IELTS Academic Writing Task 1/ Graph Writing – Table:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The table below shows the number of medals won by the top ten countries in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
You should write at least 150 words.
2016 Rio Olympic Games Medal Table
Model Answer 1:
The table presents the number of medals won by the top ten nations in the 2016 Rio Olympics, broken down into gold, silver, bronze, and total counts.
Overall, the United States dominated the medal tally, more than doubling the total of the runner-up country, while the bottom half of the top ten shared comparatively modest totals.
In detail, the U.S. secured 121 medals in total, including 46 gold, 37 silver, and 38 bronze, more than any other country. Great Britain followed second with 67 medals (27 gold, 23 silver, 17 bronze), while China came in third, having won 70 medals (26 gold, 18 silver, 26 bronze). Russia, Germany, Japan, and France occupied the next four places, each earning between 40 and 56 medals. The final three countries in the top ten were South Korea, Italy, and Australia, and each of them won fewer than 30 medals. South Korea and Italy both took home 28 medals, with Italy’s higher silver count giving it the edge, while Australia earned 29 medals, though fewer golds than both.
Sample Answer 2:
The table lists the top ten countries in the Rio Olympic Games 2016, and shows the number of medals these countries won in the competition. As can be seen, the United States held the top position by winning 121 medals, among which 46 were gold medals.
As the illustration outlines, the US won 121 trophies in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and this number was almost double that of the reward attained by the second-best team, the UK. American athletes achieved 45 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze medals, while these numbers were 27, 23 and 17, respectively, for the UK athletes. Despite winning 3 more medals than Great Britain, China attained the third position, as their gold and silver medal-winning competitors were fewer than those of Great Britain. Russia, Germany, Japan and France consecutively helped from 4th to 7th position, and their total medal were between 40 to 56. Russia and Germany gained 19 and 17 gold medals, while Japan and France secured 12 and 10 of them.
The last three countries on this list are Korea, Italy and Australia, with fewer than 30 medals, among which 8-9 were gold medals. The number of medals won by Australia was 29, one higher than that of Italy, but 12 silver medals pushed Italy higher on the list. It is interesting to note that the top three countries in this list cumulatively won more medals than the rest of the countries did in this tournament.