About
Since its modern inception in Athens, Greece in 1896, the summer edition of the Olympic Games has taken place 30 times. Over its 128-year history, nearly 18,000 medals have been awarded to over 150 current and former countries and territories. The three most successful countries at the Summer Olympics have included the USA, USSR/Russia, and Great Britain.
Sports and fitness play an important role in people’s ability to live well and for longer: a 2022 Harvard study suggests that exercising more than the recommended amount could extend a person’s life and reduce the risk of an early death. Furthermore, physical activity is associated with improved overall health in those people who survive to older ages. Added to this, preventative health interventions such as immunisation are important mechanisms to ensure people remain healthy and protected against disease right throughout their lives.
Remaining physically active and in good health is important throughout the life course to achieve healthy ageing. Whilst no one is expected to live, train, and diet like an Olympian, there is much to be said about a country’s ability to encourage its citizens to be active and provide them with good healthcare. Investing in prevention and services like immunisation is essential to helping people live longer and healthier lives.
So if healthy ageing and prevention were Olympic sports, how would countries perform?
Using our Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index, we want to examine how well countries compete with one another in terms of longer lives and the extent to which their governments are investing in efforts to prevent ill health and support healthy ageing. With 2024 being an Olympic year, there is an opportunity to engage with policymakers and health stakeholders on prevention and to make the case for better investment in longer lives.
This project has been financially supported by Sanofi.
Blogs
Going for gold: does Olympic success correlate with healthy ageing?
16 August 2024
With the Paris 2024 Olympics now over and the Paralympic Games just around the corner, ILC has been comparing how countries performed at this year’s Games and our Healthy Ageing Medal Table.
Going for gold: if there was an Olympics for healthy ageing, how would your country perform?
26 March 2024
Imagine if there was an Olympics for healthy ageing. Imagine if your country was competing; how would it perform? Would it win a medal for life expectancy? Do you think it would win gold for preventative health? These are some of the questions we’re exploring as part of our Going for gold project. In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, we’ll be looking at how countries perform across a range of “healthy ageing” events and disciplines.
Past events
Awards ceremony – Going for gold: How do countries compete when it comes to healthy ageing?
Date: 16 July 2024
Location: Maison du Danemark, Champs-Élysées, Paris
At this event, ILC-UK, ILC-France and the ILC Europe Network hosted the Going for gold awards ceremony ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Healthy Ageing Medal Table
If healthy ageing and prevention were Olympic sports, how would your country perform?
Using existing data from the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index, OECD, UN and WHO, we’ve compiled the following “Healthy Ageing Medal Table” that ranks countries and territories across eight categories:
- Jab-elin: how countries and territories perform on coverage across five childhood immunisation programmes.
- Archery: how countries and territories perform when it comes to meeting WHO immunisation targets for measles and influenza.
- Prevention triathlon: how countries and territories score on the prevalence of three preventable diseases and lifestyle choices (diabetes, diet and smoking).
- Sport climbing: how far how countries and territories have climbed on the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index (comparing 2019 and 2022 data).
- Race walking: how countries and territories perform when it comes to physical activity.
- Marathon: how countries and territories perform on healthy life expectancy.
- 100m sprint: category exploring countries and territories with the highest proportion of centenarians as a proportion of their populations.
- Relay race: how economic and political blocs perform on the Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index.
Download the final medal table
Jab-elin
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for the Jab-elin include:
- Bahrain
- Hungary
- Morocco
- Niue
- Oman
- Palestine
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- United Arab Emirates
- Uzbekistan
Archery
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for Archery include:
- Denmark
- Ireland
- Japan
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- South Korea
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
Prevention triathlon
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for the Prevention triathlon include:
- Benin
- Cameroon
- Cote d’Ivoire
- Ethiopia
- Ghana
- Japan
- Mali
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Senegal
Sport climbing
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 (includes multiple entries) for Sport climbing include:
- Algeria
- Botswana
- Burundi
- Central African Republic
- Congo (Republic of)
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Estonia
- Gabon
- Latvia
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Saudi Arabia
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Zimbabwe
Race walking
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for Race walking include:
- Cambodia
- Jordan
- Lesotho
- Moldova
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Niue
- Samoa
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Vanuatu
Marathon
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for the Marathon include:
- Cyprus
- France
- Iceland
- Italy
- Japan
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
100m sprint
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for the 100m sprint include:
- Gibraltar
- Guadeloupe
- Hong Kong
- Isle of Man
- Japan
- Martinique
- Monaco
- Puerto Rico
- Thailand
- Uruguay
Relay race
Countries and territories who rank inside the top 10 for the Relay race include:
- APEC
- ASEAN
- BRICS
- CELAC
- EU
- G20
- G7
- Nordic Cooperation
- OECD
- USMCA
Report
Our Going for gold report examines the data from the Healthy Ageing Medal Table. The report finds that:
- Despite their ageing populations, Japan and South Korea are clear outliers when it comes to healthy ageing, with two medals each and several top 10 finishes.
- Smaller nations such as Niue also win two medals despite having a population of just 1,600 people. Monaco also wins gold with a population of around 40,000.
- African countries dominate the medal table thanks to their higher levels of physical activity, improvements made on the Index, and lower prevalence of tobacco use and diabetes. Botswana wins gold for climbing 24 places on the Index since 2019.
- European countries perform better on healthy ageing metrics such as immunisation, with Denmark, Hungary and the UK each winning medals for achieving high vaccination coverage.
Download the full report here.
Download the slide deck version here.
Healthy ageing video series
Ahead of our awards ceremony in Paris, we ran a social media campaign highlighting the importance of preventative care and healthy ageing in society today.
As part of this campaign, we produced a video series where health experts, country leaders, policymakers and athletes highlighted the importance of healthy ageing, prevention and physical activity in their countries.
Alan Smith, ex-professional footballer
Dr Chris Edmond, Medical Director for Work Health (Jersey), Director of Jersey Sport
Dagmawit Amare, General Manager, Great Ethiopian Run
Lois Privor-Dumm, Director of Adult Vaccines, International Vaccine Access Centre
HRH Prince Bereng Masupha Seeiso, Kingdom of Lesotho
Hon. Bronnie Taylor, Member of the Legislative Council, Parliament of New South Wales, Australia
Medal acceptances
Dr Tetsuo Tsuji, President, ILC-Japan
On behalf of Japan, Dr Tetsuo Tsuji, President, ILC-Japan, accepts the gold medal for the “marathon” and the silver medal for the “100m sprint” as part of the ILC’s Going for gold awards ceremony.
Sophie Labrosse, Health attaché, Embassy of Denmark, Paris
On behalf of Denmark, Sophie Labrosse, Health attaché at the Embassy of Denmark in Paris, accepts the the silver medal for the “archery” as part of the ILC’s Going for gold awards ceremony.
Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography
On behalf of the EU, Dubravka Šuica, European Commission Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, accepts the bronze medal for the “relay race” as part of the ILC’s Going for gold awards ceremony.
News
Going for gold: If immunisation were an Olympic sport, who would win?
12 August 2024
New research by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) has found that if there were ‘an Olympics for healthy ageing’, European countries would perform strongly for immunisation.
From Bahrain to Zimbabwe – 23 countries that perform the best on healthy ageing to be awarded medals at Olympics side event in Paris
16 July 2024
New research finds that Japan would win an Olympics for “healthy ageing”, with two medals and four top 10 finishes across eight events.
We want to hear from you
If you would like to get involved in this project or have any questions, please contact Patrick Swain.