Host gets the most: Here's a surefire way to lift your Olympic medal count

Hosting an Olympic Games is an economic disaster, even in non-pandemic times. After more than a century and over 50 installments, there are enough case studies to conclude that the home nation is invariably the biggest loser from the world’s largest sporting event.

Except in the medal tally.

A look at the count of gold, silver and bronze shows that the host country gets a significant boost, one that persists in subsequent games.

Japan’s incredible haul for Tokyo 2020, with 27 gold medals, puts it third behind the U.S. and China. Significantly, it captured the top prize in 7.9% of