Amazing Rio Olympic medal tally statistic

SOMETHING is wrong with this Rio Olympic medal tally, and it’s got nothing to do with Australia being nowhere near the top.

Katie Ledecky dominated for the US and the Pac-12.

THERE’S a reason they call the Pac-12 the “Conference of Champions”.

If the west American college athletic conference was its own country, it would have finished an incredible fifth on the final medal tally at the Rio Olympics.

According to the official Pac-12 website, athletes affiliated with the conference won 55 medals at the Games, including 25 gold.

Only the US, Great Britain and China won more gold.

#Rio2016 was amazing!

The Pac-12 would have been 5th in the medal count if we were our own country.#BackThePac pic.twitter.com/yjO1QpID12

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) August 22, 2016

The Pac-12 is made up of 12 schools, all of which were represented in Rio and nine of which featured on the podium.

Stanford led the way with 25 medals, including 13 gold, according to NCAA.com. Swimmers Katie Ledecky (five), Simone Manuel (four) and Maya DiRado (four) were responsible for 13 medals between them.

University of California won 18 medals, including nine gold. Again, it was swimmers who dominated, led by Ryan Murphy (three gold) and Nathan Adrian (two gold).

University of Southern California won 17 medals, including seven gold.

Not all the Pac-12 athletes were American, however. Olympians from the conference represented 47 countries across 23 sports.

Here are some more amazing stats on the conference, courtesy of Pac-12.com:

* Pac-12 athletes claimed several world and Olympic records. In track, USA’s Ashton Eaton (Oregon) tied the Olympic record in the decathlon, while Emma Coburn (Colorado) set an American record in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase;

* In the swimming pool, Pac-12 athletes were responsible for setting or contributing to seven Olympic records and four world records;

* Pac-12 athletes claimed medals on every day possible during the Rio Olympics, a streak of 16 consecutive days.

* 63 different Pac-12 athletes took home 92 medals in 12 sports and for five different countries (this figure includes relay and team sports)

* 117 Team USA athletes are Pac-12 affiliated making up 21 per cent of the US roster.

PAC-12 BY THE NUMBERS

Competing Olympians: 246

Medallists/medals: 63/92

Different countries represented: 47

Different countries represented on the podium: 5 (USA, Canada, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands)

Different sports represented: 23

Different sports represented on the podium: 12 (basketball, beach volleyball, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo)

Mark Knight's cartoon for the Herald Sun hits where it hurts.

PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE

Australia’s Olympic team, by stark contrast, suffered under the weight of expectation in Rio, picking up 29 medals overall — the country’s worst return since the 1992 Barcelona Games — despite pre-game predictions that up to 45 medals could be expected.

Australia finished 10th on the final medal tally, with eight gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze.