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Grex > Sports > #48: Olympic Medal Counts (NZ style) | |
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srw
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Olympic Medal Counts (NZ style)
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Aug 3 05:49 UTC 1996 |
I enjoy the Olympics without counting medals for each country, but I got into
a discussion over this popular pastime with my friend from NZ. He suggested
that all medal counts be done on a per capita basis.
Is this fair? Should a country with 100 times the population of another
county have 100 times the medal expectation? If you assume so, you can
clearly see that NZ is kicking butt.
Country Pop Gold Silver Bronze Total P/C: Gold Silver Bronze Total
Name (millions) count count count count (per billion population)
------- ---------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
USA 265 36 31 20 87 135 117 75 328
NZ 3.4 3 2 1 6 882 588 294 1764
I will calulate an entry for any other countries you like, as I have
access to all the data required. Just let me know which country you want.
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| 28 responses total. |
bruin
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response 1 of 28:
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Aug 3 12:43 UTC 1996 |
How about Moldova?
BTW, I heard "Papa Joe" Chevalier on the radio the other night complaining
about the New Zealander ahead of him in line at a convenience store saying
to his daughter that there was glass in front of the cashier because "People
get shot in this country doing this job, unlike in New Zealand." Truth hurts,
"Papa Joe," doesn't it?
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srw
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response 2 of 28:
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Aug 4 07:19 UTC 1996 |
Yup. It does hurt.
I added Moldova, India, and the top 10 countries in total medals to the table.
I also updated the medal counts for USA. (NZ is still at 3,2,1), and sorted
by total medals per capita. I can add more countries - just name them.
Country Pop Gold Silver Bronze Total P/C: Gold Silver Bronze Total
Name (millions) count count count count (per billion population)
------- ---------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Australia 18.3 9 9 20 38 492 492 1093 2077
Cuba 10.9 7 7 8 22 642 642 734 2018
NZ 3.4 3 2 1 6 882 588 294 1764
Germany 81 18 16 27 61 222 198 333 753
Canada 28.4 3 10 8 21 106 352 282 739
France 58 15 7 14 36 259 120 241 621
Korea 45 7 13 5 25 156 289 111 556
Italy 58 12 8 11 31 207 138 190 534
Russia 149 26 20 14 60 174 134 93 402
USA 265 42 32 25 99 158 121 94 374
Moldova 4.5 0 0 1 1 0 0 222 222
China 1203 16 22 12 50 13 18 10 42
India 937 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
Kiwis will be disappointed to see that Cuba and especially Australia beat
NZ for total medals per capita. NZ still has it for golds per capita, though.
At least until we find a small enough country with at least one Gold.
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robh
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response 3 of 28:
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Aug 4 20:19 UTC 1996 |
At least we're ahead of Moldova, though. >8)
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lucey
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response 4 of 28:
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Aug 5 21:32 UTC 1996 |
Hmmm...as I recall, Trinidad & Tobago has a medal, as does the Bahamas.
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wfh
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response 5 of 28:
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Aug 6 09:04 UTC 1996 |
Re # 2..... The Kiwi performance isn't too bad, but wasn't up
to expectations at this end. Without Danyon Loader winning the first
ever swimming medal for NZ (and getting two golds to boot), the
results wouldn't have looked quite so impressive. And three of the
medals went to equestrian events too. Err - is that the rider or
the horse who should get the medal, I always wonder?
Hmm is horseback stuff the only animal assisted event in the Olympics?
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doll
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response 6 of 28:
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Aug 6 15:12 UTC 1996 |
when they decide to have a dog show or dog racing, i am moving to jamacia
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srw
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response 7 of 28:
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Aug 8 04:59 UTC 1996 |
I got the final medal counts, but there are an awful lot of countries.
I still don't plan on doing them all. However I made sure that I have all of
the countries that won at least 3 gold medals, and all of the countries with
at least 10 total medals, and all of the countries that you asked for
(thus including Trinidad and Tobago, who did pretty well, thanks to their very
small population, and the Bahamas, who stole the contest with a single silver
medal.
NZ disappointed with a mere 5th place showing, but can console themselves
with the highest per capita Gold medal tally in the world. Nice going.
We can settle for having done better than Great Britain.
We came very close to Romania, Ukraine and Russia in per/capita gold medals.
Missed 'em though. We'll have to wait until 2000.
