里約奧運已經開幕，各國的觀眾除了選擇自己感興趣的項目看比賽以外，還會格外關注自己國家在獎牌榜上的表現。在最近幾屆夏季奧運會上，中國、美國和俄羅斯一直在前三的位置上爭來爭去，其中，美國奪得第一的次數最多。

不過，如果我們不看獎牌總數，而是根據各國的人均獎牌數來排名的話。結果可能就完全不一樣了。

There are no prizes for knowing that the US has won more Olympic medals than any other country since the first modern summer games were held in 1896.
自1896年第一屆現代夏季奧運會舉辦以來，美國隊獲得的獎牌總數比其他國家都要多。這是人盡皆知的事實。

Kudos is due, however, to those who are able to name Finland as having won the most medals per Games contested relative to the country’s population size.
而能夠根據國家人口數計算出每屆奧運會的人均獎牌數，使得芬蘭登上榜首的位置，這就值得說一說了。

To work out how well each country fared, we took the number of medals won by each – in Finland’s case 303 – and divided it by the number of summer Olympics competed in to get the average number of medals won. We then calculated the medal haul against each country’s 2015 population.
要計算出每個國家的人均獎牌數，我們先用每個國家獲得的獎牌總數除以該國參加過的夏季奧運會次數，這樣就得出了該國每次奧運會的平均獎牌數。然后，我們再用這個平均獎牌數除以該國2015年的人口總數。

By this measure the Olympic podium would see Finland – population 5.5 million – receive the gold medal, Estonia the silver and the Bahamas the bronze.
這樣計算以后，站在奧林匹克領獎臺最頂端的是芬蘭（人口550萬），愛沙尼亞和巴哈馬分獲銀牌和銅牌。

Finland’s record is still driven by its early successes. In the five Olympic Games held between Stockholm 1912 and Los Angeles 1932, the country won 148 medals, averaging almost 30 per Games.
芬蘭的獎牌記錄主要來源于早期奧運會上的成就。在1912年斯德哥爾摩奧運會和1932年洛杉磯奧運會之間的五屆奧運會上，芬蘭總共獲得了148枚獎牌，平均每屆約30枚。

Part of the success is attributable to the so-called Flying Finns, a group of long distance athletes including Hannes-Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola and Paavo Nurmi.
而芬蘭的這些獎牌中，有一部分都是像漢內斯·科勒赫邁寧、維拉·里托拉以及帕沃·魯米等長跑名將貢獻的，這些人被稱為“飛翔的芬蘭人”。

芬蘭長跑名將魯米

Nurmi was one of the most successful Olympians of all time. He was one of just four athletes to win nine Olympic gold medals, not to mention three silvers, and the first to win five golds in one Games, in Paris in 1924.
魯米是奧運史上最成功的運動員之一。他是僅有的四位獲得九枚奧運金牌的運動員之一，而且他還得過三枚銀牌。他還是首位在一屆奧運會上獲得五枚金牌的運動員，那是在1924年的巴黎奧運會上。

Finland has won medals at every summer Olympics since 1908.
自1908年開始，芬蘭在每屆夏季奧運會上都有獎牌收入囊中。

【考考你】

用上面的算法計算的話，中國的人均獎牌數是多少呢？

英文來源：衛報

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）