Now in its eighth year, the ranking, which takes into account all current podium athletes in World Championship and Olympic events across 53 sports and 154 disciplines, revealed where the main sport nations stand today, with China and Russia also maintaining their second and third places, respectively, since 2006.

The Chinese have been hot on the heels of the Americans since 2005, particularly after an outstanding Olympic performance on home turf at Beijing 2008 leaving them 25 gold medals behind in 2011, however the US widened the gap to 57 golds in 2012, despite China having the highest ratio of podium top spots of all the nations, with 44 percent over the US 37 per cent.

Elsewhere, France became the number one sporting nation in the European Union, overtaking Germany and moving up to fourth place with 103 gold medals.

With medal winning performances in 76 disciplines, France is second only to the US in the number of disciplines the country has placed in, as athletes excelled in both team and individual sports, as well as summer and winter sports – France ranks first in handball, second in canoe/kayak and judo, and third in basketball.

Despite a strong home performance at the London 2012 Olympics, the United Kingdom stayed at sixth place in the 2012 ranking, with 74 gold medals, 76 silver and 70 bronze, ahead of Italy and Japan.


France and the US won medals in around 53 per cent of the disciplines covered by the study, demonstrating an impressive range of athletic skill owing to the nations' strong sport infrastructures that ensures athletes have the necessary equipment to be competitive in a wide range of sports.

Conversely, China and thirteenth placed Spain owe their success to winning big in a few core sports.

China won medals in 43 of the 154 disciplines (28 per cent), including 32 medals in shooting, 30 medals in artistic gymnastics, 24 medals in diving and 21 medals in table tennis, with their biggest success coming from a few sports where they leave little room on the podium for other nations.

Spain, to a much lesser extent, has adopted a similar strategy, performing extremely well in sports that receive mass media attention, such as Formula One racing, football – in which they are the 2012 UEFA European champions, basketball – they are the European champions and Olympic silver medallists, and tennis.

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