# Cool Olympic Trivia (2021)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-olympic-trivia-2021/948357>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** olympic-sports-track\
**Created:** [August 10, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-olympic-trivia-2021/948357 "2021-08-10T02:16:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-olympic-trivia-2021/948357/1 "2021-08-10T02:16:12Z")

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Enjoyed these obscure points, so thought you might too.

> **[The 24 Craziest Stats From the Tokyo Olympics](https://slate.com/culture/2021/08/tokyo-olympics-statistics-wild-numbers-factoids-milestones.html)**
>
> San Marino earned 1 medal for each 11,200 of its residents—plus factoids about Kazakhstan!

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-olympic-trivia-2021/948357/2 "2021-08-10T02:19:15Z")

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Examples:

• In its first 24 Olympics appearances (summer and winter), the tiny European nation of San Marino won zero medals. In Tokyo—its 25th—it won three: silver in mixed team trap shooting, bronze in women’s individual trap shooting, and bronze in men’s freestyle 86 kg wrestling. This makes it the smallest nation by population—just 33,600 people—to ever win a medal.

• San Marino’s wins mean it earned 1 medal per 11,200 residents, the greatest ratio ever for a single Summer Olympics. For the USA to have the same ratio, it would need to win approximately 29,600 medals—more than have been given out in the history of the Summer Olympics.

• After more than six hours of cycling, the difference between second place and ninth place in the men’s road race was less than a second.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-olympic-trivia-2021/948357/3 "2021-08-10T12:42:04Z")

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> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> After more than six hours of cycling, the difference between second place and ninth place in the men’s road race was less than a second.

That’s the nature of road cycling; aerodynamics mean that cyclists stay in bunches.