Countries With the Most Gold Medals at Winter Olympics

By 247sarah Published Jan 26, 3:00PM EST

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Countries With the Most Gold Medals at Winter Olympics — © Rick Stewart / Getty Images

The Winter Olympics are coming up. They will open on Feb. 4 in Beijing, the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter events.

Getting into the spirit of things, 24/7 Tempo has ranked the countries by the most gold medals won at the Winter Olympics, using data from Olympedia. The results look very different from the Summer Olympics for two reasons – geography and economics. (Here are the locations of the last 31 Summer Olympics.)

The medal rankings are dominated by countries that have snow and slopes – countries in which there’s a tradition of winter sports. Lack of snow pretty much rules out countries with tropical climates from even participating, never mind winning medals. rec

Of course, there is a famous exception: the bobsleigh team from Jamaica that competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics, inspiring the film “Cool Runnings.” This Olympics, Jamaica has qualified for a historic three bobsled events, including the four-man bobsled.

Economics is also a factor in countries’ ability to compete in the winter games. Winter sports typically require expensive infrastructure and equipment, putting poorer countries at a disadvantage.

The No. 1 country with the most gold medals ever is Norway, with 132 gold medals and 368 medals in total at the Winter Games. Norway extends into the Arctic Circle, has mountains and snow, and winter sports are a national pastime, so it’s not surprising that it does well. It’s followed by the United States, with 105 golds and 305 medals of any color. (These are the states with the most ski resorts.)

It’s worth bearing in mind that Norway has a population of little more than 5 million people, whereas the U.S. has a population of more than 330 million. Norway and the U.S. are followed by Germany with 100 golds and a total of 259 medals.

Click here to see the countries with the most gold medals at Winter Olympics

33. Uzbekistan
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 1

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N/A (CC BY 2.0) by Vegar Samestad Hansen

33. Mixed team
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 1

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33. Spain
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 4

2010 Opening Ceremony - Bulgaria entering by Jude Freeman

2010 Opening Ceremony - Bulgaria entering (CC BY 2.0) by Jude Freeman

33. Bulgaria
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 6

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33. Belgium
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 6

33. Hungary
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 7

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Central Asia games coming to A... by Peretz Partensky

Central Asia games coming to A... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Peretz Partensky

33. Kazakhstan
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 8

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Latvia-Slovakia handshakes (CC BY 2.0) by Scazon

33. Latvia
> Winter gold medals: 1
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 9

The Liechtenstein Screamer (CC BY 2.0) by Jon Wick

29. Liechtenstein
> Winter gold medals: 2
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 10

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Go Time (CC BY 2.0) by Jon Wick

29. Slovenia
> Winter gold medals: 2
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 17

29. Russian Olympic Committee
> Winter gold medals: 2
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 17

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29. Czechoslovakia
> Winter gold medals: 2
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 25

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27. Ukraine
> Winter gold medals: 3
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 8

27. Slovakia
> Winter gold medals: 3
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 8

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2018-01-06 IBU Biathlon World Cup Oberhof 2018 - Pursuit Men 39 by Christian Bier

2018-01-06 IBU Biathlon World Cup Oberhof 2018 - Pursuit Men 39 (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Christian Bier

25. Estonia
> Winter gold medals: 4
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 7

2010 Opening Ceremony - Croatia entering by Jude Freeman

2010 Opening Ceremony - Croatia entering (CC BY 2.0) by Jude Freeman

25. Croatia
> Winter gold medals: 4
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 11

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24. Australia
> Winter gold medals: 5
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 15

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23. Poland
> Winter gold medals: 7
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 22

22. Belarus
> Winter gold medals: 8
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 18

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Canada Olympic Park, Calgary by Scarlet Sappho

Canada Olympic Park, Calgary (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Scarlet Sappho

20. Unified Team
> Winter gold medals: 9
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 23

Russia vs. Czech Republic (CC BY 2.0) by s.yume

20. Czech Republic
> Winter gold medals: 9
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 31

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18. Great Britain
> Winter gold medals: 11
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 32

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18. West Germany
> Winter gold medals: 11
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 39

17. People’s Republic of China
> Winter gold medals: 13
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 62

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Meoguro Moe (CC BY 2.0) by Keng Susumpow

16. Japan
> Winter gold medals: 14
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 58

Korea_President_Park_Taereung_... by Republic of Korea

Korea_President_Park_Taereung_... (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Republic of Korea

15. Republic of Korea
> Winter gold medals: 31
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 70

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14. France
> Winter gold medals: 36
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 124

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File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G0111-0012-001, Gabriele Seyfert by Bundesarchiv, Bild

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-G0111-0012-001, Gabriele Seyfert (CC BY-SA 3.0 de) by Bundesarchiv, Bild

13. East Germany
> Winter gold medals: 39
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 110

12. Italy
> Winter gold medals: 40
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 124

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11. Finland
> Winter gold medals: 43
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 167

10. Netherlands
> Winter gold medals: 45
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 130

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9. Russian Federation
> Winter gold medals: 46
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 120

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8. Switzerland
> Winter gold medals: 56
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 153

7. Sweden
> Winter gold medals: 57
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 158

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6. Austria
> Winter gold medals: 64
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 232

Canadian Olympic House (CC BY 2.0) by David Batista

5. Canada
> Winter gold medals: 73
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 199

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4. Soviet Union
> Winter gold medals: 78
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 194

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3. Germany
> Winter gold medals: 100
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 259

2. United States
> Winter gold medals: 105
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 305

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1. Norway
> Winter gold medals: 132
> All-time Winter Olympic medals: 368

About the Author 247sarah →

Sarah Burns is an editor and writer at 24/7 Wall St. She previously worked at AOL and MSN. She began her career in book publishing at Viking Press/Penguin Books and has been writing and editing general and financial news stories for the last 15 years.

In addition to 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo, her stories have appeared in USA Today, MSN, MarketWatch, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance.

Sarah has edited numerous travel and garden books. She teaches urban farming in New York City public schools and is an instructor at the New York Botanical Garden. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a bachelor’s degree in English. She is based in New York City.