CleverDonkey’s Final 2008 Beijing Olympic Power Rankings

Posted on August 24th, 2008 in Commentary,Politics,Sports,Television by EngineerBoy

Forget medal count – who cares if countries with hundreds of millions (or even billions) of people win a lot of medals?  They should win a lot of medals, right?  The big question is, which country is kicking ass in their weight class?  The answer is in the table below.

This table creates a weighted medal score by giving each country three points for each gold medal, two points for each silver, and one point for each bronze.  The country’s Power Rating is calculated by determining how many weighted medal points each country wins per 10,000,000 in population.  And to factor in economics, the population only includes those living above the poverty level (according to CIA poverty estimates).

As of this final update (Sunday, 8/24/2008, 10:00am CDT), the Jamaicans have maintained their position and taken first place in the Power Rankings – all fruits ripe, mon!  The Bahamians held on for second place, and Iceland snuck into third place in the last day of competition.  Mongolia and Slovenia rounded out the top five.

Congratulations to all, and we’ll see you again in four years!

CleverDonkey’s Final 2008 Olympic Power Rankings
click column headers to sort up/down

Olympic Power Rank Country Power Rating (Weighted Medals per 10 Million Pop.) Gold Silver Bronze Total Medals Weighted Medals (G*3 + S*2 + B*1) Population (above poverty line)
1 JAM - Jamaica 112.44 6 3 2 11 26 2,312,328
2 BAH - Bahamas 99.93 0 1 1 2 3 300,217
3 ISL - Iceland 63.24 0 1 0 1 2 316,252
4 MGL - Mongolia 59.53 2 2 0 4 10 1,679,931
5 SLO - Slovenia 50.93 1 2 2 5 9 1,767,259
6 BLR - Belarus 45.30 4 5 10 19 32 7,064,010
7 NOR - Norway 43.96 3 5 2 10 21 4,777,000
8 AUS - Australia 41.61 14 15 17 46 89 21,388,000
9 GEO - Georgia 39.57 3 0 3 6 12 3,032,550
10 BRN - Bahrain 39.47 1 0 0 1 3 760,000
11 EST - Estonia 39.26 1 1 0 2 5 1,273,570
12 NZL - New Zealand 37.43 3 1 5 9 16 4,274,400
13 CUB - Cuba 34.61 2 11 11 24 39 11,268,000
14 SVK - Slovakia 32.81 3 2 1 6 14 4,267,580
15 TRI - Trinidad/Tobago 30.01 0 2 0 2 4 1,333,000
16 ARM - Armenia 27.19 0 0 6 6 6 2,206,470
17 LAT - Latvia 26.46 1 1 1 3 6 2,268,000
18 NED - Netherlands 23.78 7 5 4 16 35 14,717,380
19 DEN - Denmark 23.68 2 2 3 7 13 5,489,000
20 HUN - Hungary 22.88 3 5 2 10 21 9,179,302
21 LTU - Lithuania 21.69 0 2 3 5 7 3,226,560
22 ZIM - Zimbabwe 21.07 1 3 0 4 9 4,271,680
23 GBR - Great Britain 18.81 19 13 15 47 98 52,104,820
24 CRO - Croatia 17.27 0 2 3 5 7 4,053,950
25 AZE - Azerbaijan 17.09 1 2 4 7 11 6,434,920
26 KOR - Korea 16.35 13 10 8 31 67 40,990,400
27 UKR - Ukraine 16.03 7 5 15 27 46 28,694,757
28 KAZ - Kazakhstan 15.80 2 4 7 13 21 13,293,764
