Top four Olympic nations judged by population size are Commonwealth countries.
Commonwealth teams at the Rio Olympic Games collectively earned 184 medals, a haul which bettered the London 2012 Olympics and was described by Secretary-General Patricia Scotland as a “magnificent achievement for the whole Commonwealth family”.
Great Britain garnered the most medals overall, with 67, coming second only to the United States in the global rankings. Australia was second in the Commonwealth and tenth worldwide with 29 medals, while Kenya was third and fifteenth respectively with 13 medals.
Small island states Grenada, The Bahamas and Jamaica however claimed the top three spots, globally, when judged by medals per population, followed by New Zealand in fourth place.
Success of small island states:
- Kirani James earned a silver medal in the men’s 400m for Grenada, which has a population of 106,800.
- For The Bahamas, with a population of 388,000, runner Shaunae Miller achieved gold in the women’s 400m, while the men’s relay team earned bronze in the 4 x 400m.
- Usain Bolt capped a glittering sprint athletics career for Jamaica with a “triple-treble” – nine golds since 2008.
- Another small island nation, Fiji achieved eighteenth place in the medals per capita table, following victory over Great Britain in the Rugby Sevens.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said: “We salute every athlete who competed at these historic Games. Congratulations to Great Britain who earned their highest tally ever, but also to Fiji who claimed their first ever Olympic medal, and a gold to boot.
“It is especially gratifying to see small island states excelling and surpassing many larger nations. Grenada, The Bahamas and Jamaica have made the Commonwealth proud and shown that small island nations are not only beautiful, they are also mighty.”
She continued: “But of course Rio is far from over. As we look forward to the start of the Paralympic Games, we hope that Commonwealth countries can repeat the same inspirational success.”
The Rio Olympic Games was preceded by the Commonwealth Sports Ministers Meeting, which brought together policy-makers from across the 53-nation community.
At the meeting, governments endorsed policy proposals put forward by the Commonwealth Advisory Body on Sport to protect against doping, match fixing and other forms of corruption, while introducing safeguards to protect children, promote equality and end discrimination.
Ministers also took the historic step of committing to align national sports policies to the Sustainable Development Goals, in order to gear investments in sport towards positive outcomes in health, education, gender equality and justice.
A new initiative, Commonwealth Sport Integrity Champions, was also announced by the Secretary-General, which will raise public awareness about safeguarding sport and sustain its positive impacts.
Following the meeting, Secretary-General Scotland said: “The Commonwealth message is loud and clear, and reverberating all around the Olympics.”
Photo credit: IOC
