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.
Overall, athletes from a record 87 countries won at least one medal,[6] and 55 of them won at least one gold medal.[7]Afghanistan,[8]Mauritius,[9]Sudan,[10]Tajikistan[11] and Togo won their first Olympic medals of any kind.[12] Athletes from Mongolia (which previously held the record for most medals without a gold)[13] and Panama won their first Olympic gold medals.[14]Serbian swimmer Milorad Čavić won the first medal for the country as an independent state.[15]Samoa won its first Olympic medal due to a reallocation of medals after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) retested doping samples in 2016.[16]
Athletes from the host nation China won the most gold medals, with 48, while athletes from the United States won the most medals overall, with 112.[7] Among individual participants, American swimmer Michael Phelps won the most gold medals and the most total medals with eight each, breaking Mark Spitz's 1972 record for the most gold medals won at an Olympic Games.[17]
During and after the games, many athletes who were caught doping, or tested positive for banned substances, were disqualified from competition and had their medals revoked.[18][19]
The medal table is based on information provided by the IOC and is consistent with IOC conventional sorting in its published medal tables. The table uses the Olympic medal table sorting method. By default, the table is ordered by the number of gold medals the athletes from a nation have won, where a nation is an entity represented by a NOC. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals.[20][21] If teams are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by their IOC country code.[22]
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.[35] However, both of the Belarusian athletes subsequently had their medals reinstated because the doping tests were not handled correctly.[36]
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.[38] As there was already one other bronze medalist in this event, Abrahamian's medal was not reallocated.[39]
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.[40] Nine 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.[41] The bronze medal was then re-allocated to Great Britain's Kelly Sotherton (see below).[42]
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.[43]
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.[49] The IOC requested that the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50]
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.[51] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[52][53]
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.[54] Another member of the Russian 4 × 400 metres relay team, Tatyana Firova, was separately disqualified on 31 August 2016.[55] The Belarusian 4 × 400 metres relay team (4th place) was also disqualified due to a doping violation by Sviatlana Usovich. The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[56]
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 (ninth place in men's 69 kg event) and Intigam Zairov of Azerbaijan (ninth place in men's 85 kg event).[55] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50]
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 race, was also disqualified after testing positive for the banned substance stanozolol.[57] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[58]
On 6 October 2016, the IOC disqualified Anna Chicherova of Russian for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. She had won a bronze medal in the women's high jump. Yelena Slesarenko of Russia (fourth place) and Vita Palamar of Ukraine (fifth place) were also disqualified.[63] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and the medals were redistributed accordingly.[64]
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 Russia, Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan, and Taimuraz Tigiyev of Kazakhstan.[65] The IOC requested that United World Wrestling (UWW) modify the results of the wrestling events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[66][67] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results of the women's 3000 metres steeplechase event, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[68]
On 17 November 2016, the IOC disqualified sixteen more athletes for failing drugs tests at the 2008 games. Amongst them were ten medal winners: Khadzhimurat Akkaev, Khasan Baroev and Dmitry Lapikov from Russia, Mariya Grabovetskaya, Asset Mambetov and Irina Nekrassova from Kazakhstan, Nataliya Davydova and Denys Yurchenko, both from Ukraine, Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece, and Vitaliy Rahimov of Azerbaijan.[69] The IOC requested that UWW modify the results of the wrestling events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[66][67] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results, and medals in the men's pole vault event were redistributed accordingly.[70]
On 25 November 2016, the IOC disqualified Aksana Miankova and Natallia Mikhnevich, both from Belarus, and Ilya Ilyin from Kazakhstan.[71] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results, and medals in the women's hammer throw event were redistributed accordingly.[72]
On 12 January 2017, the IOC disqualified Chen Xiexia, Liu Chunhong and Cao Lei, all from China, and Nadzeya Astapchuk from Belarus.[73] The IOC requested that the IWF modify the results of the weightlifting events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[50] The IOC also requested that the IAAF modify the results, and medals in the women's shot put event were redistributed accordingly.[74]
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.[75][76][77] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and, after Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismisses the appeal of Jamaican sprinter,[78] the medals were redistributed accordingly. Trinidad and Tobago team was advanced to gold, Japan to silver, and Brazil to bronze.[79]
Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia lost two silver medals in the women's long jump and triple jump events due to the use of the banned substance turinabol.[75][80] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results, and, after the CAS dismissed the appeal of Tatyana Lebedeva,[81] the medals were redistributed accordingly.[82][83] In the women's long jump event, Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria was advanced to silver, and Chelsea Hammond of Jamaica was advanced to bronze.[84] In the women's triple jump event, Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan was advanced to silver, and Yargelis Savigne of Cuba was advanced to bronze.[85]
On 29 March 2017, Elvan Abeylegesse was stripped of her two silver medals in the women's 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, due to doping offences.[88][89] The IOC requested that the IAAF modify the results of the events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[90][91]
On 5 April 2017, the IOC disqualified the Uzbek wrestler Artur Taymazov, who won gold in the men's freestyle 120 kg event, due to use of the banned substances turinabol and stanozolol. Ukrainian wrestler Vasyl Fedoryshyn was disqualified and stripped of his silver medal in the men's freestyle 60 kg event due to use of turinabol.[92] The IOC requested that UWW modify the results of the wrestling events, and the medals were reallocated accordingly.[66][67]
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