The Geopolitics of Olympic Medals
At first glance, the medal count at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris appears to reflect the diversity of our increasingly multipolar world. But the fact that the vast majority of medals were concentrated among the world’s largest economies suggests that this shift may be slower and more limited than many expect.
PARIS – Why do certain countries dominate the Olympics? The answer may lie in the correlation between athletic performance and GDP. The 2024 Paris Olympic Games were a case in point: the top seven medal winners – the United States, China, Japan, Australia, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom – are all among the world’s 20 largest economies.