The 2023 World Athletics Championships kick off in Budapest this Saturday. Usually held once every two years, the 19th edition comes just one year after the Oregon tournament in the United States, following a schedule change due to the Covid pandemic. It is the first time Hungary will be hosting the competition in the championships’ 40-year-long history, with 49 track and field events set to take place.
The following chart uses data from the official World Athletics platform to show which countries have been awarded the most gold medals, as well as the most medals overall since the competition started back in 1983. The United States takes the lead with 414 medals won in that time, 183 of which were for the top spot on the podium. Last year, the U.S. team won 33 overall, 13 of which were gold, nine silver and 11 bronze, marking the country’s best performance on record at the event.
Kenya follows in second place with a total of 161 medals, 62 of which were gold, while Russia places third with a total of 140 medals and 41 golds. If the USSR’s total was combined with the Russian team’s, then it would rank in second place. It’s a similar story for Germany, which was formerly split into the German Democratic Republic and the German Federal Republic, or East and West, and would rank higher on the chart if the scores were combined. The GDR was awarded a total of 50 medals in just the two years that they competed (1987, 1983) with 19 gold medals, while the FRG was awarded nine medals in those competitions, two of which were gold.
