The first Winter Olympic Games took place from January 25 to February 5, 1924, in Chamonix, France, where more than 250 athletes competed in 16 events. Since then, the international multi-sport event has grown considerably; while the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck saw more than 1,000 athletes compete in the event for the first time, PyeongChang 2018 featured 2,922 athletes participating in 102 events.
While several countries, including Sweden and Switzerland, had won more than 50 combined gold medals at the Winter Olympic Games before Beijing 2022, Norway had won more total medals (368) than any other nation. Below is a breakdown of the top four countries based on medal count at the Winter Olympic Games.
Norway
Norway has won more medals than any other country at eight of the first 23 Winter Olympic Games, beginning with Chamonix 1924, when its athletes won four gold, seven silver, and six bronze medals. Norway also led all countries with 39 medals (14 gold, 14 silver, and 11 bronze) at PyeongChang 2018 and has been among the top six nations in total medals since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. Overall, the country has won 132 gold, 125 silver, and 111 bronze medals.
Norwegian athletes won 47 of those 132 gold medals in cross-country skiing. Bjorn Daehlie, considered among the greatest Nordic skiers of all time, leads all male cross-country skiers in total medals (12) and gold medals (eight). He won four medals at each Winter Olympic Games from 1992 to 1998. Daehlie led all Winter Olympians in total medals until his countryman Ole Einar Bjorndalen surpassed his record in biathlon in 2014. Although Einar Bjorndalen didn’t podium in his Olympic debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, he won 13 medals from 1998 to 2014.
Norway has a significantly smaller population than its closest competitors on this list. However, it investments heavily in sports and recreation, and in Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski, it ranked first on a per capita basis in international sports performance.
“It’s Norwegian government policy that every farmer, every fisherman, no matter where he lives in the country, has the right to play sports,” the co-authors wrote. “Norway will spend what it takes to achieve that. Just as supermarkets have sprouted all over Britain, there are all-weather sports grounds everywhere in Norway. Even in the unlikeliest corners of the country there’s generally one around the corner from your house. Usually the locker rooms are warm, and the coaches have acquired some sort of diploma. A kid can play and train on a proper team for well under $150 a year, really not much for Norwegians.”
United States
American speed skater Charles Jewtraw won the first-ever gold medal in the Winter Olympic Games in the 500-meter speed skating event at Chamonix 1924. The United States won four medals that year, followed by six medals at St. Moritz 1928. In 1932, it hosted the Winter Olympics for the first time at Lake Placid, where it led all countries with 12 medals. Up until Beijing 2022, it had won 105 gold, 112 silver, and 88 bronze medals.
Speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno is now the most decorated American Winter Olympian of all time. He won eight medals, including gold in the 500-meter and 1,500-meter events, through three Winter Olympic Games in the early 2000s.
From an American perspective, Lake Placid 1980 remains one of the most memorable Winter Olympic Games. While the U.S. men’s hockey team was among the favorites going into Beijing 2022, it had not won gold in that event since Lake Placid 1980, when, comprised entirely of college players, it defeated the Soviet Union in a match that has since been dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.”
Germany
Germany has had an interesting history at the Olympic Games based on geopolitical factors. East and West Germany sent athletes under separate banners to the Winter Olympic Games from 1968 to 1988. Germany has competed as a unified front since Albertville ‘92, when it led all countries in total medals, as it did again in 1998, 2002, and 2006. Including East and West Germany participation, it has won 150 gold, 145 silver, and 113 bronze medals.
Georg Hackl, a luge athlete, is among Germany’s most decorated Winter Olympians. He won gold in the singles event in 1992, 1994, and 1998 and later coached 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion Felix Loch.
Austria
Austria, which hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1964 and 1976, has won 64 gold, 81 silver, and 87 bronze medals since Chamonix 1924. It is the most accomplished alpine skiing nation with 121 total medals, including 37 gold. Hermann Maier is among the most accomplished Austrian alpine skiers with four Olympic medals, two of which are gold. Nordic combined athlete Felix Gottwald has won seven Olympic medals.