Summer Olympics: Top 20 Countries with the Most Medals in a Single Year

The 60 Meter Dash at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics

The 1904 St. Louis Olympics hosted only 15 teams, and the United States ran away with 231, or 80% of the available, medals. That’s the biggest cache ever, and likely will be, as more and more countries have joined the event every four years.

The 2012 London Olympics boasts hosting 204 countries, the most all-time. They’re including territories like the U.S. Virgin Islands, as the total number of recognized sovereign polities is, by most sources, 196.

Either way, obviously all that competition spreads the precious metal wealth.

The superpower-boycotted years (1980, 1984) produced the same results, with the non-boycotter in each case raiding the IOC’s treasure chest.

Here are the top 20 greatest hauls in Olympic history.

From about No. 4 on the list down, things are pretty legit, with more balanced competition amongst the participants, or at least the dominating ones.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the Top 20 Countries with the Most Gold Medals in a Single Year.

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Photo: chiefwritingwolf.com