The official Olympics medals table is based on the number of gold medals and it puts China top and Great Britain third.
But what happens if other factors are taken into account?
Much has been made of the Great Britain team's lofty position in third place in the official Olympics medals table.
That is based on the number of gold medals, with the number of My Games ...
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This system counts against countries like France which, as of 1000 BST on Friday morning, had enjoyed 32 podium finishes but only a handful of wins.
Maybe with this in mind, and half an eye on China, media in the US have been publishing a table of total medals won, regardless of colour, and that puts the US top.
Here are five alternative ways to interpret how countries rank, taking into account gold, silver and bronze, population size, gross domestic product and size of the Olympic team. The medal tallies were counted at 1000 BST on Friday.
TOTAL MEDALS WON
| RANK | COUNTRY | TOTAL |
| 1 | United States | 100 |
| 2 | China | 83 |
| 3 | Russia | 53 |
| =4 | Australia | 41 |
| =4 | Great Britain | 41 |
| =6 | France | 33 |
| =6 | Germany | 33 |
| 8 | South Korea | 26 |
| =9 | Japan | 24 |
| =9 | Italy | 24 |
POINTS SCORED (THREE FOR GOLD, TWO FOR SILVER, ONE FOR BRONZE)
| RANK | COUNTRY | TOTAL |
| 1 | China | 212 |
| 2 | United States | 190 |
| 3 | Russia | 101 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 89 |
| 5 | Australia | 77 |
| 6 | Germany | 67 |
| =7 | France | 56 |
| =7 | South Korea | 56 |
| 9 | Japan | 48 |
| 10 | Italy | 45 |
POPULATION PER MEDAL
| RANK | COUNTRY | TOTAL |
| 1 | Bahamas | 307,451 |
| 2 | Jamaica | 311,592 |
| 3 | Slovenia | 401,542 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 463,717 |
| 5 | Australia | 502,459 |
| 6 | Armenia | 593,717 |
| 7 | Belarus | 645,717 |
| 8 | Estonia | 653,803 |
| 9 | Norway | 663,499 |
| 10 | Lithuania | 713,041 |
GDP - BILLION DOLLARS PER MEDAL
| RANK | COUNTRY | TOTAL |
| 1 | North Korea | 0.36 |
| 2 | Jamaica | 0.53 |
| 3 | Zimbabwe | 0.85 |
| 4 | Armenia | 1.28 |
| 5 | Georgia | 1.29 |
| 6 | Tajikistan | 1.40 |
| 7 | Krygzstan | 1.41 |
| 8 | Mongolia | 1.57 |
| 9 | Togo | 2.21 |
| 10 | Belarus | 2.46 |
NUMBER OF ATHLETES AT GAMES PER MEDAL WON
| RANK | COUNTRY | TOTAL |
| 1 | Uzbekistan | 2 |
| 2 | Jamaica | 2.95 |
| 3 | Panama | 3 |
| 3 | Togo | 3 |
| 5 | Zimbabwe | 3.25 |
| 6 | Afghanistan | 4 |
| 7 | Indonesia | 4.8 |
| 8 | Georgia | 5.83 |
| 9 | US | 5.95 |
| 10 | Tajikistan | 6.5 |
Sources include the CIA Factbook and the World Bank.
(BBC)
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