Winter Olympics are one of the most anticipated international sports event which is held every four years. In the event, many winter sports are practiced on ice and snow. The event was held for the very first time back in 1924 in Chamonix, France. International Olympic Committee is the organizing and the managing the event. The major sports of Winter Olympics include Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross Country Skiing, Curling, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Short Track Speed Tracking, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snow Boarding and Speed Skating.
The most recent Winter Olympic Games were held in Pyongyang, South Korea in 2018. A total of 92 nations participated in the games. One hundred two events were held having 15 disciplines from 7 sports. Two thousand nine hundred twenty-two men and 1,242 women athletes from different nations across the world participated at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.
Countries That Won Most Medals In Winter Olympics:
Down below is a list of most successful nations that won the most number of medals in the Winter Olympics from 1924 to 2018:
No.
Nation
Games
Gold Medals
Silver Medals
Bronze Medals
Total Medals
1
Norway (NOR)
23
132
125
111
368
2
United States (USA)
23
105
110
90
305
3
Germany (GER)
12
92
86
60
238
4
Soviet Union (URS)
9
78
57
59
194
5
Canada (CAN)
23
73
64
62
199
6
Austria (AUT)
23
64
81
87
232
7
Sweden (SWE)
23
57
46
55
158
8
Switzerland (SUI)
23
55
46
52
153
9
Russia (RUS)
6
47
38
35
120
10
Netherlands (NED)
21
45
44
41
130
11
Finland (FIN)
23
43
63
61
167
12
Italy (ITA)
23
40
36
48
124
13
East Germany (GDR)
6
39
36
35
110
14
France (FRA)
23
36
35
53
124
15
South Korea (KOR)
18
31
25
14
70
16
Japan (JPN)
21
14
22
22
58
17
China (CHN)
11
13
28
21
62
18
West Germany (FRG)
6
11
15
13
39
19
Great Britain (GBR)
23
11
4
16
31
20
Czech Republic (CZE)
7
9
11
11
31
Norway: Winning the Most Medals in Winter Olympics:
Norway is the country that has won the most medals in the Winter Olympic games. The success of the country seems even more impressive when we look at the number of players in the team. The United States sent a total of 242 athletes, and on the other hand, Norway just sent 109 athletes. The size of the team was half, but they were so competent that they won twice the number of medals won by the United States at PyeongChang.
There are many reasons why Norway is so good at these Winter Olympics. First of all the country itself is blessed with such an environment and atmosphere that is exactly favorable for the all the winter games. Adding to that, Norwegians have excelled in the sports like biathlon and cross-country skiing in the history. Moreover, the health care in the country is free, and every athlete can enjoy good health by keeping in touch with doctors and consultants. This helps them maintain their physique stay in good shape.
The United States with Most Medals in winter Olympics:
https://www.flickr.com/motajimenez/
Right after Norway, comes the United States winning the most amount of medals in Winter Olympics. The country has won 305 medals in total from 1924 to 2018 and is one of the most successful nations in the Winter Sports. The trend of sports in entirely different in the United States as compared to Norway. The winter sports are not played or taught or played at schools and colleges. The best athletes of the United States are attracted by other sports like baseball, basketball, golf and tennis as these have more money to offer.
The number of medals for the USA Team were quite high in the 2018 Winter Olympics. The event was held Pyeongchang, South Korea. The opening ceremony was on 9th February 2018. The matches continued for 17 days, and the event was closed on 25th February. The biggest highlight was that Lindsey Vonn from the USA, a downhill skier got the honor to be the oldest female alpine-skiing medalist in the history.
If we look at the overall performance of the United States was not that impressive in 2018. A total of 242 athletes participated in the event. They managed to get 23 medals. With that number gained the 4th rank overall. On the other hand, the size of Norway’s Olympic team was half in size as compared to the US. A total of 109 athletes from Norway got back home with 39 medals.
In the middle of the event, many sources stated that Team USA is getting crushed. The teams from colder countries were getting ahead in the game. But later on, they got back up and got some wins for the country.
2018 Winter Olympics Medals By Country
Rank
Country
Medals
1
Norway
39
2
Germany
31
3
Canada
29
4
United States
23
5
Netherlands
20
6
South Korea
17
7
Russian Federation
17
8
Switzerland
15
9
France
15
10
Sweden
14
11
Austria
14
12
Japan
13
13
Italy
10
14
China
9
15
Czech Republic
7
16
Finland
6
17
Great Britain
5
18
Belarus
3
19
Slovak Republic
3
20
Australia
3
Germany: 3rd Most Medal Winning Nation:
Looking at the scores by the number of medals won by each nation Germany comes third on the list. With a team of highly trained and skilled athletes, Team Germany is a significant part of the Winter Olympics. In the recent Winter Olympics Games 2018, Germany got the medals following Germany. 156 German athletes went to North Korea for the competition and got back home with 31 medals. Of these 31, 14 were gold, 10 were silver, and 7 were bronze medals.
Germany topped their position on the table as they won in the two-man with four-person bobsleigh. The pilot of the bobsleigh was Francesco Friedrich, and he made the nation proud by earning titles in both disciplines. This record was set by Francesco again after 30 years.
https://www.flickr.com/simonjames/
The doctor of the Olympic Ski Team of Germany revealed that the athletes were offered non-alcoholic beer during the event and that what got them running. About 3500 liters of beer was supplied by Krombacher at the athletes’ village.
Looking at the overall performance of Germany, the nation has participated 12 of the Winter Olympic Games. The country has earned a total of 238 medals. These include 92 gold, 86 silver and 60 bronze medal in total.
The Queen of the Winter Olympics – Ester Ladecka
Ester Ladecka is an athlete from the Czech Republic. In 2018 Winter Olympics she won the title of Queen of Winter Games by winning two gold medals in different games. This win was huge she’s the first ever woman from Czech to earn two gold ones in the same event. She stood first in both snowboard parallel giant slalom and women’s Super-G skiing.
She was quite excited after the huge victory and stated that this event would be memorable for the rest of her life. Justin Reiter, her coach, said that one of the greatest athletes on planet earth. But no one thought she could win in two of the games.
South Korea, The host Of Winter Olympics, 2018:
South Korea won the bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. PyeongChang placed the bid for hosting both the 2010 and 2014 Winter Games, but it wasn’t selected. In 2013, during the 123rd IOC Session held at Durban, the city won the bid by getting the majority of votes. PyeongChang became the third city of Asia to host Winter Olympics. The other Asian host cities include Sapporo (Japan) 1972 and Nagano (Japan) 1998.
The bidding results were as follows:
2018 Winter Olympics bidding results
City
Nation
Votes
Pyeongchang
South Korea
63
Munich
Germany
25
Annecy
France
7
Upcoming Winter Olympics:
As Winter Olympic Games are hosted after years. The next Games will be hosted by China. The ceremony will be held in the capital city, i.e. Beijing. Many countries bid for hosting the 2022 Winter Games. Some of the nations also withdrew their applications. China got about 40 votes for hosting the event. The only other country was Kazakhstan, and it had four fewer votes than China. The games will be held at the Beijing National Stadium.
All-time Number of Medals Won By Different Nations.
