August 13, 2012
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who won the olympics?
The glorious show is over. In London the celebrations are ending, suitcases are being packed, and hangovers are being treated. So who came up the winner?
- Usain Bolt
- Michael Phelps
- Claressa Shields
- Kirani James
- NBC
- London
- The Caribbean
- Jamaica
- Grenada
- None of the above
- All of the above
It is time to indulge in the quadrennial calculation Medals per Million.
My answer the multiple choice question is 9. Grenada, and here is why. First, a simple medals count (diagram) does not tell the whole story. China had 88 medals this year, and Jamaica 12, but nothing in these numbers hints that Jamaica's performance was phenomenal, or that China's was rather poor.
So we need to look at population too. There are plenty of resources on the internet.
Merging the two tables (this is done in a spreadsheet) is only slightly tricky, because not all of the teams are countries. So we need to look up the populations of Hong Kong and Puerto Rico too.
Calculation: we insert the formula
- Medals per Million = 1000000 * total / population
and sort on this number. Medals per Million is shown in column G.
(a similar calculation can be made for Gold Medals per million.)
Jamaica appears near the top of the list, as expected. But in first place, ahead of Jamaica, is tiny Grenada, with its one gold medal. The small Caribbean island (pop 108,419) had never had an Olympic medalist in any event until this year when Kirani James, a 19-year-old nicknamed the Jaguar, who once starred for the University of Alabama, won the 400 meter race, and crossed the finish line all alone in 43.94 seconds.
Kirani James
EDIT: I found this article ( LINK ) that also compares
- Weighted Medal Count
- Most medals relative to size of GDP
- Most medals won per athlete
- Most medals relative to size of population
Enjoy.
Comments (51)
Jesus
@godfatherofgreenbay - I cannot argue with that. Okay, Jesus won the olympics.
I'll go with Croatia. Not being patriotic here or anything. It's a well known fact that Croatians win the Olympics. Plus I am a Croatian myself
Go Croatia!!!
@KnightInCROATIANarmor - Right. We must never be guilty of patriotism.
David Rudisha, he only broke the 800m world record.
Mo Farah, he only snatched the 10000m & 5000m gold from the Kenyans
@JoeytheGenie - YOU'RE RIGHT. Everybody has an opinion here, and every opinion is right. I think.
i always wonder how jamaica produce its runners... is there any wild beast there that keep chasing people that they are so good with running or something?
@maniacsicko - Yes, I think it's called Scotch Bonnet pepper.
Kirani James is one of my favorite athletes in this Olympics. Love how humble he is (stayed in his original village even though he could afford to live somewhere else) and his sportsmanship praising Pistorious. But really...10-20 years from now...when people think back on the 2012 Olympics...they are going to talk about Bolt first...along with a few others. (Phelps becoming most winning Olympian (though 2008 was the real Phelps Olympics)...even Pistorious himself might be remembered longer than James as the first double amputee Olympian.) But yeah...personally, really like Kirani James. (Also...I think I'll always remember Missy Franklin....not only for her dominant performances....but that damn "Call Me Maybe" song has been stuck in my head since I watched the swim team did that youtube video)
@wizexel22 - I like those choices. And let's not forget Claressa Shields, my neighbor and the hero of Flint, MI.
@we_deny_everything - Amen to that!
@we_deny_everything - Yes, I forgot Claressa Shields! (Wow, cool that she's your neighbor). I just really like the Olympics (surprisingly, I know tons of hardcore sports fans...that just don't seem to be that into the Olympics.). Lots of memories...Phelps/Lochte/Frankin, US women sprinters, US women gymnasts, Rushida (dude that broke 800m), the Uganda marathon winner, etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting more... but if I have to think of only one name in 2012. its gotta be Usain Bolt. Not only the first to sweep the sprints in 08 and 12...but more about HOW dominant he was. Its crazy how dominant he was against extremely good competition. How easily he beat Gatlin, Gay, and Blake who is basically the 2nd fastest man ever now. How he easily won the relay...even though the US matched the WR time. Just ridiculous.
My country won it's first medal ever this year too ^-^
@xXxlovelylollipop - Congratulations. I notice most of the Latin American countries -- Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay -- did not even have a team. Isn't that strange.
I deny this result
@IntoTheWind1 - And yet -- you're too shy to correct me.
that's deniable.
(population has nothing to do with who won, unless the entire population competes. Michael Phelps wasn't swimming against jun Tao Sho-Lin the rice farmer from Funjian province, so Sho-Lin has no bearing on the discussion)
'Murrica, ftw, bitches.
@IntoTheWind1 - Michael Phelps gets more tail than anybody in London. Therefore Phelps wins. Is that your criterion?
I'm a virgin. Tail is a derogatory word that is demeaning to women, and has no place in my summation.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
@we_deny_everything - not really rare, sports isn't first priority down here, you know we have real struggles to worry about
also I think they do have teams just not in the most famous sports, for instance our medal was in a 20 km walking race O.o
@IntoTheWind1 - I feel deeply ashamed, yes. I understand Phelps isn't busy now that he's quit competitive swimming. I think you should hang out with him and get some of the surplus tail. Just a thought.
