The best I could do was an "authoritarian index", using the (GDP / Population) / Gold Medals and Total Medals. If you rank them by that, you see some pretty na

The best I could do was an "authoritarian index", using the (GDP / Population) / Gold Medals and Total Medals. If you rank them by that, you see some pretty nasty countries near the top, and nice countries near the bottom. Zimbabwe, North Korea and China round out the top three... Ethiopia is ok but does lack freedom of the press, etc. Then look at the bottom of the list: all free market, liberal democracies. Finland, Belgium,etc, Bahrain, arguably the most democratic country in the Gulf, Slovenia, etc, on the way up. There are statistical blips of course. Jamaica is near the top because they are just that aweseome. Also, I just made this up so it's probably completely wrong. To put forth the very rough and completely unscientific theory: A more authoritarian country is willing to put in more effort, per dollar of GDP and amount of population, to get gold medals. They've got more to prove.