Mathew Inkson

London 2012 Medal Tally by Use of Capital Punishment

  |   government, sport

At the end of the Olympic Games, people like to play around with medal tallies ordered or weighted in a variety of (dis)interesting ways. Here’s mine:

Country has death penaltyGoldSilverBronze
No192211254
Yes11093102

The part of the world that does not legally kill its citizens is victorious! So, is removing an archaic form of justice the secret to Olympic success? It’s not quite that simple. The top two nations in the general tally are also in this illustrious list:

Country with DPGoldSilverBronze
United States462929
China382722
Japan71417
Cuba536
Iran453
North Korea402
Ethiopia313
Belarus255
Uganda100
India024
Thailand021
Egypt020
Indonesia011
Malaysia011
Botswana010
Qatar002
Singapore002
Afghanistan001
Bahrain001
Kuwait001
Saudi Arabia001
Total11093102

The USA and China give the off-with-their-heads mob it a great start, but they can’t compete with the sheer number of little-nations-that-could in this enlightened tally:

Country without DPGoldSilverBronze
Great Britain291719
Russian Federation242533
South Korea1387
Germany111914
France111112
Italy8911
Hungary845
Australia71612
Kazakhstan715
Netherlands668
Ukraine659
New Zealand635
Jamaica444
Czech Republic433
Spain3104
Brazil359
South Africa321
Croatia312
Romania252
Kenya245
Denmark243
Azerbaijan226
Poland226
Turkey221
Switzerland220
Lithuania212
Norway211
Canada1512
Sweden143
Colombia134
Georgia133
Mexico133
Ireland113
Argentina112
Serbia112
Slovenia112
Tunisia111
Dominican Republic110
Trinidad and Tobago103
Uzbekistan103
Latvia101
Algeria100
Bahamas100
Grenada100
Venezuela100
Mongolia023
Slovakia013
Armenia012
Belgium012
Finland012
Bulgaria011
Chinese Taipei011
Estonia011
Puerto Rico011
Cyprus010
Gabon010
Guatemala010
Montenegro010
Portugal010
Greece002
Moldova002
Hong Kong001
Morocco001
Tajikistan001
Total192211254

The source for the tally is ScraperWiki, and the source for the capital punishment stats is Wikipedia (Aug 2012). I’ve given some countries the benefit of the doubt by including those who have “abolished in practice” on the side of no death penalty.

It’s been fun! See you again in Sochi 2014. I love the ski jump.