Which country has won the most Winter Olympics medals so far? It’s not the United States

With the 2018 Winter Olympics in full swing in PyeongChang, we love keeping tabs on all of the events. And, admittedly, Saturday night plans may have gone out the window in favor of staying home to watch figure skating. (Sorry, friends!) But even though there’s still so many events remaining, we had to ask. Which country has won the most Winter Olympics medals?

We were thrilled to see Team USA claim its first medal on Sunday, February 11th, thanks to 17-year-old snowboarding phenom Red Gerard. Red dominated the snowboard slopestyle competition, winning the very first medal for Team USA, and *of course* it’s a gold. But who’s in the overall lead with the most Winter Olympics medals? Sadly enough, it’s not Team USA.

The rules for Olympic medal standings is actually a bit more complicated than you might think. Instead of being ranked on the total number of medals awarded, it’s actually based on a “gold first” ranking. This means a country could technically win the Olympics without winning the highest number of medals (yes, that’s happened before.) The International Olympic Committee does factor in the number of silver and bronze medals, but the system is definitely weighted toward gold.

So, who is a major contender for the most Winter Olympics medals so far?

Right now, Germany is definitely sitting pretty. The country has already won three gold medals and one bronze, putting it in first place overall. However, the Netherlands is close behind with two golds, two silvers, and a bronze. 

Norway currently has a whopping eight medals, giving them the highest number of overall medals at this point in the games. And with one gold, four silver, and three bronze, it’s in third place ahead of the United States. The Scandinavian country has historically performed well at the Winter Olympics. In fact, it has the all-time record for the highest number of gold medals (and overall medals) ever earned at the Winter Olympics.

It’s still early, of course, so we’ll be watching as more Winter Olympics medals are awarded.

Regardless of where they stand, we’re super proud of Team USA, and we wish all the athletes the best of luck while they compete. We’re even feeling inspired to get off the couch and get active today, which is definitely medal-worthy on its own.