Surprisingly, the most successful country in the history of the Olympics is Finland

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Since the first Olympic Games in Greece 1896, a total of 14,714 medals have handed out in the Summer Olympics. USA is by far the most successful country with 2,399 medals.

Counting per capita, Americans are however beaten by several nations. To surprise of many, it's Finland that receives the gold medal. With a total of 303 medals, and a population of 5.5 million in 2015, the Nordic country has won 2.3 medals per game, per million population, The Guardian has calculated.

By taking the number of medals won by each country, and dividing it by the number of Summer Olympics in which the country has competed, The Guardian found the average number of medals won per game. This was then calculated against the population in each country in 2015.

Finland's high average is essentially driven by early success. Close to half of all the medals - 148 - were won between 1912 and 1932. 

Behind Finland, Estonia came out second, and the Bahamas third. The second best Nordic country was Sweden (fifth place), with an average of 1.91 medals per game and million population.