Country Pop Gold Silver Bronze Total P/C: Gold Silver Bronze Total
Name (millions) count count count count (per billion population)
------- ---------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Bahamas 0.26 0 1 0 0 0 3846 0 3846
Cuba 10.9 9 8 8 25 826 734 734 2294
Australia 18.3 9 9 23 41 492 492 1257 2240
Hungary 10.3 7 4 10 21 680 388 971 2039
NZ 3.4 3 2 1 6 882 588 294 1764
Bulgaria 8.8 3 7 5 15 341 795 568 1705
Trinidad&Tob 1.3 0 0 2 2 0 0 1538 1538
Belarus 10.4 1 6 8 15 96 577 769 1442
Netherlands 15.5 4 5 10 19 258 323 645 1226
Denmark 5.2 4 1 1 6 769 192 192 1154
Ireland 3.6 3 0 1 4 833 0 278 1111
Czech R. 10.4 4 3 4 11 385 288 385 1048
Switzerland 7.1 4 3 0 7 563 423 0 986
Romania 23.2 4 7 9 20 172 301 388 862
Germany 81 20 18 27 65 247 222 333 802
Greece 10.6 4 4 0 8 377 377 0 755
Canada 28.4 3 10 8 21 106 352 282 739
France 58 15 7 15 37 259 120 259 638
Kazakhstan 17.4 3 4 4 11 172 230 230 632
Italy 58 13 10 12 35 224 172 207 603
Korea 45 7 15 5 27 156 333 111 600
Ukraine 52 9 2 12 23 173 38 231 442
Poland 38.8 7 5 5 17 180 129 129 438
Spain 39.4 5 6 6 17 127 152 152 431
Russia 149 26 21 16 63 174 141 107 423
USA 265 44 32 25 101 166 121 94 381
England 58.3 1 8 6 15 17 137 103 257
Moldova 4.5 0 0 1 1 0 0 222 222
Japan 126 3 6 5 14 24 48 40 111
S. Africa 45.1 3 1 1 5 67 22 22 111
Turkey 63.4 4 1 1 6 63 16 16 95
Brazil 161 3 3 9 15 19 19 56 93
China 1203 16 22 12 50 13 18 10 42
India 937 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
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wfh
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response 8 of 28:
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Aug 8 08:30 UTC 1996 |
Well done Steve. And the USA did pretty well too for such a large
country. It will be interesting to compare the figures in four years
when the home country 'advantage' moves down under. Y'all come!
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wfh
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response 9 of 28:
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Aug 11 08:05 UTC 1996 |
Saw the Tongan silver medal winner return to Auckland tonite
to a hero's welcome ( err - saw via TV, like I 'saw' the Olympics. )
So the burning question must be - How did the Republic on Tonga do
(medals per capita) ? (of)
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srw
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response 10 of 28:
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Aug 11 15:55 UTC 1996 |
Hmmm. I get all of my data from the official IBM Olympic Web Site,
and it shows no entry under the name "Tonga" . Nor does it show Fiji.
Do we know what flag this fellow competed under? THere is one silver medal
listed as "Country Unknown". If indeed that is Tonga alone, then they would
ace out the bermudas by earning 1 medal from a population of .1047 Million.
This would be 9551 medals per billion, which would blow everyone else off the
map.
Of course, I would have to see some substantiation of that award before
I would put it in the table. Note that NZ would still reign in the
category of gold medals per capita.
The population of Tonga is smaller than the population of Ann Arbor (FWIW).
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lucey
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response 11 of 28:
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Aug 13 04:50 UTC 1996 |
Yep, its's official. Tonga did get a silver in boxing, giving them the
highest per capita medal total.
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wfh
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response 12 of 28:
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Aug 13 06:29 UTC 1996 |
re #10 I'll haave to have words with IBM about missing out Tonga. No
excuse. On the other hand, it is all confirmation that thoseof us in the South
Pacific - NZ, Tonga, and , err even Australia, are pretty sporty folk? Time
to retire to the couch for a while!
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janus
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response 13 of 28:
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Aug 15 16:14 UTC 1996 |
I sould be extremely grateful if you could deleteI
India from the table. It is irritating to see so many
zeroes in a single row.
With the population we hace it is a shame we can't win
a single gold medal
The lone medal came from a Tennis Star
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srw
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response 14 of 28:
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Aug 17 18:15 UTC 1996 |
It is not meant as an insult, or to irritate you.
I think it would be improper to delete it, though.
The issue of India's olympic efforts is a complex one. Yes, your famous tennis
player won that medal. I think that is something to be proud of.
India has fielded an Olypic team for a long time now, and regularly does not
win many medals. I think there are some valid reasons for this, which
do not get reflected in such tables.
India's relatively poor showing compared to the rest of the world was discussed
in a news story I heard on the radio (NPR) before the olypics. I no longer
remember well many of the points made, but one I do remember is that the
emphasis on sports is not as great in India, as in many other places.
This is partially a cultural bias, and there is nothing wrong wth culture.
Indians instead tend to spend more time on academic pursuits, and this is
very much to their credit.
