Which Country Has the Most Olympic Medals—and Whose Are Worth the Most?

Ahead of the opening ceremony for 2016 Rio Olympics on August 5, how do the gold, silver, and bronze medal collections of the top competing countries stack up? In collaboration with Bullion Vault, Screaming Frog has created an infographic that shows where 50 countries stand in terms of medal count—and the value of all that hardware in U.S. dollars.

The graphic illustrates the winningest countries in order of total medal count. The United States currently sits on top with a pre-Rio count of 2403 medals (around 16 percent of the total medals won in the world), while Georgia rounds out the top 50 with 25 awards.

But taking home more medals doesn't necessarily equate to a higher monetary value. According to the chart, Russia is in second place with 1414 medals, but fourth-place Great Britain's medals are worth more in bullion value. Calculating the worth of each country's Olympic prizes involved more than just counting medals and multiplying by their current value, according to Bullion Vault. The size and shape of Olympic medals has changed over time, as has the metal composition. For instance, the gold medals at Rio will be the heaviest yet, but the London 2012 medals are still the most expensive.

Image courtesy of Screaming Frog

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