While the United States may have once again topped the official medal table at the Paris 2024 Olympics, there are some less-talked-about countries that seriously punched above their weight at the quadrennial event. Adjusting for population size, the U.S. medal haul of 126 actually places the country in rank 48 with 0.37 medals per one million inhabitants, which is way ahead of China’s 0.06 medals per million inhabitants but far behind many other countries, including New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands - all nations that consistently outperform their size at the Olympics.
Unsurprisingly, the countries at the very top of our list, Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia, all have populations smaller than 200,000, making their medals count – 2, 1 and 2, respectively – stand out among nations with many times as many inhabitants. With a population of 26.7 million, Australia is the biggest nation near the top of the population-adjusted medal table. The country won an impressive 53 medals, including 18 gold medals, in Paris, mainly but exclusively thanks to its strength in swimming competitions, where Australian athletes won 18 medals, including 7 gold medals.
