New Zealand think tank behind the Paris Olympics per capita medal table

Medals per capita website shows New Zealand fourth
photo: Medals

This website, which counts the number of Olympic medals per capita, puts New Zealand easily at the top of the Olympic medal table, and the founder of this website is obviously a New Zealander.

Medals per capita The website, founded by New Zealand computer scientist Craig Nevill-Manning, reveals the truth – New Zealand’s Olympic medal achievements are far higher than heavyweights such as the United States, China and Australia. New Zealand ranked fourth in medals per capita in the Paris Olympics, behind smaller island nations Grenada, Dominica and St. Lucia.

Australia ranked ninth, barely making the top 10. The United States ranked 47th, while China, with a population of over a billion, fell all the way to 75th.

“My small contribution is just to point out that New Zealand is doing really well,” said Nevill-Manning, 55, who was born in Papakura and now works for Google in New York.

Craig Nevill-Manning is a New Zealand computer scientist.
photo: supply

He founded the site in 2008 and has run it through the Summer and Winter Olympics. Last Olympics, the BBC cited his data in a report on medals per capita, and this year, NBC featured the site.

During the Olympics, the site attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. Outside of the Summer or Winter Games, traffic to the site, whose subtitle is “Olympic Glory,” is virtually nonexistent.

“…What’s interesting is that the traffic tends to come from smaller countries that are doing well,” said Neville-Manning, noting that Caribbean and Eastern European countries are the top countries for site visits. “There are a lot of countries that have great athletes. They don’t win a lot of medals, but they’re small.”

Of course, there are plenty of New Zealanders looking for a different story than our 11th place in the world. Official Medal Statistics (Australia is fourth.) On Friday, New Zealanders Googled “medals per capita” Surge.

If Neville Manning doesn’t update his statistics in a timely manner, he will receive a lot of emails from New Zealanders who also want to put the best face on their country.

“Everyone reminds me when I’m behind, especially when New Zealand wins medals,” he said. “It’s like an automatic reminder.”

Neville Manning, who has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Canterbury and a doctorate from the University of Waikato, doesn’t make any money from the site. He just has the skills and tools, so he does it.

“I’m a bit of a data nerd,” he said.