29 KEN - Kenya 15.43 5 5 4 14 29 18,789,000
30 CZE - Czech Republic 14.42 3 3 0 6 15 10,403,000
31 PAN - Panama 14.24 1 0 0 1 3 2,106,090
32 FIN - Finland 13.17 1 1 2 4 7 5,317,000
33 SUI - Switzerland 13.09 2 0 4 6 10 7,637,000
34 BUL - Bulgaria 12.19 1 1 3 5 8 6,562,760
35 RUS - Russian Fed. 11.63 23 21 28 72 139 119,469,696
36 FRA - France 11.57 7 16 17 40 70 60,475,674
37 GER - Germany 11.34 16 10 15 41 83 73,173,130
38 TJK - Tajikistan 11.13 0 1 1 2 3 2,694,400
40 CAN - Canada 11.09 3 9 6 18 33 29,747,397
41 ROU - Romania 10.57 4 1 3 8 17 16,078,500
42 ESP - Spain 10.29 5 10 3 18 38 36,942,526
43 SWE - Sweden 9.77 0 4 1 5 9 9,215,000
44 IRL - Ireland 9.73 0 1 2 3 4 4,112,460
45 KGZ - Kyrgyzstan 9.40 0 1 1 2 3 3,190,200
46 ITA - Italy 9.06 8 10 10 28 54 59,619,000
47 DOM - Dominican Rep. 8.86 1 1 0 2 5 5,641,280
48 MRI - Mauritius 8.61 0 0 1 1 1 1,161,040
49 USA - United States 8.20 36 38 36 110 220 268,275,040
50 POL - Poland 6.95 3 6 1 10 22 31,636,253
51 BEL - Belgium 5.53 1 1 0 2 5 9,035,440
52 UZB - Uzbekistan 5.45 1 2 3 6 10 18,339,240
53 GRE - Greece 5.38 0 2 2 4 6 11,147,000
54 AUT - Austria 5.10 0 1 2 3 4 7,847,940
55 POR - Portugal 4.71 1 1 0 2 5 10,623,000
56 PRK - DPR Korea 4.62 2 1 3 6 11 23,790,000
57 SIN - Singapore 4.36 0 1 0 1 2 4,588,600
58 SRB - Serbia 4.34 0 1 2 3 4 9,217,230
59 JPN - Japan 3.84 9 6 10 25 49 127,690,000
60 MDA - Rep. of Moldova 3.74 0 0 1 1 1 2,674,770
61 ETH - Ethiopia 3.29 4 1 2 7 16 48,562,473
62 ARG - Argentina 3.24 2 0 4 6 10 30,870,566
63 TUN - Tunisia 3.14 1 0 0 1 3 9,562,802
64 CMR - Cameroon 3.11 1 0 0 1 3 9,645,480
65 TUR - Turkey 2.48 1 4 3 8 14 56,468,800
66 ECU - Ecuador 2.43 0 1 0 1 2 8,231,397
67 TOG - Togo 2.23 0 0 1 1 1 4,477,800
69 BRA - Brazil 1.99 3 4 8 15 25 125,598,870
70 CHN - China 1.83 51 21 28 100 223 1,219,466,440
71 THA - Thailand 1.76 2 2 0 4 10 56,734,200
72 TPE - Chinese Taipei 1.76 0 0 4 4 4 22,771,595
73 ISR - Israel 1.75 0 0 1 1 1 5,725,552
74 CHI - Chile 1.46 0 1 0 1 2 13,712,518
75 COL - Colombia 1.33 0 1 1 2 3 22,612,604
76 ALG - Algeria 1.18 0 1 1 2 3 25,393,500
77 MAR - Morocco 1.13 0 1 1 2 3 26,540,400
78 NGR - Nigeria 1.13 0 1 3 4 5 44,427,900
79 SUD - Sudan 0.86 0 1 0 1 2 23,136,000
80 RSA - South Africa 0.84 0 1 0 1 2 23,925,000
81 AFG - Afghanistan 0.78 0 0 1 1 1 12,758,150
82 MAS - Malaysia 0.78 0 1 0 1 2 25,784,330
83 MEX - Mexico 0.76 2 0 1 3 7 91,959,884
84 IRI - Iran 0.69 1 0 1 2 4 57,805,900
85 VEN - Venezuela 0.58 0 0 1 1 1 17,358,813
86 INA - Indonesia 0.42 1 1 3 5 8 191,219,394
87 VIE - Vietnam 0.27 0 1 0 1 2 74,487,188
88 EGY - Egypt 0.17 0 0 1 1 1 60,036,800
89 IND - India 0.06 1 0 2 3 5 852,498,750

Don’t forget to come back in four years - we’ll be tracking the medal races again!!

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