I found this site very interesting, especially in light of the ultra-jingoistic slant of the recent Sydney coverage.
Actually it’s the Bahamas leading the medals per million tally (M x 10^6)/P with 2 medals from 294,982, compared to Slovakia at #25 with 5 medals from 5,407,956 people and the United States at #25 with 97 medals from 275,562,673 people.
However, since I watch they Olympics to see the power, grace and skill of the individual atheletes, matters of national competition seem ridiculous to me. I would be just as happy if an athlete’s nationality were as irrelevant as his or her skin or hair color.
Oops, the US is at #46.
Note that only two of the five most populous countries (US (#3) and Russia (#5)) are the top 50, and the second most populous (India) is tied for dead last with 0 medals. 72% (18) of the top 25 MpM countries have a population of less than 10,000,000.
Of course, you have to remember that there is a limit (I believe) of 3 runners per team per event. So the Bahamas track team is virtually the same size as the American one.
Joe Malik- India is one step ahead of the tie for last: they earned a bronze in women’s weightlifting. Pakistan, with about 141 million, was the most populous non-medaling country.
Flymaster- A limit of three runners per team is not as important as you claim- there are only three medals per event. Ideally, a limit of three wouldn’t effect who the top three finishers were. Of course, having more athletes present per million gives a better chance that the random factors. The fourth-best US athlete might have crushed his personal bests and won. (There do exist events for which number of entrants allowed is more obviously important. In many track events the US was limited to two entrants. Some other possibilities include events where one entry is allowed, such as swimming relays and basketball.)
I think there are all kinds of statistical analysis that could be done here. Unfortunately, this methodology is only slightly less absurd than the usual medals table.
I guess ‘per mill’ is a starting point but then what about quantifying training opportunity and facilities, quality of trainers, State assisted funding, access to diet / performance / injury analysis, overseas training assistance, sponsorship, etc. etc.
To my mind, one African swimming medal gleaned from training in a hotel pool with your father shouting encouragement from the side would be worth a truckload of first world track medals.
And I mean is it reasonable to count a gold medal in the 50 meter freestyle the same as a team gold medal in soccer or baseball. It just seems to mean that some sports lend themselves to piling up the medals (track, swimming, gymnastics), while other it is only possible to win a single medal.