Johnny Watterson: More to the Olympic medal table than usually meets the eye

There was an article written during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games entitled ‘How The Olympic Medal Table Explains The World’ and it invited readers to pretend they were a Martian trying to make sense of the world with only the medal tables from the Summer Olympic Games available to them.

The odd thing is that the medal table might actually show much more than what we usually see it for, which is what country takes home the biggest haul every four years.

Very often the medal table can reflect in its own way what is taking place in the world, both physically and politically.

For example, when the Olympics were cancelled in 1916, it was because of the first World War and when they were cancelled again in 1940 and 1944 it was because of second World War.

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The top five gold-medal winners in Rio in 2016 were the USA, Britain, China, Russia and Germany, which are countries that have access to finance

When no medals were won by anyone in 2020, it was because a global epidemic swept the planet and forced the postponement of the Games. But the Martian would have seen the medal count resume normal behaviour the following year when the Games took place a year out of sync.

In 1980, the US haul of medals plummeted to zero because they boycotted the Moscow Games over the invasion of Afghanistan and in 1984, the then USSR medal load vanished because they repaid the USA by staying away from the Los Angeles Games, signalling the political turmoil of those Cold War years.

The Soviet Union did not take any real interest in the Olympic Games until the beginning of the Cold War which began after the second World War. The Olympics then became an all-out competition between the Soviets and the Americans, with Olympic sport acting as the proxy war.

The stakes were international prestige and regime propaganda. Winning more Olympic medals buttressed their claims of superior political and economic systems. That’s something that has not entirely changed.

The Martian might have also noted that countries such as India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Bangladesh have more than 2.1 billion people, or, almost 30 per cent of the world’s total from which to chose outstanding athletes. But they won just six medals in Rio.

The question is how could that be so and the answer not clearly understood, although there are a number of indicators.

Britain poured in the region of €405 million into supporting their athletes at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, a figure that most countries would struggle to match

The top five gold-medal winners in Rio in 2016 were the USA, Britain, China, Russia and Germany, which are countries that have access to finance. The same nations were repeating the feat from four years earlier in London, except that South Korea pushed Germany into sixth place.

The Martian would also have noticed that all of Kenya’s six six gold medals came in running events in 2016, while Cuba’s five came from boxing and wrestling. Ireland won sailing and rowing medals in Rio but 18 medals, more than half Ireland’s total haul at the Olympic Games, come from boxing alone.

Britain is very strong in cycling, South Korea unmatchable in archery, and the Dutch are masters in hockey, especially their women’s team.

Of the 10 women’s Olympic finals since 1980 the Dutch have been in five, won three gold medals, two silver medals and also three bronze medals.

There are lots of reasons why countries win medals, some plough money into sport. Britain used lottery funding after they were embarrassed in 1996 when they collected just one gold medal in Atlanta from a total of 15 and finished 36th on the medal table.

The media subsequently took a blowtorch to the system when two British divers, Bob Morgan and Tony Ally, were forced to sell their kit on the streets of the city.

By Beijing in 2008 the British distress at only winning 15 medals in Atlanta had dramatically changed and become 47 medals with the cycling team alone worth 14 medals, eight of them gold.

Britain poured in the region of €405 million into supporting their athletes at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, a figure that most countries would struggle to match or even wish to match. But they have shown that this particular form of financial brutalism actually seems to work.

Some call it financial doping but it puts the right structures on sport, is able to attract the best coaches and can enable athletes to do it full-time. In 2016, the British finished second in the rankings above China with 27 gold medals.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, has sent every 'ROC' Olympic champion in Tokyo a congratulatory telegram

Of course the other kind of doping has also been shown to be highly successful in the pursuit of medals with the custodians of the Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee, not apparently concerned that Russia had a systematic cheating system in operation for years.

Still, over the past two weeks Russian athletes have regularly featured on podiums as medal winners, although the team’s name is announced as the “Russian Olympic Committee” or “ROC”. The technical hitch here is that Russia may not be able to claim the medals although the Russian government has already warmly welcomed the athletes’ victories.

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, has sent every "ROC" Olympic champion in Tokyo a congratulatory telegram.

“Gymnastics lovers in Russia have waited 25 years for victory in this competition, which makes your success all the more brilliant, valuable, and deserved,” he told the ROC men’s gymnastics squad after it won the team event.

The Martian might see that as rank hypocrisy from the IOC but an effective way of getting the medal haul up. And not many humans would disagree.