THE REAL WINNERS AND LOSERS AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

They do not spring readily to mind when one thinks of the world's premier sporting nations: Tonga and the Bahamas. Yet the fact that these micro-nations, one in the Pacific, the other in the Caribbean, managed to win medals at all, when much larger states failed completely, shows what small nations can achieve.

Sport is a great international leveller, though you would never know it to hear the trumpeting of the big boys at Atlanta. The US won more medals than any other state - but it is larger than most other states. Size is not everything and in compiling our list of winners and losers we have tried to take that into account. We have first calculated a score for each country - four points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze. Then we divided that score by the size of the country. So, at one end of the scale, Tonga won a point for every 50,000 Tongans; at the other, Britain won a point for every two million, and mighty China scored one for every 10 million.

That puts the US victory in context. It did well, but no better than its size would suggest. But it also puts Britain's performance in context: it scored worse than any other EU state apart from Luxembourg (pop. 400,000), which won no medals.

Once past Tonga and the Bahamas, the real success stories emerge - and again they are in the Caribbean and Pacific. Cuba managed a total of 25 medals; Jamaica, its nearest neighbour, also did spectacularly well for its size. Both Australia and New Zealand did much better than the straightforward medal rankings would suggest. From Eastern Europe, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic were all high scorers. Northern Europe also did well - all of the Scandinavians are in the top 20. Ireland's success is also highlighted, placing it at No 8. Only four African nations make it into the top 50: Namibia, Burundi, Kenya and South Africa.

If we even out the scales further by adding in the wealth of each country - money helps to win gold - then the dominance of Cuba is more obvious. This time, we have divided the annual economic output of each nation by its point score. Cuba's GDP is a hard figure to calculate, but it seems clear that it has outperformed its much richer (and larger) neighbour to the north. Jamaica, too, shows its form. The East European nations come through much more strongly as the real champions, but it is the expanding nations of Asia which disappoint. Even when size and income are taken into consideration, they are well down the table.

