All-Time Gold Medals in the Summer Olympics, by Country

This is supposed to make me feel better? Either we start generating Gold Medal in real time or I'm going to get really sarcastic. I'm dead serious.

All-Time Gold Medals in the Summer Olympics, by Country

July 27, 2024

By Dorothy Neufeld, Visual Capitalist

With the Paris Summer Olympics fast approaching, organizers will be spending $4.7 billion to host the games to two million fans visiting from abroad.

This year, 10,500 athletes will compete across 329 events to billions of viewers worldwide. Kayaking and breaking (commonly known as breakdancing) will debut, while surfing and skateboarding return for their second Olympics.

This graphic shows the countries with the most medals in Summer Olympic sports, based on data from the International Olympic Committee.

The Most Gold Medals in Summer Olympic Sports, by Country

In the table below, we rank countries by all-time gold medals in the Summer Olympics:

During the vast majority of the 20th century, the U.S. won 10% of Summer Olympic medals.

Among the sports with the highest medal counts are track and field and swimming, with 344 and 257 gold medals, respectively. American swimmer, Michael Phelps, has won more medals than any Olympic athlete ever, with 23 gold medals under his belt.

Going further, almost 25% of all U.S. gold medals in Summer Olympic sports are from swimming.

Ranking in second is the former Soviet Union, with 395 gold medals. During a period of heightened focus on elite athleticism during the Cold War, the USSR earned more medals than any other country during the 1956-1992 Summer Olympics, with the exception of 1968. It even won the most medals in 1992 after the dissolution of the “Soviet Union”.

With 284 Summer Olympic gold medals, Great Britain falls next, thanks to its success in rowing, cycling, and track and field. Between 1984 and 2016, the Great Britain Team won a gold medal in rowing at every Summer Olympics game.

Since returning to the Summer Olympics in 1984 after 30-year absence, China ranks fourth worldwide. Approximately 75% of Olympic gold medals have come from six sports, all found in the Summer Olympic Games. These include the undeniable success in table tennis, diving, shooting, weight lifting, and gymnastics. Not only that, two-thirds of China’s Summer and Winter Olympic gold medals are won by women.