How Britain (pop: 65 million) won more golds in Rio than China (pop: 1.3 billion)

How Britain (pop: 65 million) won more golds in Rio than China (pop: 1.3 billion) The island nation, with a population of just 65 million, beat China, a country of 1.3 billion, to take second place at the Rio Olympics—both behind the US. Team GB left Rio and lands back in London today with its best medal haul in 108 years—27 gold medals, 23 silvers, and 17 bronzes (a total of 67). https://www.theatlas.com/charts/H1_iTh-9 The haul eclipsed the record-breaking 65 medals won on home soil during the London's 2012 Games. While Britain exploited the so-called home advantage during the London 2012 Games, the host nation went on to do something no other nation has ever been able to accomplish—win more medals at the subsequent Games than at home. When factoring in population, Britain is clearly punching above it weight. Britain comes in at number 13 when ranking gold medals per capita, while the US and China languish in 30th and 54th, respectively. Rank Country Gold Medals Population 1 Bahamas 1 388,019 2 Jamaica 6 2,725,941 3 Croatia 5 4,224,404 4 Fiji 1 892,145 5 New Zealand 4 4,595,700 6 Hungary 8 9,844,686 7 Bahrain 1 1,377,237 8 Georgia 2 3,679,000 9 Kosovo 1 1,859,203 10 Slovenia 1 2,063,768 11 Netherlands 8 16,936,520 12 Cuba 5 11,389,562 13 Great Britain 27 65,138,232 14 Slovakia 2 5,424,050 15 Switzerland 3 8,286,976 When adjusting the medals-per-capita table to set a base population of 50 million or more, Britain tops the table. The US, Russia, and Japan also make the top ten. Rank Country Gold Medals Population 1 Great Britain 27 65,138,232 2 Germany 17 81,413,145 3 South Korea 9 50,617,045 4 France 10 66,808,385 5 United States 46 321,418,820 6 Russia 19 144,096,812 7 Italy 8 60,802,085 8 Japan 12 126,958,472 9 Iran 3 79,109,272 10 South Africa 2 54,956,920 No wonder Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, the body responsible for promoting sports in the UK, declared on the final day in Rio that Britain is now a "sporting superpower.” It's even more incredible when you think that Britain 20 years ago languished in 36th in the Atlanta Olympics medal table. So how did the UK turn its situation around? It mostly comes down to money. The most pivotal change took place in 1994, with the creation of the National Lottery and the decision to allocate public funds to elite Olympic sport. The amount spent jumped from £5 million ($6.5 million) a year before the 1996 Atlanta Games to £350 million by Rio 2016. The cost to the British taxpayer? Around £1.09 per person per year. Before 2012, when Adam Peaty was given a travel grant and elite coaching, his family had to rely on family and friends to find the money to fund his training. Two weeks ago, he became the first British male to win a swimming gold in 28 years. Another example is cycling, one of the highest-funded Olympic sports in Britain, getting around £30.2 million. By the end of the Games, every member of Britain’s 14-strong Olympic track cycling team has won at least one medal. Those British Olympic athletes returning to the UK are set for a heroes' welcome. They flew on a customized airplane with "victoRIOus" written on the side. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic medals could be made of discarded electronics The Tokyo Olympics are four years away, but host nation Japan is already upping its environmental game. For the 2020 Games, Japanese authorities plan "to source the gold, silver and bronze needed to make medals for the games by tapping the country's "urban mine" the Nikkei Asian Review reports. The urban mine is the country's millions of discarded smartphones and other small consumer electronics. Typically, Olympic hosts ask mining companies to donate the necessary metal, but the gold and silver recovered from small consumer electronics in Japan has been estimated as equivalent to 16% and 22% of the world's total reserves, respectively, according to Nikkei. With demand for silver high, though, it's unclear if Japan will be able to recycle enough silver in time for the 2020 games. London Olympics, 2012 E-Waste in Japan, 2014 Gold 9.6 kg 143 kg Silver 1,210 kg 1,566 kg Copper (Bronze) 700 kg 1,112 kg A 2009 Japanese law made it mandatory to recycle home appliances—namely air conditioners, TVs, personal computers, washing machines, refrigerators and mobile phones. Even though the country has been "an early adopter in the development and enforcement of a legal mechanism for e-waste," according to a 2014 United Nations University report, it has a long way to go. In 2013, Japan's nearly 128 million strong population unloaded 17.3 kilograms of electronic waste per person, and about 556,000 tons of e-waste were collected and treated in Japan. That was still only 24% of all e-waste estimated generated that year. At this year's games in Rio, Olympic medals were also recycled from waste materials: About 30% of the silver, used to make both the gold and silver medals, came from leftover mirrors, solder and X-ray plates. Bronze medals were made with copper waste from the national mint, and even the ribbons were crafted  from recycled plastic.