ANALYSIS: Independent Alberta would be an Olympic juggernaut
An exclusive Juno News analysis of past Winter Olympics medal data shows that if Alberta were to compete as a sovereign entity, it would rank among the best in the world.
Author: Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, with files from Quinn Patrick
An exclusive Juno News analysis of past Winter Olympics medal data shows that if Alberta were to compete as a sovereign entity, it would be a global athletic juggernaut ranking among the best in the world.
The data analysis reveals that over the past four Winter Olympics, Alberta outperformed Canada on a per capita medal basis in three of the four games.
According to medal data spanning the last four Winter Olympics (2010–2022), athletes originating from Alberta consistently outperformed the rest of Canada on a per capita basis, even placing second in the world one year.
Most strikingly, in the 2010 Vancouver Games, Alberta’s per capita performance ranked second globally, trailing only Norway in medals per million inhabitants.
Across the four Winter Olympics, Alberta amassed 28 medals compared to Canada’s adjusted 95. Averaging the per capita rates yields 1.60 medals per million for Alberta versus 0.66 medals per million for Canada, a 2.4-fold advantage.
If Alberta had been an independent country at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, it would have ranked second worldwide for medals per million people, just behind Norway. With about 3.7 million people, Alberta-born athletes brought 10 medals home, which works out to 2.7 medals for every million residents. This is much higher than Canada’s overall rate of 0.67 medals per million.
The 2026 Milano‑Cortina Winter Olympics are currently underway in northern Italy, with Team Canada’s 207 athletes competing from February 6 to 22. By province, Alberta is the third‑largest contributor with 46 athletes, behind Ontario (59) and Quebec (49), and ahead of British Columbia (33). Canadian competitors are spread across a wide range of sports, from skiing and skating to hockey and luge.
The Juno News study utilized a rigorous “subtraction method” to isolate Alberta’s regional performance.
To compare Alberta fairly against the rest of the nation, Juno News identified medals won by athletes listing Alberta as their hometown, which were subtracted from the national medal count.
In cases where medals were won by national teams composed of athletes from multiple regions of Canada, medals were counted for both Alberta and Canada. This approach reflected the collaborative nature of team events while still acknowledging regional contributions.
These results were then weighed against publicly available population estimates for each nation and Alberta to determine the per capita performance.
Every year, Alberta frequently outperformed larger nations and even beat Canada overall for three out of the four games.
In the 2022 Beijing Games, Alberta ranked 8th (0.88 medals per million) with four medals, edging past Canada’s 0.65 medals per million (9th place) as Norway again led (6.85 medals per million, 1st), followed by Slovenia (3.33 medals per million, 2nd) and Austria (2 medals per million, 3rd).
The 2018 PyeongChang Games saw Alberta rank 3rd worldwide (2.31 medals per million), comfortably ahead of Canada’s 0.67 medals per million in10th place.
In the 2014 Sochi Games, Alberta placed 12th globally (0.49 medals per million) with four medals, closely trailing Canada’s 0.65 (10th place) amid a Games dominated by Norway (5.29 medals per million, 1st) and Slovenia (3.81, 2nd).