Tokyo Olympics: Who Leads the Medal Count? (Published 2021) (2024)

The Upshot

By Josh KatzJuly 27, 2021

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United States U.S.

China China

Russian O.C. Russian O.C.

Britain Britain

Japan Japan

Australia Australia

Italy Italy

Germany Germany

Netherlands Netherlands

France France

Canada Canada

Brazil Brazil

New Zealand New Zealand

Hungary Hungary

South Korea S. Korea

Ukraine Ukraine

Spain Spain

Cuba Cuba

Poland Poland

Switzerland Switzerland

Turkey Turkey

Taiwan Taiwan

Czech Republic Czech Rep.

Denmark Denmark

Kenya Kenya

Sweden Sweden

Jamaica Jamaica

Serbia Serbia

Norway Norway

Croatia Croatia

Georgia Georgia

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan

Iran Iran

Belgium Belgium

Belarus Belarus

India India

Austria Austria

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan

Bulgaria Bulgaria

Hong Kong Hong Kong

Egypt Egypt

Slovenia Slovenia

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan

Indonesia Indonesia

Colombia Colombia

Dominican Republic Dominican Republic

Greece Greece

Uganda Uganda

Ireland Ireland

Israel Israel

Romania Romania

Venezuela Venezuela

Philippines Philippines

Slovakia Slovakia

Ethiopia Ethiopia

Portugal Portugal

Armenia Armenia

Mongolia Mongolia

Mexico Mexico

Ecuador Ecuador

Qatar Qatar

South Africa S. Africa

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan

Argentina Argentina

San Marino San Marino

Bahamas Bahamas

Kosovo Kosovo

Tunisia Tunisia

Estonia Estonia

Fiji Fiji

Latvia Latvia

Thailand Thailand

Jordan Jordan

Malaysia Malaysia

Nigeria Nigeria

Finland Finland

Bermuda Bermuda

Morocco Morocco

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico

Bahrain Bahrain

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia

Lithuania Lithuania

North Macedonia N. Macedonia

Namibia Namibia

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan

Botswana Botswana

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast

Ghana Ghana

Grenada Grenada

Kuwait Kuwait

Moldova Moldova

Syria Syria

Possible rank in Olympic medal count

1st

26th or lower

Which country is doing best in the Tokyo Olympics? It might depend whom you ask — and how they count.

As of Sunday at 9:18 a.m. Eastern time, the United States stood atop the official Olympic medal table, which sorts nations based on their number of gold medals. That’s how much of the world does it, using silver and bronze only to break ties.

By another measure, the United States leads because it has the most medals overall (113, at last count). Publications in the U.S., including The New York Times, often take this approach.

Leaders by total medals

United States U.S.	113
China China	88
Russian O.C. Russian O.C.	71
Britain Britain	65
Japan Japan	58
Australia Australia	46
Italy Italy	40
Germany Germany	37
Netherlands Netherlands	36
France France	33

Leaders by gold medals

United States U.S.	39
China China	38
Japan Japan	27
Britain Britain	22
Russian O.C. Russian O.C.	20
Australia Australia	17
Netherlands Netherlands	10
France France	10
Germany Germany	10
Italy Italy	10

Which way of counting is superior? It’s possible neither is. Maybe the ideal method is somewhere in between.

That’s where you come in.

The charts below show all the places a country might land on a medals table, given different ways of measuring the relative worth of a gold medal to a silver, and a silver to a bronze. It’s up to you to decide which is best, with one obvious limitation: A gold can’t be worth less than a silver, and a silver can’t be worth less than a bronze.

If you care only about golds, that’s the upper-right corner. If you consider all medals equal, that’s the lower-left corner. Everywhere in between is another plausible scoring method.