Andrew Marshall, Foreign Editor

Population GOLD SILVER BRONZE Total Points per Points

(millions) (4pts) (2pts) (1pt) medals head GDP* per head

points (ranking) population

1 Tonga 0.1 0 1 0 2 107.0 (76) 50,000

2 Bahamas 0.3 0 1 0 2 1.6 (19) 150,000

3 Cuba 11.0 9 8 8 60 0.2 (1) 183,300

4 New Zealand 3.5 3 2 1 17 2.6 (32) 205,900

5 Jamaica 2.5 1 3 2 12 0.3 (2) 208,300

6 Hungary 10.0 7 4 10 46 0.8 (11) 217,400

7 Australia 18.0 9 9 23 77 4.0 (40) 233,800

8 Ireland 3.5 3 0 1 13 3.5 (37) 269,200

9 Denmark 5.2 4 1 1 19 7.2 (44) 273,700

10 Slovakia 2.0 1 1 1 7 1.6 (19) 285,700

11 Norway 4.3 2 2 3 15 7.5 (46) 286,700

12 Bulgaria 9.0 3 7 5 31 0.3 (2) 290,300

13 Switzerland 7.0 4 3 0 22 11.5 (51) 318,000

14 Namibia 1.5 0 2 0 4 0.7 (8) 375,000

15 Czech Republic 10.3 4 3 4 26 1.1 (14) 396,200

16 Greece 10.0 4 4 0 24 3.6 (39) 416,700

17 Netherlands 15.2 4 5 10 36 8.9 (48) 422,200

18 Belarus 10.2 1 6 8 24 1.2 (15) 425,000

19 Sweden 8.7 2 4 2 18 11.9 (52) 483,300

20 Slovenia 2.0 0 2 0 4 0.4 (5) 500,000

21 Finland 5.0 1 2 1 9 10.9 (50) 555,600

22 Romania 22.0 4 7 9 39 0.7 (8) 564,100

23 Germany 81.0 20 18 27 143 13.3 (54) 566,400

24 France 58.0 15 7 15 99 13.1 (53) 585,900

25 Armenia 3.6 1 1 0 6 0.5 (7) 600,000

26 Trinidad-Tobago 1.3 0 0 2 2 2.5 (30) 650,000

27 Italy 56.0 13 10 12 84 13.5 (56) 666,700

28 South Korea 43.3 7 15 5 63 5.4 (43) 687,300

29 Canada 29.3 3 11 8 42 13.7 (57) 697,600

30 Kazakstan 17.0 3 4 4 24 1.0 (12) 708,300

31 Belgium 10.0 2 2 2 14 15.6 (60) 714,300

32 Costa Rica 3.3 1 0 0 4 1.8 (24) 825,000

33 Croatia 5.0 1 1 0 6 1.6 (19) 833,300

34 Poland 38.0 7 5 5 43 2.0 (26) 883,700

35 Russia 148.0 26 21 16 162 2.2 (27) 913,600

36 Ukraine 51.0 9 2 12 52 2.2 (27) 980,800

37 United States 253.0m 44 32 25 265 24.1 (67) 954,700

38 Spain 39.0 5 6 6 38 14.1 (58) 1,026,300

39 Latvia 2.6 0 1 0 2 3.0 (34) 1,300,000

40 Yugoslavia 10.4 1 1 2 8 1.3 (16) 1,300,000

Population GOLD SILVER BRONZE Total Points per Points

(millions) (4pts) (2pts) (1pt) medals head GDP* per head

points (ranking) population

41 Moldova 4.4 0 1 1 3 1.7 (22) 1,466,700

42 Burundi 6.0 1 0 0 4 0.3 (2) 1,500,000

43 Hong Kong 6.1 1 0 0 4 27.6 (69) 1,525,000

44 Kenya 25.9 1 4 3 15 0.4 (5) 1,726,700

45 North Korea 22.2 2 1 2 12 1.9 (25) 1,850,000

46 Portugal 9.8 1 0 1 5 17.6 (63) 1,960,000

47 Austria 7.9 0 1 2 4 46.3 (72) 1,975,000

48 Britain 56.4 1 8 6 26 40.2 (71) 2,170,000

49 Mongolia 2.3 0 0 1 1 0.7 (8) 2,300,000

50 South Africa 39.7 3 1 1 15 7.9 (47) 2,646,700

51 Georgia 5.4 0 0 2 2 1.5 (18) 2,700,000

52 Ecuador 11.0 1 0 0 4 2.8 (33) 2,750,000

53 Algeria 26.7 2 0 1 9 5.3 (42) 2,967,000

54 Syria 13.7 1 0 0 4 3.1 (35) 3,425,000

55 Turkey 66.0 4 1 1 19 9.3 (49) 3,473,700

56 Puerto Rico 3.5 0 0 1 1 21.4 (65) 3,500,000

57 Lithuania 3.7 0 0 1 1 5.0 (41) 3,700,000

58 Japan 124.5 3 6 5 29 134.6 (77) 4,293,100

59 Zambia 8.9 0 1 0 2 1.7 (22) 4,450,000

60 Israel 5.3 0 0 1 1 73.0 (74) 5,300,000

61 Ethiopia 51.9 2 0 1 9 1.0 (12) 5,766,700

62 Brazil 156.5 3 3 9 27 17.0 (61) 5,796,300

63 Malaysia 19.2 0 1 1 3 20.0 (64) 6,400,000

64 Argentina 33.8 0 2 1 5 49.1 (73) 6,760,000

65 Nigeria 105.3 2 1 3 13 2.2 (27) 8,100,000

66 Tunisia 8.6 0 0 1 1 15.0 (59) 8,600,000

67 Iran 64.2 1 1 1 7 21.5 (66) 9,171,400

68 China 1,196 16 22 12 120 3.5 (37) 9,967,000

69 Taiwan 21.0 0 1 0 2 100.0 (75) 10,500,000

70 Thailand 57.6 1 0 1 5 24.5 (68) 11,520,000

71 Morocco 25.9 0 0 2 2 13.3 (54) 12,950,000

72 Uzbekistan 41.0 0 1 1 3 7.3 (45) 13,666,700

73 Mozambique 15.1 0 0 1 1 1.4 (17) 15,100,000

74 Uganda 19.9 0 0 1 1 3.4 (36) 19,900,000

75 Indonesia 191.7 1 1 2 8 17.5 (62) 23,962,500

76 Azerbaijan 55.0 0 1 0 2 2.5 (31) 27,500,000

77 Philippines 64.8 0 1 0 2 27.6 (69) 32,400,000

78 Mexico 90.0 0 0 1 1 335.8 (79) 90,000,000

79 India 901.5 0 0 1 1 263.0 (78) 901,500,000

OOOOO Medals table

FINAL STANDINGS G S B Tot

United States 44 32 25 101

Russia 26 21 16 63

Germany 20 18 27 65

China 16 22 12 50

France 15 7 15 37

Italy 13 11 12 35

Australia 9 9 22 40

Cuba 9 8 8 25

Ukraine 9 2 12 23

South Korea 7 15 5 27

Poland 7 5 5 17

Hungary 7 4 10 21

Spain 5 6 6 17

Netherlands 5 5 10 20

Romania 4 7 9 20

Greece 4 4 0 8

Czech Republic 4 3 4 11

Switzerland 4 3 0 7

Denmark 4 1 1 6

Turkey 4 1 1 6

Canada 3 11 8 22

Bulgaria 3 7 5 15

Japan 3 6 5 14

Kazahkstan 3 4 4 11

Brazil 3 3 9 15

New Zealand 3 2 1 6

South Africa 3 1 1 5

Ireland 3 0 0 4

Sweden 2 4 2 8

Norway 2 2 3 7

Belgium 2 2 2 6

Nigeria 2 1 3 6

North Korea 2 1 2 5

Algeria 2 0 1 3

Ethiopa 2 0 1 3

Great Britain 1 8 6 15

Belarus 1 6 8 15

Kenya 1 4 3 8

Jamaica 1 3 2 6

Finland 1 2 1 4

Indonesia 1 1 2 4

Iran 1 1 1 3

Armenia 1 1 0 2

Slovakia 1 0 1 2

Yugoslavia 1 0 1 2

Croatia 1 1 0 2

Portugal 1 0 1 2

Thailand 1 0 1 2

Burundi 1 0 0 1

Costa Rica 1 0 0 1

Equador 1 0 0 1

Hong Kong 1 0 0 1

Syria 1 0 0 1

Argentina 0 2 1 3

Namibia 0 2 0 2

Slovenia 0 2 0 2

Austria 0 1 2 3

Malaysia 0 1 1 2

Moldova 0 1 1 2

Uzbekistan 0 1 1 2

Azerbaijan 0 1 0 1

Bahamas 0 1 0 1

Latvia 0 1 0 1

Philipines 0 1 0 1

Taiwan 0 1 0 1

Tonga 0 1 0 1

Zambia 0 1 0 1

Georgia 0 0 2 2

Morocco 0 0 2 2

Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 2 2

India 0 0 1 1

Lithuania 0 0 1 1

Israel 0 0 1 1

Mexico 0 0 1 1

Mongolia 0 0 1 1

Mozambique 0 0 1 1

Puerto Rico 0 0 1 1

Tunisia 0 0 1 1

Uganda 0 0 1 1