What country has won the most Olympics medals?

No other country has competed at every Olympic Games except for the Moscow 1980 Games, like the United States. It was and still is the dominant country in terms of medals won since the Games' inception at 1896. Nonetheless, in the "cold-war" era from 1952-1988, the Soviet Union was more successful, considering the medals conceived. At that time, the German Democratic Republic also threatened U.S. dominance before its merger with West Germany in October 1990.

The U.S. medal tally

Until now, their medal tally is totaling 2542 medals with 1029 gold, 802 silver, and 711 bronze medals. The most successful sport discipline for the Americans at the Olympics is athletics (track and field), with staggering 1898 medals won in all of the events, almost 67% of total medals conceived.

It is foreseeable the most successful Olympians have come from the The United States, notably Michael Phelps, with 23 gold medals in swimming, also Mark Spitz in swimming, and Carl Lewis in athletics, with nine golds.

The record host

The United States has also been host to the Olympic Games more than any other country. The Games were hosted four times in this part of the North American continent: 1904 in St. Louis, 1932 in Los Angeles, 1984 in Los Angeles, and 1996 in Atlanta, with Los Angeles, set for its third edition at 2028.

Possible contender

From the countries that could endanger the commanding position of team USA, indeed, China is the first that needs to be considered. It has moved up from 11th (in 2008) to 7th (2016) position on the all-time list and surely is one of the countries with the most significant investments in sports infrastructure in the last two decades. Adding to that, the recent trend of hiring successful western coaches in their underdeveloped sports.