The Olympic Games have always been contested between different countries since the beginning of the modern games. Notable for being referred to as “National Olympic Committees (NOCs)”, these countries send their best athletes to the Olympic Games to compete in various sports and bring home medals for the country.
Notably, the number of countries (NOC’s) in the Olympic Games has increased over the years since the modern games were introduced in 1896. Matter of factly, there were only 14 countries (NOC’s) that participated in the 1896 Summer Olympics games. From thereon, it increased over the years to 206 countries (NOC’s) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan. While the majority of these countries have been successful in winning medals at the Olympic Games, there are still some countries that are yet to win a medal in the games.
Remarkably, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics will witness 206 countries (NOC’s) and their 10,500 athletes battling it out for the medals.
List of Countries that have won the Olympics
The table below presents the countries that have won the Summer Olympics since 1896 along with their medal collection -
| Countries | Gold Medals | Silver Medals | Bronze medals | Total medals |
| United States (USA) | 1,061 | 830 | 738 | 2,629 |
| Soviet Union (URS) | 395 | 319 | 296 | 1,010 |
| Great Britain (GBR) | 284 | 318 | 314 | 916 |
| France (FRA) | 223 | 251 | 277 | 751 |
| Germany (GER) | 201 | 207 | 247 | 655 |
| China (CHI) | 263 | 199 | 174 | 636 |
| Italy (ITA) | 217 | 188 | 213 | 618 |
| Australia (AUS) | 164 | 173 | 210 | 547 |
| Hungary (HUN) | 181 | 154 | 176 | 511 |
| Sweden (SWE) | 147 | 177 | 179 | 503 |
| Japan (JPN) | 169 | 150 | 178 | 497 |
| Russia (RUS) | 147 | 126 | 150 | 423 |
| East Germany (GDR) | 153 | 129 | 127 | 409 |
| Canada (CAN) | 71 | 110 | 145 | 326 |
| The Netherlands (NED) | 95 | 105 | 122 | 322 |
| Romania (ROU) | 90 | 97 | 121 | 308 |
| Finland (FIN) | 101 | 85 | 119 | 305 |
| Poland (POL) | 72 | 89 | 137 | 298 |
| South Korea (KOR) | 96 | 91 | 101 | 288 |
| Cuba (CUB) | 84 | 69 | 82 | 235 |
| Bulgaria (BUL) | 54 | 88 | 82 | 224 |
| Switzerland (SUI) | 53 | 79 | 74 | 206 |
| Denmark (DEN) | 48 | 78 | 79 | 205 |
| West Germany (FRG) | 56 | 67 | 81 | 204 |
| Spain (ESP) | 48 | 72 | 49 | 169 |
| Norway (NOR) | 61 | 52 | 50 | 163 |
| Belgium (BEL) | 44 | 56 | 57 | 157 |
| Brazil (BRA) | 37 | 42 | 71 | 150 |
| Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 49 | 49 | 45 | 143 |
| Ukraine (UKR) | 35 | 36 | 68 | 139 |
| New Zealand (NZL) | 53 | 33 | 51 | 137 |
| Kenya (KEN) | 35 | 42 | 36 | 113 |
| Turkey (TUR) | 41 | 26 | 36 | 103 |
| Austria (AUT) | 20 | 35 | 41 | 96 |
| South Africa (RSA) | 27 | 33 | 29 | 89 |
| Jamaica (JAM) | 26 | 36 | 26 | 88 |
| Belarus (BLR) | 13 | 30 | 42 | 85 |
| Yugoslavia (YUG) | 26 | 29 | 28 | 83 |
| Kazakhstan (KAZ) | 14 | 22 | 35 | 71 |
| Argentina (ARG) | 21 | 26 | 30 | 77 |
| Mexico (MEX) | 13 | 24 | 35 | 72 |
| Iran (IRI) | 24 | 23 | 29 | 76 |
| Czech Republic (CZE) | 19 | 22 | 26 | 67 |
| Ethiopia (ETH) | 23 | 12 | 23 | 58 |
| North Korea (PRK) | 16 | 16 | 23 | 55 |
| Azerbaijan (AZE) | 7 | 14 | 28 | 49 |
| Croatia (CRO) | 14 | 13 | 14 | 41 |
| Georgia (GEO) | 10 | 12 | 18 | 40 |
| Egypt (EGY) | 8 | 11 | 19 | 38 |
| Indonesia (INA) | 8 | 14 | 15 | 37 |
| Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 7 | 11 | 18 | 36 |
| Uzbekistan (UZB) | 10 | 6 | 20 | 36 |
| Estonia (EST) | 10 | 9 | 17 | 36 |
| India (IND) | 10 | 9 | 16 | 35 |
| Ireland (IRL) | 11 | 10 | 14 | 35 |
| Thailand (THA) | 10 | 8 | 17 | 35 |
| Colombia (COL) | 5 | 13 | 16 | 34 |
| Mongolia (MGL) | 2 | 11 | 17 | 30 |
| Portugal (POR) | 5 | 9 | 14 | 28 |
| Nigeria (NGR) | 3 | 11 | 13 | 27 |
| Lithuania (LTU) | 6 | 7 | 13 | 26 |
| Serbia (SRB) | 6 | 7 | 11 | 24 |
| Morocco (MAR) | 7 | 5 | 12 | 24 |
| Latvia (LAT) | 4 | 11 | 6 | 21 |
| Venezuela (VEN) | 3 | 7 | 9 | 19 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | 5 | 11 | 19 |
| Armenia (ARM) | 2 | 8 | 8 | 18 |
| Algeria (ALG) | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| Bahamas (BAH) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
| Tunisia (TUN) | 5 | 3 | 7 | 15 |
| Philippines (PHI) | 1 | 5 | 8 | 14 |
| Chile (CHI) | 2 | 7 | 4 | 13 |
| Israel (ISR) | 3 | 1 | 9 | 13 |
| Malaysia (MAS) | 0 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
