Kiribati tops per capita table for gold medals

GLASGOW, 04 AUGUST 2014 (SCOTLAND HERALD) ----Tiny Pacific

island nation of just 100,000 people has become the new powerhouse of
the Commonwealth Games - according to a 'real' medal table which
measures success in terms of a country's population.

Kiribati, situated half way between Hawaii and Australia, finds itself top of
the population-based medal analysis after native David Katoatau won gold
in weightlifting's 105kg Group A. He had previously finished 17th out of 21
in the same category in the 2012 Olympics.

His gold was the 310-square-mile state's first medal at a major event.

An updated unofficial table which works out the number of golds per million
of population put Kiribati top with 9.9 golds as of 6pm yesterday, Grenada,
with a population of 105,000, was second with 9.52, New Zealand was third
with 2.69 and Scotland fourth with 2.45.

Official table-toppers England, with a population of 53.5 million, dropped
from eighth to tenth in the table compiled by statistical experts in New
Zealand.

Famed Scots novelist Robert Louis Stevenson spent time in 1888 and 1889
on Kiribati, then known as the Gilbert Islands, and his wife reputedly
designed a new flag for the natives. But they were less than pleased with
the result which was a shark with a crown on its head.

Britain discovered the islands in 1788 and they were originally named after
the captain who first set foot on the islands. Kiribati was given self rule in
1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name.

When it comes to the overall strike rate for medals of any hue, Grenada
now tops the list as its gold and bronze count equates to 19.05 medals per
million of population.

Samoa (15.87) places second, and the Isle of Man (11.76) takes third,
while Scotland (7.34) is in seventh position.....PACNEWS