Why do certain countries dominate the Olympics? The answer may lie in the correlation between athletic performance and gross domestic product.
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.
This can be partly attributed to demographics: a larger population provides a deeper pool of athletic talent from which to draw. The more populous and developed a country is, the more it is likely to win Olympic medals.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.