Inspired by John Allen Paulos, who just now tweeted
Obvious, but NBC hasn't said: Canada, Norway, Germany way ahead of US in Olympic medals per capita. Many ways to rank: Cf. Arrow's theorem.
I decided to redo the medals list. Here, the number of medals per capita among the top countries.
| Country | Gold/capita | Silver/capita | Bronze/capita | Total/capita |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 1.23E-06 | 6.17E-07 | 1.03E-06 | 2.88E-06 |
| Austria | 3.58E-07 | 3.58E-07 | 3.58E-07 | 1.07E-06 |
| Slovenia | 0 | 4.87E-07 | 4.87E-07 | 9.74E-07 |
| Switzerland | 6.43E-07 | 0 | 2.57E-07 | 9.00E-07 |
| Latvia | 0 | 8.90E-07 | 0 | 8.90E-07 |
| Sweden | 3.21E-07 | 2.14E-07 | 2.14E-07 | 7.49E-07 |
| Estonia | 0 | 7.46E-07 | 0 | 7.46E-07 |
| Slovakia | 1.84E-07 | 1.84E-07 | 1.84E-07 | 5.53E-07 |
| Croatia | 0 | 2.25E-07 | 2.25E-07 | 4.51E-07 |
| Netherlands | 1.81E-07 | 6.03E-08 | 6.03E-08 | 3.01E-07 |
| Canada | 1.47E-07 | 1.18E-07 | 2.94E-08 | 2.94E-07 |
| Czech republic | 9.51E-08 | 0 | 1.90E-07 | 2.85E-07 |
| Germany | 8.56E-08 | 1.10E-07 | 6.12E-08 | 2.57E-07 |
| Belarus | 0 | 1.05E-07 | 1.05E-07 | 2.11E-07 |
| Finland | 0 | 1.87E-07 | 0 | 1.87E-07 |
| Korea | 8.04E-08 | 8.04E-08 | 2.01E-08 | 1.81E-07 |
| France | 3.06E-08 | 3.06E-08 | 6.11E-08 | 1.22E-07 |
| Poland | 0 | 7.87E-08 | 2.62E-08 | 1.05E-07 |
| Australia | 4.51E-08 | 4.51E-08 | 0 | 9.02E-08 |
| USA | 2.27E-08 | 2.59E-08 | 3.24E-08 | 8.10E-08 |
| Russian Federation | 1.41E-08 | 2.11E-08 | 4.23E-08 | 7.75E-08 |
| Italy | 0 | 1.66E-08 | 4.98E-08 | 6.64E-08 |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | 6.34E-08 | 0 | 6.34E-08 |
| Japan | 0 | 7.85E-09 | 1.57E-08 | 2.35E-08 |
| Great Britain | 1.61E-08 | 0 | 0 | 1.61E-08 |
| China | 2.25E-09 | 7.49E-10 | 7.49E-10 | 3.74E-09 |
(Data taken on February 23, from the current state of olympic medals achieved at that date, and from the Wikipedia page listing populations of the nations of the earth, taken the same date)