--- title: What Country Has Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals? description: More than 40 countries have won a Winter Olympic medal since the first games. These countries have the most medals heading into PyeongChang canonical: https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/ author: Andee Erickson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-05T16:55:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:50:02.074Z article:section: Sports og:title: These Countries Have Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals og:description: The U.S. isn't in first place og:url: https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d2fb0a580666df9/6988a11e196cf4551603cbc1/rio-olympics-best-stocks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: OLY-2016-RIO-MEDALS-FACTORY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Countries Have Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals twitter:description: The U.S. isn't in first place twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d2fb0a580666df9/6988a11e196cf4551603cbc1/rio-olympics-best-stocks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Countries Have Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals by [Andee Erickson](/author/andee-erickson/) ## Andee Erickson Feb 5, 2018 4:55 PM CUT  Gold, silver and bronze medals for the Rio Olympic Games are displayed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 18, 2016. Gold, silver and bronze medals for the Rio Olympic Games are displayed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 18, 2016.CHRISTOPHE SIMON—AFP/Getty Images by [Andee Erickson](/author/andee-erickson/) ## Andee Erickson Feb 5, 2018 4:55 PM CUT [More than 40 countries have won at least one](http://graphics.latimes.com/winter-olympics/ "undefined") Winter Olympic medal since the first games in Chamonix, France, in 1924\. For any country looking to take the first spot in the all-time Winter Olympics medal count, Norway is the one to beat during the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. More than 2,800 Winter Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals have been awarded, and Norway has received 329 of them, according to data compiled by [Sports Reference](https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/NOR/ "undefined"). As for the athlete with the most winter medals, he belongs to Norway, too. Biathlon competitor Ole Einar Bjoerndalen has won 13 medals, eight of them gold, making him the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete, according to the [International Olympics Committee.](https://www.olympic.org/ole-einar-bjoerndalen "undefined") He’s set to return to the Olympics in PyeongChang with the goal of earning even more. ## These are the 10 countries with the most Winter Olympic medals: ### 1\. Norway — 329 ### 2\. United States — 282 ### 3\. Germany — 228 ### 4\. Austria — 218 ### 5\. Soviet Union — 194 ### 6\. Canada — 170 ### 7\. Finland — 161 ### 8\. Sweden — 144 ### 9\. Switzerland — 138 ### 10\. Russia — 124 [_\[Sports_](https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/ "undefined")[ _Reference\]_](https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/"},"headline":"These Countries Have Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals","datePublished":"2018-02-05T16:55:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:50:02.074Z","description":"The U.S. isn't in first place","url":"https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/","keywords":["2018 Pyeongchang Olympics","Winter Olympics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d2fb0a580666df9/6988a11e196cf4551603cbc1/rio-olympics-best-stocks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andee Erickson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/andee-erickson/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d2fb0a580666df9/6988a11e196cf4551603cbc1/rio-olympics-best-stocks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"OLY-2016-RIO-MEDALS-FACTORY","caption":"OLY-2016-RIO-MEDALS-STOCKS","creditText":"CHRISTOPHE SIMON—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2018-pyeongchang-olympics/","name":"2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5097770/countries-with-most-winter-olympic-medals/","name":"These Countries Have Won the Most Winter Olympic Medals"}}]}] ```