Over time, the USA has won the most medals at the Olympics

This summer, 10,500 athletes will compete at the Olympic Games (Olympic Games) in Paris, which start today.

Throughout history, in more than half of the competitions at the Olympics, the U.S. has won the most medals, a success that is due in part to substantial funding for American sports, according to a visualcapitalist.com analysis based on data from the Committee International Olympic. The cited source states that more than $750 million has been directed by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee to national sports federations since 2000.

The list of countries with the most medals in history, starting with the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, puts the USA in first place, with a total of 2,959 medals (of which 1,175 are gold), a figure that more than doubles the record of second ranked, former USSR.

The cited source states that US teams have won 827 medals in the track and field events - more than the total number of medals from almost all other countries. USA track and field has received more funding than any other summer sport from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, $54.1 million between 2003 and 2019.

The USA has won 578 swimming medals, surpassing the runner-up in this segment - Australia, which has 213 medals. It is the second-highest funded summer sport in the US, taking in $49.2 million during the said period.

The former Soviet Union, which existed from 1922 to 1991, won 1,204 medals over that time, including 473 gold. Despite competing in only 18 Olympic games since the 1950s, the country has had the most medals in 13 of those games. During communist rule, state sports programs became increasingly important as the competition between the USA and the USSR intensified massively as a means of manifesting ideological dominance.

In third place in the ranking of medals we find Germany, with 922 (305 gold), and in fourth - Great Britain, with 950 (296 gold). We note that the ranking is based on the number of gold medals, not the total won by the countries.

China - like the USSR - first competed in the Olympics in the 1950s, but then did not enter the competition for the next 30 years. Even with this absence, China ranks fifth in the world for the number of Olympic medals (713, including 285 gold), excelling in gymnastics, diving and badminton. France - with 889 medals (264 gold), Italy - with 759 (259 gold), Sweden - with 679 (212 gold), Norway - with 568 (209 gold) and Russia, with 544 (194 gold). The next ten places look like this: former East Germany (519 total, 192 gold), Japan (573, 186 gold respectively), Hungary (521 total, 183 gold), Australia (566 total, 170 gold), Canada (551 total, 148 gold), Netherlands (469 total, 148 gold), Finland (480 total, 146 gold), South Korea (367 total, 129 gold), Switzerland (374 total, 116 gold), Austria (346 total, 91 gold).

From a regional perspective, European countries hold 13 positions among the top 20 states in the medals table. On the other hand, more than 60 countries, including Bolivia and Bangladesh, have not won an Olympic medal to date.