The Olympics: Home Field Advantage?

In the process of researching for a much more extensive article I started to see a couple of different trends and facts about the Olympics that I had not seen written about in any of the articles I came across. The main thing that stuck out to me is the apparent home field advantage that being the host country gives. For this particular article I will be focusing on the Summer Games pre and post separation only. Since the 1906 Games are not officially recognized by the IOC even though the 1896 and the 1900 were I will use the 1908 London Olympics as the base figures for subsequent comparisons.



1908 Sweden won 8 Gold, 6 Silver, 11 Bronze : 25 Total
1912 Sweden hosted the games in Stockholm where they posted:
24 Gold 24 Silver 17 Bronze: 65 Total

In 1912 Belgium posted 2 Gold 1 Silver 3 Bronze for a total of 6 medals.
The next Olympics were held in 1920 in Antwerp where Belgium took home 14 Gold, 11 Silver, 11 Bronze: 36 Total

1920 France: 9 Gold 19 Silver 13 Bronze : 41
1924 France hosts in Paris: 13 G 15 S 10 B: 38
While their total medal count was down they did win more Gold that year.

1924 The Netherlands: 4 Gold 1 Silver 5 Bronze: 10 Total
1928 The Netherlands Host in Amsterdam: 6 Gold 9 Silver 4 Bronze: 19 Total (Their highest total til the 2000 Games)

1928 The United States: 22 Gold, 18 Silver, 16 Bronze: 56 Total
1932 United States plays host in Los Angeles: 41 Gold, 32 Silver, 30 Bronze: 103 Total

1932 Germany: 3 Gold 12 Silver 5 Bronze: 20 Total
1936 Germany hosts in Munich: 33 Gold, 26 Silver, 30 Bronze: 89 Total

1936 Great Britain: 4 Gold 7 Silver 2 Bronze: 14 Total
1948 Were the next Games which Britain hosted in London: 3 Gold 14 Silver 6 Bronze: 23 Total

1948 Finland: 8 Gold 7 Silver 5 Bronze: 20 Total
1952 Finland hosts in Helsinki: 6 Gold 3 Silver 13 Bronze: 22 Total

1952 Australia: 6 Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze: 11 Total
1956 Australia hosts in Melbourne: 13 Gold 8 Silver 14 Bronze : 35 Total

1956 Italy: 8 Gold 8 Silver 9 Bronze: Total 25
1960 Italy hosts in Rome: 13 Gold 10 Silver 13 Bronze: 36 Total

1960 Japan: 4 Gold 7 Silver 7 Bronze: 18 Total
1964 Japan hosts in Tokyo: 16 Gold 5 Silver 8 Bronze: 29 Total

1964 Mexico: 1 Bronze : 1 Total
1968 Mexico hosts in Mexico City: 3 Gold 3 Silver 3 Bronze: 9 Total (Highest in their history)

1968 West Germany: 9 Gold 9 Gold 7 Bronze: 25 Total
1972 West Germany hosts in Munich: 13 Gold 11 Silver 16 Bronze: 40 Total

1972 Canada: 0 Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze: 5 Total
1976 Canada hosts in Montreal: 0 Gold 5 Silver 6 Bronze: 11 Total

1976 Soviet Union: 49 Gold 41 Silver 35 Bronze: 125 Total
1980 Soviet Union hosts in Moscow (60 Countries including United States do not participate in boycott): 80 Gold 69 Silver 46 Bronze: 195 Total

1980 United States did not compete
1984 held in Los Angeles

1984 South Korea: 6 Gold 6 Silver 7 Bronze: 19 Total
1988 South Korea hosts in Seoul: 12 Gold 10 Silver 11 Bronze: 33 Total (Highest in their history)

1988 Spain: 1 Gold 1 Silver 2 Bronze: 4 Total
1992 Spain hosts at Barcelona: 13 Gold 7 Silver 2 Bronze: 22 Total (Highest in their History)

1992 United States: 37 Gold 34 Silver 37 Bronze: 108 Total
1996 The United States hosts in Atlanta: 44 Gold 32 Silver 25 Bronze: 101 Total

1996 Australia: 9 Gold 9 Silver 23 Bronze: 41 Total
2000 Australia hosts in Sydney: 16 Gold 25 Silver 17 Bronze: 58 Total (Highest in their History)

2000 Greece: 4 Gold 6 Silver 3 Bronze: 13 Total
2004 Greece Hosts in Athens: 6 Gold 6 Silver 4 Bronze :16 Total

2004 China: 32 Gold 17 Silver 14 Bronze: 63 Total
2008 China hosts in Beijing: 51 Gold 21 Silver 28 Bronze: 100 Total (Highest Total in their history, 04’ was second highest)

I know that there are a lot of controversies surrounding the Olympics as a whole and an infinite number of variables besides straight medal counts. That being said, I still feel as though it demonstrates that there is a common theme amongst the performance of a country when they are the host.