Have you ever heard of San Marino? It’s located near the Adriatic Sea, and it is a micro-state located in the middle of Italy.
They got their start in the Olympics in 1960, with nine citizens competing. All of those who competed in the 1960 Olympics were men and were likely either a cyclist or a shooter.
Unfortunately, nobody from San Marino won an Olympic medal during the 1960 games. They continued to try, however, and have been in 23 games since that time.
According to a report from Insider, the streak has finally been broken. Alessandra Perilli is a 33-year-old trap shooter from that country who scored 29 points in a trap shooting competition. She was able to earn a bronze medal, the first-ever earned for their country.
This is not the first time that Perilli did well in the Olympics. Back in 2012 at the London games, she was able to finish in second place but two other shooters also finished with the same score. They both did better with her in the tiebreaker, so she came in fourth.
Although it is interesting when any country finally breaks a streak and wins an Olympic medal, it is especially important for San Marino. Out of all the countries that have ever won an Olympic medal, they are the smallest by population.
There are only 33,860 residents, which is a little less than Liechtenstein, which comes in second place. Liechtenstein, however, has already won 10 medals.
Interestingly, Bermuda is the smallest country by land size that has earned an Olympic medal. They are a few square miles smaller than San Marino, which is almost 24 square miles in size.