As the Beijing Winter Olympics action gets underway, the all-time medal table shows Team GB lagging WAY behind Norway and rivals USA - but Germany still have a curious claim for being the greatest nation of all

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The first action of the 24th Winter Olympics begins this afternoon, kicking off a Games in which 90 countries compete in 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports.

That means there will be over 327 medals up for grabs in Beijing, which will provide individuals with the chance of fulfilling lifelong dreams.

But since its inception as its own Games in 1924, there has been one nation that has stood out among the rest.

Norway are the most successful country to compete at the Winter Olympics, with Norwegian Marit Bjorgen the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time

Bjorgen – a five-time Olympian – has won a staggering 15 medals in cross country

Norway is the outright leader when it comes to most gold medals won and total medals won across 23 Games.

The most successive Winter Olympian is also Norwegian. In fact, the top three solely consists of those from Norway with the majority of the medals coming in cross-country.

Marit Bjorgen – a five-time Olympian – has won a staggering 15 medals since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, picking up a silver medal on her first outing.

Bjorgen would go on to scoop her final four medals at PyeongChang in 2018 before hanging up her skis as the most successful Winter Olympian in history.

Along with Norway, 11 other countries have participated in every Winter Olympic Games - Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States all featuring since 1924.

Canada make the top five in the all-time table, having won 199 medals across 23 Games

Lizzy Yarnold, with consectutive golds in 2014 and 2018, is GB's greatest Winter Olympian

Only six of these countries have won medals at every Games - Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States.

And while Norway have ruled supreme on ice and snow for just under a century, the United States - who lead the way for all-time Summer Olympic medals - are their closest rivals when it comes to both gold medals and overall total.

For gold medals won, Norway are the outright leader with 132, while the US are the only other nation to have reached triple figures – but are still 27 behind the Norwegians.

When taking silver and bronze into account as well, the USA find themselves even further behind – 68 in fact – with Norway in their element every four years when the Winter Games come back around.

As for Great Britain, they've just about cracked the top 20 in the all-time medals table but are still trailing now defunct states and former countries like West Germany and East Germany.

West Germany and East Germany only participated in six Winter Games each, from the 1968 Games in Grenoble through to the Calgary Games in 1988, winning a staggering 149 medals between them – with East Germany collecting the majority of that total. 

There was also the United Team of Germany, which won eight golds, six silvers and five bronze medals across three Games between 1956 and 1964.

There have been 23 Games since 1924 and only 12 nations have participated at every one

And with that being said, if former countries like East Germany and West Germany, as well as the United Team of Germany, combined their totals with Germany's overall total now, they would lead outright with 408 medals – 40 more than Norway's huge collection.

The same can be said for Russia and the Soviet Union. Russia have only competed at six Games, but are still ninth in the overall medals table having racked up a massive 47 golds in that time, and 120 medals in all.

The Soviet Union, meanwhile, featured in 10 different Winter Games and collected 194 medals in that period. If you were to add the Soviert Union's total with Russia's, and other countries that were under that banner (including the likes of Ukraine and Estonia among others), they would be third behind Germany and Norway.

But while some countries are hoarding medals at the top end of the table, there are other nations that are still yet to win gold, or any medal for that matter, despite multiple appearances.

United States' iconic snowboarder Shaun White poses after halfpipe victory in 2018

Were all the iterations of the state to be included, Germany could claim to top the medal table

Romania for example have attended the most Winter Games (21) without winning gold. 

They sit bottom of the all-time medal table with one bronze, which came in the 1968 Games, with the two-man men's bobsleigh team of Nicolae Neagoe and Ion Panturu taking the final podium place behind Italy and Austria. 

Meanwhile, the likes of Greece and Argentina have both attended 19 different Winter Games and are yet to win a medal of any kind.