympic gold medals, Summer+Winter combined:

750 Russia (including Soviet Union + Commonwealth of Independent States + Russian Empire etc)
183 Hungary
90 Romania
80 Czech Rep (including Czechoslovakia)
79 Poland
55 Bulgaria
38 Ukraine (since 1991)
34 Serbia (including Yugoslavia + Serbia and Montenegro)
21 Belarus (since 1991)
18 Croatia (since 1991)
14 Slovakia (since 1993)
14 Estonia (since 1991)
12 Slovenia (since 1991)
6 Lithuania (since 1990)
5 Latvia (since 1991)

for their size (1.3 million & 2.1 million) and short history of independence/participation at the Olympics, Estonia and Slovenia are definitely overachievers, Hungary as well when compared to larger Romania and Poland, and even Ukraine has a good record for its only 3 decades of Olympic games participation

**Sebastianus Rex** · 10-03-2023, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by Jehan

I agree with you. I would also be curious to see this kind of classment even I imagine it would be hard and open to endless discussion the importance of each sport.
Like You give football 1000 for a world cup victory and 1 for an olympic gold medl in swimming?

For the moment I don't find anything. I might ask quora if something like this exist.

In terms of importance and impact if it was the football world cup vs olympic shitty sports medals then it would worth 1000 medals ( for me even more) HOWEVER the football Olympic is not considered an important competition in the football world since most of the players are under 23 years of age, only 3 over 23 players are allowed if I'm not mistaken. Anyway the best players don't want to go to the olympic football tournament, especially the europeans since they happen in the same year of the Euro Cup which is much more prestigious etc. So in that regard it's considered a minor football tournament and I wouldn't value the Olympic football too much in terms of the medal count ( not 1000 in terms of importance vs minor sports but perhaps 25-50) but to have so many sports awarding so many medals is just ridiculous, wtf does it matters so the butterfly or back swimming styles and their countless different distances, in real life no one ever swims like that, it's just pathetic.

I see the Olympics in general as a somewhat amateurish event ( which is indeed the spirit of the Olympic ressurection sought by Pierre de Cobertin) to reward sports and athletes that are not highly professional/well paid.

There's a few exceptions such as basketball which is nowadays more prestigious than the basketball world cup ( the 1992 dream team changed significantly the mentality) andmany nba stars want to participate at least once, also tennis has many of the big stars participating, but overall for truly big sports that's not the case. To organize a proper football big tournament (such as the euro or world cup) at least one month is required and for rugby even more ( 1 and 1/2 months) is necessary to allow the recovery of the players between matches etc, so it's not possible that the Olympic games which usually last around 2 weeks will ever be an important competition for the truly big team sports.

**Colonel Frank Grimes** · 10-04-2023, 12:43 AM

This thread is like porn for autists.

The value of this discussion lies in the recognition that not all nations commence their athletic endeavors on an equal footing. Even affluent nations such as the United States, which one might assume to be ahead in all sports, have encountered challenges in certain disciplines, like wrestling, where comparatively less wealthy nations like Cuba have excelled. For an extended period, there was a lack of concerted effort to prepare American Olympic wrestlers adequately.

Unlike their counterparts in countries like the USSR and Cuba, American wrestlers did not have access to similar training facilities. Moreover, they did not receive stipends to cover their living expenses, allowing them to concentrate solely on their training. In the interim between Olympic events, they were left unsupported. Many exceptionally talented college wrestlers were compelled to seek regular employment, which hindered their preparation, in stark contrast to athletes from Soviet, Cuban, and other nations. These competitors enjoyed the privilege of government support, which allowed them to focus entirely on their Olympic pursuits, unburdened by financial concerns.