Background
The Olympic Charter, Chapter 1, section 6 states that:
| “ | The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries … | ” |
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—International Olympic Committee |
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The Charter goes even further in Chapter 5, section 58, expressly prohibiting the IOC from producing an official ranking:
| “ | The IOC and the OCOG shall not draw up any global ranking per country. A roll of honour bearing the names of medal winners and those awarded diplomas in each event shall be established by the OCOG and the names of the medal winners shall be featured prominently and be on permanent display in the main stadium. | ” |
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—International Olympic Committee |
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According to Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper, the IOC began to accommodate medals tables in 1992, releasing 'information' based on the 'gold first' standard. The medal tables provided on its website carry this disclaimer:
| “ | The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognise global ranking per country; the medal tables are displayed for information only. Furthermore, the results that we publish are official and are taken from the "Official Report" - a document published for each Olympic Games by the Organising Committee. However, for the first Olympic Games (until Antwerp in 1920), it is difficult to give the exact number of medals awarded to some countries, due to the fact that teams were composed of athletes from different countries. The medal tables by country are based on the number of medals won, with gold medals taking priority over silver and bronze. A team victory counts as one medal. | ” |
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—International Olympic Committee |
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Read more about this topic: Olympic Medal Table
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