| Dominican Republic (DOM) | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| Uganda (UGA) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| Uruguay (URU) | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Pakistan (PAK) | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Puerto Rico (PUR) | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| Hong Kong (HKG) | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| Qatar (QAT) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Russian Empire (RU1) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Kyrgyzstan (KGZ) | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Cameroon (CMR) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Moldova (MDA) | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Vietnam (VIE) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Singapore (SGP) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Equador (ECU) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Ghana (GHA) | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Namibia (NAM) | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Bahrain (BRN) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Bohemia (BOH) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Costa Rica (CRC) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Ivory Coast (CIV) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Iceland (ISL) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Lebanon (LBN) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Peru (PER) | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Saudi Arabia (KSA) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Syria (SYR) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Tajikistan (TJK) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Fiji (FIJ) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Grenada (GRN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Jordan (JOR) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Kuwait (KUW) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Luxembourg (LUX) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Panama (PAN) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| San Marino (SMR) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Afghanistan (AFG) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bermuda (BER) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Botswana (BOT) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| British West Indies (BWI) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Burundi (BDI) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Haiti (HAI) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mozambique (MOZ) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Niger (NIG) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| North Macedonia (MKD) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Sri Lanka (SRI) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Suriname (SUR) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Tanzania (TAN) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| United Arab Emirates (UAE) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Zambia (ZAM) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Barbados (BAR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Burkina Faso (BUR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cyprus (CYP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Eritrea (ERI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gabon (GAB) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Guatemala (GUA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Guyana (GUY) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Iraq (IRQ) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Mauritius (MRI) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Montenegro (MNE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Netherlands Antilles (AHO) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Paraguay (PAR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Samoa (SAM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Senegal (SEN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Sudan (SUD) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Togo (TOG) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tonga (TGA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Turkmenistan (TKM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Virgin Islands (ISV) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
FAQ's On Olympic Winners Countries
A. The United States have won the most medals at the Olympics as of 2024.
]A. 68 countries out of 206 countries (NOC’s) are yet to win an Olympic medal as of 2024.
A. The United States has hosted the most Olympic sports. Incredibly, they are an eight-time host of the event.
A. The smallest country to win an Olympic medal is San Marino.
A. Africa as a continent has not yet hosted the Olympics.
