Map of the world showing the achievements of each country during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Gold for countries achieving at least one gold medal. Silver for countries achieving at least one silver medal. Brown for countries achieving at least one bronze medal. Green for countries that did not win a medal. Black for countries that did not participate. A yellow square displays the host city (Beijing). Blue asterisks display countries achieving their first medal ever in a Summer Olympics.
Athletes from 87 countries won medals, and 55 of them won at least one gold medal. Both of these categories set new records until surpassed in 2016. Athletes from China won the most gold medals, with 48, while athletes from the United States won the most total medals, with 112. Afghanistan,[2]Mauritius,[3]Sudan,[4]Tajikistan[5] and Togo[6] won their first Olympic medals. Athletes from Mongolia (which previously held the record for most medals without a gold)[7] and Panama[8] won their first gold medals. Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić won the first medal for the country as an independent NOC. Serbian athletes had previously won medals as nationals of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro.[9]Samoa won its first Olympic medal due to medals reallocation after the IOC retested doping samples in 2016.
The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is consistent with IOC convention in its published medal tables. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won (in this context, a "nation" is an entity represented by a National Olympic Committee). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If nations are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC country code.
In boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling, two bronze medals are awarded in each weight class.[10] Therefore, the total number of bronze medals is greater than the total number of gold or silver medals. An exception was the men's 84 kg Greco-Roman wrestling, where Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his medal due to his conduct during the medal ceremony. Additionally there was a tie for the silver medal in the women's 100 metres in athletics and no bronze was awarded.[11] Ties for third in swimming's men's 100 metre backstroke and men's 100 metre freestyle meant that two bronze medals were awarded for those events.[12]
Belarusian athletes Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, who won silver and bronze respectively in the men's hammer throw, both tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone. After attending a disciplinary hearing in September 2008, they were stripped of their medals on 11 December 2008. Krisztián Pars of Hungary was awarded the silver medal, and Koji Murofushi of Japan was awarded the bronze.[13] However, both of the Belarusian athletes subsequently had their medals reinstated because the doping tests were not handled correctly.[14]
List of official changes in medal standings
Ruling date
Sport/Event
Athlete (NOC)
Total
Comment
List of official changes in medal standings (during the Games)
SwedishwrestlerAra Abrahamian was originally awarded a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 84 kg event. However, at the medal ceremony he walked off the podium and dropped his medal on the mat in protest against the judging in his event. On 16 August 2008, the IOC decided to strip Abrahamian of his medal because they felt it amounted to a political demonstration and was disrespectful to other athletes.[16] As there was already one other bronze medalist in this event, Abrahamian's medal was not reallocated.
Ukrainian athlete Lyudmyla Blonska, who finished second in the women's heptathlon, tested positive for the steroid methyltestosterone. On 22 August 2008, the IOC officially stripped Blonska of her medal, and as a result, the silver medal went to Hyleas Fountain of the United States, and the bronze medal to Tatyana Chernova of Russia.[17] 9 years later, on 24 April 2017, Chernova was disqualified and stripped of the bronze medal after a retest of her sample showed that she had used turinabol.[18] The bronze medal was then re-allocated to Great Britain’s Kelly Sotherton (see below).
Norwegian equestrian athlete Tony André Hansen's horse tested positive for the pain relieving medication capsaicin, a banned substance. Hansen, who had won a bronze medal in the team jumping event, was disqualified. In the team jumping system, the top three scores garnered by the four riders are counted. Hansen had the best score on his team, and it was removed from the total. Without Hansen's score, his team was below the bronze medal threshold, and bronze was awarded to the team from Switzerland on 22 December 2008.[19]
On 22 July 2016, Sibel Özkan of Turkey was disqualified due to an anti-doping rule violation and stripped of her silver medal in the women's 48 kg event.[25] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[26]
On 16 August 2016, the Russian women's 4 × 100 metres relay team was disqualified for doping. The Russian team members were stripped of their gold Olympic medals, as Yuliya Chermoshanskaya had her samples reanalyzed and tested positive for two prohibited substances.[27] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[28][29]
On 19 August 2016, the Russian women's 4 × 400 metres relay team was disqualified for doping and stripped of their silver Olympic medals, when team member Anastasiya Kapachinskaya had her samples reanalyzed and tested positive for two prohibited substances.[30] Another member of the Russian 4 × 400 metres relay team, Tatyana Firova, was separately disqualified on 31 August 2016.[31] The Belarusian 4 × 400 metres relay team (4th place) was also disqualified due to a doping violation by Sviatlana Vusovich. The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[32]
On 31 August 2016, the IOC disqualified six sportspersons for failing doping tests at the 2008 Games. They included Russian weightlifting medalists Nadezhda Evstyukhina (bronze medal in the women's 75 kg event) and Marina Shainova (silver medal in the women's 58 kg event). Also disqualified were bronze medal weightlifter Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia (men's 69 kg event) and fellow weightlifters Alexandru Dudoglo of Moldova (9th place in men's 69 kg event) and Intigam Zairov of Azerbaijan (9th place in men's 85 kg event).[31] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[26]
On 1 September 2016, the IOC disqualified a further two athletes. Cuban discus thrower Yarelys Barrios, who won a silver medal in the women's discus throw, was disqualified after testing positive for Acetazolamide and ordered to return her medal. Qatari sprinter Samuel Francis, who finished 16th in the men's 100 metres, was also disqualified after testing positive for Stanozolol.[33] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[34]
On 6 October 2016, the IOC disqualified Anna Chicherova of the Russian Federation for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. She had won a bronze medal in the women's high jump. Yelena Slesarenko of Russia (4th place) and Vita Palamar of Ukraine (5th place) were also disqualified.[38] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[39]
On 26 October 2016, the IOC disqualified nine more athletes for failing drugs tests at the 2008 games. Amongst them were six medalists: Andrei Rybakou and Nastassia Novikava, both from Belarus, Olha Korobka of Ukraine, Ekaterina Volkova of the Russian Federation, Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan, and Taimuraz Tigiyev of Kazakhstan.[40] The IOC requested that UWW modify the results of the wrestling events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[41][42] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[26] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results of the women's 3000 metres steeplechase event, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[43]
On 25 November 2016, the IOC disqualified Aksana Miankova and Natallia Mikhnevich, both from Belarus, and Ilya Ilin from Kazakhstan.[46] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[26] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results, and medals in the women's hammer throw event were redistributed accordingly.[47]
On 12 January 2017, the IOC disqualified Chen Xiexia, Liu Chunhong and Cao Lei, all from China, and Nadzeya Ostapchuk from Belarus.[48] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[26] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results, and medals in the women's shot put event were redistributed accordingly.[49]
On 25 January 2017, the Jamaican team were stripped of the gold medal place in the men's 4 × 100 m relay due to Nesta Carter testing positive for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.[50][51][52] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and, after CAS dismisses the appeal of Jamaican sprinter,[53] the medals were redistributed accordingly.[54] Trinidad and Tobago team was advanced to gold, Japan to silver, and Brazil to bronze.
Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia lost two silver medals in the women's long jump and triple jump events due to use of turinabol.[50][55] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and, after CAS dismisses the appeal of Tatyana Lebedeva,[56] the medals were redistributed accordingly.[57][58] In the women's long jump event, Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria was advanced to silver, and Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica was advanced to bronze. In the women's triple jump event, Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan was advanced to silver, and Yargelis Savigne of Cuba was advanced to bronze.
^"GOLD: x2 for U.S."The Globe and Mail. 12 August 2008. Archived from the original on 17 August 2008. Retrieved 12 August 2008. Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia and Hayden Stoeckel of Australia tied for bronze.