The Spectator

Which countries have doped the most at the Olympics?

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issue 03 August 2024

Hole lot of history

What was the original black hole? Although the term has been in use since the 1960s for a collapsed star from which no light can escape, its origins lie two centuries earlier with the Black Hole of Calcutta. In 1756 the East India Company was seeking to reinforce its fortifications at Fort William in the city. When the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, heard about it he raised an army of 50,000 men and, with the aid of 500 elephants, marched on Fort William. While most of the British fled to ships in the harbour, 146 were rounded up and imprisoned in a hole measuring 14ft by 18ft, in 40°C temperatures. Only 23, it was recorded, came out alive – although some now doubt that so many could have been fitted into such a space. 

Pots of gold

Who makes the podium for Olympic Games overspending? Budget overrun percentage:

Gold: Montreal 1976 – 720%

Silver: Barcelona 1992 – 266%

Bronze: Atlanta 1996 – 151%

Sydney 2000 – 90%

London 2012 – 76%

Rio de Janeiro 2016 – 51%

Athens 2004 – 49%

Source: World Economic Forum

Sporting highs

Which countries have the highest cumulative number of positive Olympic Games doping tests since 1968?

Gold: Russia – 133

Joint silver: Belarus, Ukraine – 27

Turkey – 19

United States – 18

Austria, Kazakhstan – 13

Greece – 11

Testing the water

There was a question mark over the Olympic triathlon after the Seine was ruled to be too polluted with sewage to allow swimming.

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