Alternative Olympic medal tables Beijing 2008: Bahamas at top

Last Modified: 26 Aug 2008
By: Channel 4 News

Team GB's bumper medal haul put Britain fourth in the final medal table - the country's highest placing since 1912. But how does that compare to Channel 4 News' alternative medals table?

The official table puts China - with 51 golds, 21 silvers and 28 bronzes - in the top spot.

The USA (36 golds, 38 silvers, 36 bronzes) comes second and Russia (23 golds, 21 silvers, 28 bronzes) third. Britain's 19 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronzes put us in fourth place, ahead of Germany in fifth, Australia in sixth, and South Korea in seventh places.

But sort the tables by population and the Bahamas comes out top, despite having no golds and just one medal each of silver and bronze to its name. When shared out amongst the country's 310,000 inhabitants, these are enough to propel it to the top of the table.

Top 10 by population

1. Bahamas
2. Jamaica
3. Iceland
4. Norway
5. Slovenia
6. Australia
7. Bahrain
8. New Zealand
9. Estonia
10. Trindad and Tobago

Click here for full results.

Jamaica comes second, with six golds, three silvers and two bronzes for a population of 2.8 million. A single medal - a silver in the men's handball - is enough to put the 300,000-strong Iceland into third place.

The table is a different playing field when ranked by national income. North Korea holds steady in the top spot, with two golds, one silver and three bronzes being balanced out by a GDP of US$2.2bn.

Zimbabwe comes in second place, with one gold, three silvers and a GDP of $3.418bn, and Mongolia (two golds, two silvers and $3.894bn GDP) in third.

The 'US' ordering - so-called as it sorts countries, as many US networks do, by the total number of medals rather than weighted by metal - puts (you've guessed it) the USA in top spot, with a total of 110 gongs. China (100) comes in second and Russia (72) third, while Britain holds steady in fourth place (with 47 medals).

Top 10 by GDP

1. North Korea
2. Zimbabwe
3. Mongolia
4. Jamaica
5. Georgia
6. Kenya
7. Cuba
8. Ethiopia
9. Tajikstan
10. Kyrgyzstan

Click here for full results.

The USA also tops the human rights-weighted table, which uses political rights and civil liberties-based ratings from US organisation Freedom House. Britain comes second, and Australia third place, all scoring the best possible ranking, one.

China's low human-rights score (6.5 out of a possible seven), pushes it into tenth place, between the Netherlands and Canada.

Finally, the table of tables - which combines all these factors - puts (whisper it) arch-GB-rivals Australia in the top spot. Jamaica takes a respectable second, and Britain finishes in third, ahead of top-10 mates Ukraine, Cuba, Russia, South Korea, Belarus, Netherlands and Hungary, and well ahead of the USA (16th) and China (17th).