It beyond that though, a lot of it down to the sports themselves and the way they're structured. Look at swimming - if as a country you're great at swimming th

It beyond that though, a lot of it down to the sports themselves and the way they're structured. Look at swimming - if as a country you're great at swimming there are a boat load of medals you can win. Great at football or hockey on the other hand... two in each,- the men's event and women's event. And that's before you get into sports that aren't even there - India would be in with a solid shot at a cricket medal but it's not an Olympic sport. And because different countries have access to different facilities, different participation and interest levels the cultural differences that dictate these things can have a major impact. Watching the Olympics has been great but while interesting, I'm not sure how much you can really learn from this sort of analysis.