I know that the question of Olympic participation is discussed in India,
and I give the country a lot of credit for sending competitiors, whether they
win or not. India has a very large population, but a large percentage are too
mired in poverty to be able to worry about athletics. If the economic
situation improves, and if India is able to make some of this wealth of
humanity more productive, there is much to hope for.
This table does have the property of making India look especially bad.
I posted it so that we would get a slightly different look at the medals,
and it shows the USA much more poorly than the conventional count.
And in part to humor my friend Bill in NZ.
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janus
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response 15 of 28:
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Aug 18 15:00 UTC 1996 |
whoa! That was a good piece of logic. I full y agree with u that
over here academics is given more priority than sports. But hre the
beaurocratic red tape is such thatany reason we give regarding failures
mostly do not hold water. There is a joke in India. Whenever we
send
a
contingent to olympics invariably the no. of officials accompanying
the atheletes are always more. Here the athelets ar also shabbily trated.
It is difficult to get them motivated just for the flag.
Anyway the other thing I am surprised at is, ur knowledge. U seem
to know more about India than me. Knowledge is power I guess.
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srw
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response 16 of 28:
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Aug 19 02:28 UTC 1996 |
I may have a lot of misinformation, too. Please enlighten me. I isten to the
radio a lot. NPR is "National Public Radio" which often does stories on
international themes. They are also often criticized for being left-leaning.
But leaning to the left in the US is probably very different than leaning to
the left in India.
I am fascinated by India, and have learned a lot about it because of some
friends I made at a software company in Bangalore, and because of the recent
influx of Indian users on Grex.
We should probably talk about India somewhere else, lilke maybe the
world-events conference (j world), and leave this item for rehashing old
olympics results, like why New Zealand allowed the Aussie's to beat them in
the per capita standings.
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wfh
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response 17 of 28:
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Aug 19 07:24 UTC 1996 |
New Zealander's blame Aussie succes on the Australian Sports
Institute which provides a professional income and also training
and other support for many of their sportspeople.
Australia is really gearing up for the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000.
And their Sports Institute funding has been greatly increased.
But they did really well, none the less, at Atlanta. That is hard
for a Kiwi to say out loud. We did smash them at rugby
this year though. Now that _is_ a gold medal sport for NZ!
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srw
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response 18 of 28:
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Aug 20 16:46 UTC 1996 |
So are the Kiwis lobbying to get it into the Olympics? I would watch.
There are enough club teams in the US to field a national team, but we'd
probably get chewed to peieces by the Kiwi All-Black machine.
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wfh
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response 19 of 28:
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Aug 22 13:22 UTC 1996 |
re #18 is a topic we should stay away from. I feel strongly that (most)
team games should not be in the olympics. Cricket and the various forms of
rugby definitely shouldn't be in the olympics and I hope gridiron football and
baseball never get there. Most
I guess I would relent a little on some of the more non-professional sports.
But with a cricket world cup, a rugby world cup, a baseball world series
and soccer's world cup - I don't see any reason for them to be
in the Olympics too. My opinion, of course. :-)
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srw
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response 20 of 28:
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Aug 25 05:19 UTC 1996 |
Actually, I mostly agree with you, Bill. I was being a bit sarcastic.
Not entirely, though. I do love olympic soccer, vball, water polo,
and especially ice hockey in Winter even though both soccer and hockey
have world cup events, too.
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mwarner
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response 21 of 28:
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Oct 2 17:06 UTC 1996 |
The "per capita" look at relative medal strength is very interesting. A
more revealing statistic would be relative comparisons of olympic
organizations, both in terms of percentage of general populations
"participating" and in terms of size of each group. This would consider
both the upper limit of participants (total population) and the actual
participant groups. Germany with less than 10% of the population of India
may in fact have a rate of real participation easily 10 (100?) times that
of India, for example. Then again, it only would take one dual
citizenship medal winner in a small country to skew the results and
highlight the effect of cherry picking participants. Aren't a significant
number of the U.S. Men's basketball athletes immigrants? Hmmm... ;)
"There are only two kinds of statistics...."
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srw
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response 22 of 28:
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Oct 5 17:56 UTC 1996 |
Well, I could easily get the population data to compute the per capita counts,
but if you have all the data to analyze it a different way, it's time to break
out the spreadsheet.
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mwarner
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response 23 of 28:
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Nov 14 20:36 UTC 1996 |
I think I'll just wait for the WInter Olympics to roll around so I can
once again root for "tiny Lichenstien".
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srw
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response 24 of 28:
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Nov 15 06:52 UTC 1996 |
I think it is just a little of a year away. I will be ready with the
population data and spreadsheet. it should be fun.
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