Number of Olympic medals won...

[UCONNfan1]

So I may have miscounted, but it seems there are some 205 countries being represented at the Olympics. Only 83 of them have earned at least 1 medal which means over 120 other countries didn't get a single medal.

Given how competitive each event is - the best in the world are there, right? It's no surprise that so many countries weren't able to win a single medal. But how many countries earned their very first Olympic medal in the London games?

I was thinking aboout this because I was watching the women's platform diving and a diver from Malaysia won the bronze medal, and I thought they said it was Malaysia's very first Olympic medal. Then I looked it up and Malaysia current has a silver and a bronze in these Olympics.

I think it's cool when you see a country who rarely, if ever, wins an Olympic medal. By all accounts, the person who wins one is a hero in their home country after the games are over. I know it's an amazing feat to see the US get 100 total medals, but it seems there's something a little extra special for those countries who are hardly ever represented in the medal ceremonies to have a competitor actually win one. What an honor for them and a great feeling for their entire country...

 

[UcMiami]

Nice post, and I agree - those athletes from countries that rarely if ever win a medal are national heros.
Slightly different but similar concept - I was working in Monetgo Bay, JA when the national team made the world cup for the first time ever - I came to work on Monday to discover the PM had declared a national holiday!
(And of course the Jamaican bobsledders were the first ever winter olympians and became heros.)

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

There were 3 or 4 countries that got their first medal. We are just watching last nights tape and Bob Costas named them. I think Guatamala was one, I wasn't listening close enough to recite them.