Country With Just 63K Residents Wins First-Ever Gold

Bermuda is the smallest country ever to win gold medal at Summer Olympics
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2021 2:07 PM CDT
Bermuda Is Smallest Country to Win Gold
Flora Duffy of Bermuda celebrates while running to the finish line to win the women's individual triathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 27, 2021, in Tokyo.   (AP Photo/David Goldman)

With a table-topping 10 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Japan has so far won one gold medal for every 12.6 million residents. In Bermuda, the ratio is one per 63,000 people. Flora Duffy won gold in the women's individual triathlon Tuesday, making Bermuda the smallest country by population ever to win gold at a Summer Olympics, NPR reports. To look at the feat another way, a similar ratio would give China around 19,000 golds. The only previous Olympic medal for the British island territory was the bronze in men's heavyweight boxing won by Clarence Hill in 1976. Duffy, 33, finished 74 seconds ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown in the event, which involved a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride, and a 10km run.

"Yes, this was my dream, but I also knew it was bigger than me," said Duffy, who was competing in her fourth Olympics. "It’s been a heck of a lot of pressure," she said, per the Guardian. "I would never recommend being an Olympic favorite for five years. But it is all worth it now." NPR notes that the only country with a smaller population to win Olympic gold is Liechtenstein, which won two gold medals at the 1980 Winter Olympics. In another Olympic first, the Philippines' Hidilyn Diaz won her country's first-ever gold medal Monday, Time reports. She also set an Olympic record in the 55-kilogram women's weightlifting category. For ending the country's 97-year wait for gold, Diaz has been given $660,000, a house, and a luxury condo by the government and several business tycoons, reports Bloomberg.

(More Tokyo Olympics stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X