Norway dominated the 2026 Winter Olympics, setting a record with 18 gold medals. Even though it has fewer people than Colorado, it won more total medals than any other country.
But it didn’t win the medal count every way you look at it. Although Norway won the most events on snow, it won only one event on an ice rink. And when judges were involved, such as in halfpipe snowboarding or figure skating, Japan was on top.
Norway placed third when counting only women’s events, perhaps giving it room to grow in the next Winter Games.
The standard way to track medals is to count each event as awarding a single gold, silver and bronze medal. Counting that way doesn’t reward large team efforts like hockey in the official medal count, while other sports allow a single athlete to rack up medals in multiple events.
The cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo of Norway won six gold medals, including two in team events, but 48 hockey players from the United States received gold medals for just two events. If we count the number of athletes who received at least one medal, the U.S., Canada and Switzerland do very well.
Competing in the Winter Games is a challenge for many countries closer to the equator. More than 100 nations fall entirely between 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south latitude, and Norway won more medals than all of them combined.
Brazil is the country closest to the equator to win a medal in these Games. But Norway can still claim partial victory here: Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who won gold in giant slalom representing Brazil, was born in Norway.
Among these countries, South Korea and Australia were the most successful (although South Korea has cold winters, and Australia has ski/snowboard areas).
There are plenty of other ways to slice the results, most that will please Norwegians but some that won’t. Are you a purist for the original Winter Olympics? What if medals were adjusted for population? Use the menu below to check out an alternative count.
Ben Blatt is a reporter for The Upshot specializing in data-driven journalism.
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