BEIJING (AFP) - North Korea and Georgia are the most successful countries at the Olympic Games, according to alternatitve medal tables which take into account a countryâs size, wealth and even human rights.
Of the 75 countries who have made the official table, based solely on gold medals, China have a strong lead with 43 compared to the United States on 26 and Great Britainâs 16.
However, a table produced after the first week by Britainâs Daily Telegraph taking population into account put Georgia at the top with its two gold medals amounting to one for just over every two million people.
Chinaâs 43 medals equal one for every 30 million.
But if the medal table are based on a countryâs gross domestic product then impoverished North Korea (two gold, one silver, three bronze) leads from Zimbabwe (1-3-0) and Mongolia (1-1-0), according to both the Billmitchell.org and Britainâs Channel 4 television websites.
On a population basis, and a weighted value for the various medals, it is Jamaica from Slovenia and Bahrain.
The official medal table is generally considered to reflect economic input, and Britain with a population around 60 million has made no secret of the fact its rapid leap from 36th in Athens to third in Beijing is a pay-off for years of investment.
âWeâve invested in sportsâ governing bodies, getting them to step up and professionalise,â said Peter Keen, UK Sportâs head of performance.
âToday weâre a nation feeling really good about itself.â
But statistics can prove anything and Britain is second to the United States if you go by Channel 4âs human rights medals table, where the number of medals won are weighted against a countryâs rating by the US Freedom House organisation. China is ninth on this table.
The Billmitchell.org website belives its version of the medals table is âmore meaningful than the official rankings which just reflect world powerâ.
The Daily Telegraph said Georgia leads its table compiled on âan alternative ranking that more fairly represents a countryâs performanceâ.