By: Dr. Marcia Magnus – SFLCN Commentator
SOUTH FLORIDA – If you’ve seen the list of winners of the 2016 Olympics by country, you might have thought that the US did better in the Olympics than any other country.
True, the United States earned 121 medals, China 70 medals and Great Britain 67 medals. But consider the population of those countries, US-300 million, China-1.2 billion, and Great Britain-65 million!
If you asked the question: “Which country received the most medals according to the number of people in the country?”
You would discover that the real per-person winner of the 2016 Olympics is Grenada—the nutmeg capital of the world with 1 medal for its 107,000 residents. Second place goes to the Bahamas (2 medals), 3rd place to New Zealand (18 medals) and 4th place Jamaica (11 medals). United States ranked 43rd in medals per person.
The victory of the top four countries is even more impressive when we consider that athletes from small countries have minimal sports resources compared to the Olympic athletes of wealthy countries.
To bring home an Olympic medal without the services of physical therapists, occupational therapists orthopedic surgeons, sports nutritionists, and sports psychologists is a great accomplishment! We applaud you!
You can celebrate with the real winners of the 2016 Olympics today. Just add some Grenadian nutmeg to your coffee, go on vacation to the Bahamas, eat some New Zealand kiwi, and dance to some reggae music.
Hooray to the power of small!
Yuh likkle but yuh tallawah!—Jamaican proverb: translation: You may be small but you are certainly powerful!
Congratulations Grenada, Bahamas, New Zealand and Jamaica!
Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/olympics/rio-2016-olympic-medal-count/
