Olympic Medal Count 2012: Most Disappointing Overall Performances from London

Not every country left the Olympic Games on a high note this summer.

While almost every nation left London with a medal, as a whole, some countries simply failed to live up to expectations. 

Let's take a look at which countries took the biggest step back in London. 

Note: A complete look at the final medal standings can be found at the bottom of this page.

China (38 Gold, 88 Total)

This was supposed to be the year that China finally established itself as the best sporting country in the world.

After taking home 63 medals (32 gold) in Greece in 2004, China killed it as the hosts in 2008 with 100 total medals and 51 golds. They beat the Americans to more gold medals, but still couldn't surpass them in the overall count.

This was supposed to be the year that finally happened.

It wasn't.

Due to disappointing performances in the track and field events, China took a large step back. The country tallied just 88 total medals (16 less than the USA) and 38 gold (eight less).

Australia (7 Gold, 35 Total)

In 2000, Australia tallied an impressive 58 total medals and 16 gold medals as the host. Since then, the nation's number of athletes and medals has decreased with each year. 

In London, Australia's 410 competitors combined for 35 medals and just seven golds to finish in 10th place on the table.

Those are the lowest stats for the Aussies since Barcelona in 1992. They are in the midst of a nasty trend right now. 

Cuba (5 Gold, 14 Total)

For a country that is 74th in the world in population, it's hard to believe Cuba's count of five gold and 14 total medals is a disappointment. 

However, in the recent past, the Cubans have been much better at bringing home the jewelry. 

In 1992 in Barcelona, Cuba tallied 14 gold and 31 total medals. While the country has not been that successful since, it hasn't been as bad as in 2012, either. 

Cuba's five gold medals is actually an increase from 2008, but 14 total medals is the country's worst output since 1976 (Cuba didn't participate in the 1984 or '88 Olympics).

Final Olympic Medal Leaderboard

Visit B/R's Standings and Medal Winners Tracker for a complete look at the standings.

Olympic Medal Tracker
	United States Total: 104	46	29	29
	China Total: 87	38	27	22
	Russia Total: 82	24	25	33
	Great Britain Total: 65	29	17	19
	Germany Total: 44	11	19	14

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