Slovenia tops the more intellectually honest Olympic medal table

There's a sneaking suspicion even Americans put little stock in who wins the overall medal count.

It's a relic of the Cold War era, when the U.S.-USSR were always out to one-up and undercut each other. There is still an Olympic arms race and China still treats the Games as a chance to flex its muscle, but really, it's generally accepted the medal table is just a reflection of a country's affluence and population base. So how's the leader of real medal table?

It turns out Slovenia is the true leader by medalspercapita.com's reckoning.

What's the Slovenian edge, at least one that can be envisioned by skimming the country's wiki? It is a mostly hilly and mountainous country, which probably gives people more avenues to be active. Whatever the reasons, Slovenia is well-represented in individual sports, particularly the endurance variety.

To put in perspective, Canada would have win 68 medals in London 2012 to match Slovenia. That probably is not happening.

For what it is worth, Australia, which is just beside itself about its showing, was still sixth in medals per capita through Monday. Canada is 29th, with the U.S. and their referee-aided women's soccer team 40th. So there's that.

Obviously, dividing a country's estimated population by its medals doesn't say it all. It leaves out the amount of support (per capita, again) that each nation devotes to sports. The Huffington Post is maintaining a weighted medal count that factors in gross domestic product.

No doubt some University of Waterloo or CalTech math major at this very moment is trying to work out the ultimate theory to determine the most proficient Olympic nation. Other people just like to watch the events.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.