Alongside the United States, Russia, China, Australia, or Japan, many European nations have achieved excellent performances at the Summer Olympics over the years. This is particularly true for Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.
With 937 medals, including 275 gold, Germany is the European country—excluding Russia and without counting the 409 medals won by East Germany—that has won the most medals since the reinstatement of the Summer Olympics in 1896. Following are the United Kingdom (847 medals, including 263 gold), France (716 medals, including 212 gold), and Italy (572 medals, including 206 gold).
Only the United States, leading with 2,520 medals won since 1896, and Russia (including the Soviet Union’s tally) with 1,456 medals, have done better.
Among other European countries traditionally performing well at the Summer Olympics, one can cite Sweden (494 medals), Hungary (491 medals), Romania (306 medals), Finland (303 medals), and the Netherlands (285 medals).
Naturally, some countries, due to their recent independence, cannot yet reach the top of the European hierarchy regarding the number of medals won at the Olympics.
This is the case, for instance, for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have only competed in 5 Olympiads under their own flags.
Finally, mainly due to their small size, some European countries like Malta, Cyprus, or Luxembourg have shown more than modest results at the Summer Olympics. Malta is the only European Union member state that has never won a single medal. No Cypriot athlete has yet won a gold medal either.
France, for its part, excels particularly in fencing, with 118 medals won since the Olympics of 1896, in cycling (91 medals), and in athletics (68 medals).
