An analysis by FiveThirtyEight showed that host nations of the Summer Olympics increased their overall medal count by 20.1 medals and their gold-medal count by 10.9 from the previous Olympics. Home advantage is mostly down to the supportive crowd and the fact that qualification standards are lower for athletes from the host nation.
But not poor Brazil, which hasn’t been having the best of Games. Before the Games began, Brazil was confident it would enter the top 10 of the medal rankings. By comparison, Britain (population: 64 million) finished third in the London 2012 Games, while China (population: 1.4 billion) ranked first at its Beijing 2008 Games.
Brazil (population: 200 million) is ranked 15th at the moment— and with just a few days left of the games, some are wondering whether Brazil’s lackluster performance is the worst by a home nation (paywall). Not quite.
Host City
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Overall rank for host nation (golds)
Los Angeles 1984
83
61
30
174
1st
Moscow 1980
80
69
46
195
1st
Beijing 2008
51
21
28
100
1st
Atlanta 1996
44
32
25
101
1st
London 2012
29
17
19
65
3rd
Rome 1960
13
10
13
36
3rd
Sydney 2000
16
25
17
58
4th
Tokyo 1964
16
5
8
29
4th
Munich 1972
13
11
16
40
4th
Barcelona 1992
13
7
2
22
6th
Seoul 1988
12
10
11
33
6th
Rio 2016
5
5
5
15
15th*
Athens 2004
6
6
4
16
15th
Mexico City 1968
3
3
3
9
15th
Montreal 1976
0
5
6
11
27th
*Still in progress
While Brazil has yet to enter the top 10, the host nation has at least won some gold medals, unlike Canada, which became the first host nation tofail to win a gold medal on home soil during the disastrous 1976 Montreal Games. Mexico City’s 1968 Games and Athens in 2004 round off the bottom three of worst performing host cities, both winning just1.7% of the medals awarded (paywall). Greece only won six golds 12 years ago.
And though Brazil’s performance has yet to meet expectations, the results of the 2016 Summer Games have been the best so far for the soccer-loving nation. Brazil’s current overall rank is its highest in Olympic history and with the sports in which Brazilians are favorites for the podium yet to reach the finals, Brazil is set to beat its Olympics record of total medals (currently 17 from the 2012 Games).
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