India’s poverty in Olympics can be better understood in the light of the successes of nations that don’t have even half the population of ours. India have missed only 4 Olympics since the inception of the Games and have managed to secure just 26 medals in these attempts.
On the other hand, a glance at the overall leaderboard of medals reveals that countries much smaller in both size and population than India have dominated the Olympics.
With Rio Olympics nearing, we take a look at 5 nations that can put India to shame with the sheer weight of numbers.
Norway
The Scandinavian country has participated in all except for three Olympics, two in the early days of Olympics and one in 1980 when they decided to be a part of the US-led boycott at the peak of Cold War rivalries. However, the country still has to its name 149 medals in Summer Olympics with 56 golds,49 silvers and 44 Bronze.
In Winter Olympics, the country sits at the top of the medals list with a total of 329 medals where the country’s athletes have won 118 Gold 111 Silver and 100 Bronze.
Cuba
The small North American country that has remained staunchly Communist over the years under Fidel Castro has also continuously produced world class boxers apart from achieving excellence in other Olympic sports. In the 27 Olympics that it has taken part in, Cuba has amassed a whopping 202 Olympic Medals.
Cuba have won 72 Gold 67 Silver and 69 Bronze. One can only wonder how many medals could the Cuban athletes have brought home had the country not been embroiled in Cold War rivalries. Cuba has specially dominated Boxing at the Olympics with 34 Gold and a total of 67 medals.
South Korea
With a land mass 33 times smaller in size than India, South Korea has almost 10 times more medals than India in the Olympics. The country has participated in the Olympics since 1948 and missed only one Olympic in 1980 when they boycotted the Olympics held in Moscow.
It took seven Olympics for South Korea to win their first Olympic Gold but since then have added 80 more to the tally. South Korea has 243 medals to its name.
The country is the dominant power in archery and Taekwondo where South Korean Athletes have won 19 and 11 Gold medals respectively.
Australia
Surely not the smallest country in terms of size, but given its small population, which is half of that of South Korea, Australia qualifies to be on the list. Australia have won a massive 467 Olympic medals, making it the 10th richest country in the list.
The country has 138 Gold medals apart from 153 Silver and 176 Bronze medals. The country failed to win a Gold in 1976 and it was considered a national embarrassment. Subsequently, Australian Institute of Sports was instituted in 1980 and the results were for everyone to see when Australia ended 2000 Olympics with 58 medals.
Australia has produced some of the best swimmers in Ian Thorpe, Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose and Libby Tricket and has dominated field hockey as well.
Romania
The East European country hasn’t participated in all the Olympics and has not even got the opportunity to host the quadrennial event even once. But the country’s athletes have rarely disappointed, giving the country 301 medals with 88 Golds.
Gymnastics has been Romania’s strongest suit where they have 72 medals and 25 Gold medals. After Hungary, Romania has the most number of medals for a country who have not been able to host the Games.
