The United States is the country with the most Olympic gold medals overall in history, with around 1,220 golds across Summer and Winter Games combined.

Quick Scoop: Who’s on Top?

  • The United States leads the all-time Olympic gold medal table with about 1,220 gold medals.
  • The former Soviet Union is second with 473 gold medals.
  • Germany is third, with 355 gold medals.
  • Other nations that have surpassed 200 golds include Great Britain, France, Italy, China, Sweden and Norway.

So if you’re asking which country has the most Olympic gold medals , the clear answer—by a big margin—is the United States.

Note: These are historical, all-time totals (not just one specific Games) and are current through recent updates that include Paris 2024-era data as referenced by Olympic statistics sources.

All-time gold medal leaders (top tier)

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Rank Country / NOC Approx. gold medals (all-time) Notes
1 United States ~1,220 Dominant especially in Summer Olympics (athletics, swimming, team sports).
2 Soviet Union (defunct NOC) 473 Historic powerhouse during Cold War era; records kept under USSR, not current Russia.
3 Germany 355 Includes medals under current German NOC; historic entities are tracked separately in some tables.
4–9 Great Britain, France, Italy, China, Sweden, Norway 200+ each All have crossed the 200-gold threshold across their Olympic histories.

Summer vs. Winter context

  • In overall Olympic history (Summer + Winter), the U.S. is number one in golds and total medals.
  • In Winter Olympics only , Norway is the all-time gold leader, ahead of the U.S. and Germany.

That’s why you’ll sometimes see Norway on top of Winter-only tables even though the United States leads the combined all-time Olympic gold count.

TL;DR: If you’re talking about all Olympic Games in history, the United States has the most Olympic gold medals of any country, by a wide margin.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.