Who will be the gold medal leader at the Beijing Winter Olympics? These 4 countries have drama

At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics four years ago, the Norwegian delegation shined and sat first in the Winter Olympic gold medal list with a score of 14 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze. So at the Beijing Winter Olympics, can the Norwegian delegation still be ranked first? If not, who can be the new "bellwether"?

As of today, the Winter Olympics have been held for 23 times, and from the perspective of the total medals, the top four countries are: Germany (150 gold, 145 silver, 113 bronze for a total of 408 pieces), Russia (134 gold, 101 silver and 102 bronze for a total of 337 pieces), Norway (132 gold, 125 silver and 111 bronze for a total of 368 pieces) and the United States (105 gold, 112 silver and 88 bronze for a total of 305 pieces). This ranking not only reflects the deep foundation and traditional advantages of ice and snow sports of each delegation, but also includes the latest developments in the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle.

Germany is the best European country in the past Winter Olympics, and Norway, with a population of only 5.385 million (data as of the end of 2020), has surpassed the traditional sports powerhouse united states in the overall performance of the previous Winter Olympics, which shows that it is no accident that they have reached the top of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic gold medal list.

Two of the top three in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics gold medal list are European countries; of the top 6, there are 4 European countries; of the top 8, there are 5 European countries; and in the top 15, there are 11 European countries. The strong position of European countries in the Winter Olympics still remains to this day.

Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Finland in Central and Northern Europe are all ice and snow sports powers. In addition, Italy, France and the United Kingdom, as the traditional sports powers in Europe, have also performed quite well in previous Winter Olympics. Therefore, in the gold medal list of the Beijing Winter Olympics, European countries will still occupy a major position.

The Americas mainly look at two ice and snow powers, one is the United States and the other is Canada. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, they were ranked fourth and third respectively.

In Asia, the best overall result at the Winter Olympics is South Korea, ranking 15th in the world, and has currently achieved 31 gold, 25 silver and 14 bronze. Japan ranks 16th in the world and currently has 14 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze. China has participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1980, and has won a total of 13 gold, 28 silver and 21 bronze medals, a total of 62 medals, ranking 17th in the total medal list of the Winter Olympic Games.

Judging from the ranking of the total results of the Winter Olympic Games in previous years, the strongest strength of ice and snow sports is still in European countries, especially in Central and Northern Europe. Therefore, the competition for the gold medal list of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics will most likely be between Norway and Germany, and the United States and Canada will also have a greater impact on the competition in the gold medal list.