@xXxlovelylollipop - Again congratulations. Anyone who can race walk for 20 km deserves a lot of credit.
I kan haz da whimmenz den?!
Hey, btw, tell the doc I said good job. That adam's apple he gave you looks real!
I think whoever won a medal...WON the end. JK that was just me not really caring who came out on top!
@faleeshab - Fair enough. I just realized some visitors want to insist it was TEAM USA. You're not one of them.
idk who really won the olympics but while UK started strong with the rowan atkinson act- it quickly went downhill from there to never recover.
did you notice how if rather than medals per million you go by medals per hundred million the value of that one gold medal gets even more inflated?
my point is that your model uses an inflation rate which is kinda discriminatory. just because someone goes to the olympics doesn't mean they go representing a country or even a physical territory. generally they are (and i can't think of an exception) but i'm pretty sure it isn't a requirement.
i think a more valid measurement would be number of gold medals relative to %GPD (and/or) GDP invested in the person's health and training. because regardless of the nationality of the person they are the best athletes of the best. so what matters more in my opinion isn't how large an ethnic population they come from but rather the degree they got there on their own.
my point is that being an athlete of that caliber would depend tremendously on nutrition, and training, and if the nation didn't actually have the resources to have the athlete train with complete dedication they should be granted more credit than those with a team of nutritionists and muscle sculptors.
at another level, it might be beneficial to also take into consideration statistical outliers so a country which consistently placed well would be valued higher than a small single medal country.
idk... at the same time, grenada is about twice the size my town.
@lenybobsyouruncle - Yeah, investment. I don't happen to have these numbers. But you should feel free to acquire them and publish your results. Be careful though, because many of the best international athletes train in the USA.
You want to diminish the ranking of those unexpected wins by small countries? I believe most people would want to increase them.
Your rate inflation idea is nonsense. It doesn't change the rankings.
Yay, Grenada, for getting their first medal. I also love when teams win their first medals in a particular sport, like Great Britain getting their first gymnastics medal in 100 years. You could tell how happy they were even when they got bumped to bronze.
Number of world records broken would definitely factor into my opinion of who really won.
@reginasikora - It was probably a dumb question. Who can really answer it?
We look back in history at the performance of a charismatic figure, thus the Jesse Owens olympics or the Jim Thorpe olympics or Carl Lewis or Nadia Komenich. Maybe the real winner this time is Usain Bolt.
@we_deny_everything - It's a great question because the answer is not as simple as many people think. You can also consider things like political turmoil in a given country (or other "against-the-odds" factors), overall health of the population, and the list goes on and on. Just goes to show all the different ways of measuring athletic success, as well as what the Olympics mean to different people.
Your analyzing mind is so... Sexy.
I'll go with Croatia too.
@BoulderChristina - God knows I try. btw do you think Dog Dressage will ever be an event?
@RestlessButterfly - I know you are a big discus fan.
@we_deny_everything - Maybe I should training for discus throwing... that way easy to throw plates and dishes at people when I get mad at them
Right, @KnightInCROATIANarmor?
According to my sister, the entire Olympics was about "that hottie" Lochte. *facepalm*
Personally, I really wasn't too concerned about who came on top. But Kirani is a cool guy
@firetyger - Lochte is a huge douche -- and that's fine. A lot of women like crude guys.
@RestlessButterfly - Yes, so very true. I think you'd make a great discus thrower
@KnightInCROATIANarmor - Or plates @ dishes thrower.
@RestlessButterfly - Yes, although you don't have to train at discus throwing to be good thrower of plates and other dishes
Frizbie will do just fine 
@KnightInCROATIANarmor -
@RestlessButterfly -
@RestlessButterfly - Hilarious! Xcite_Media mentioned me in a pulse. Did you see it? She blocked me months ago, so I couldn't "lurk" there if I wanted to. Which I don't, of course.
@we_deny_everything - She blocked me too, I think. I didn't see/read the PULSE, actually I do my best to stay way from their pages.
He is working on a comeback, however, he is still in the doghouse.
C'mon, it kills you to admit that we're number one. Personally, though, I think the country's tag devalues the individual's performance...... Oh, I need to show you my gold from the Drinking Games. It's not well-known as I represented Ireland. Would you believe I won four years in a row? Ah, memories...
@Kellsbella - Did China "win" in Beijing 2008? I do not know, probably not. Anyway, good work with the roast corn and the cabin and the privvy. That was entertaining.
@we_deny_everything - I came across this clip that I really dig, and you made me think on it. I really wish someone would put together this kind of thing for the USA girls...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3w3ZeI-RP8
So cool....
Well done Granada.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - Here's an idea. You don't like my blog -- or what you think my blog represents. Why not simply GTFO?
@we_deny_everything - I guess the way I look at and have Always looked at it, is for 2 weeks every 4 years the world comes together to compete and ANYBODY who wins any kind of medal, I don't care what country it is, deserves to be recognized and able to say I Won. Its an amazing feat. Am I proud of the USA winners of course...go USA, but all of them deserve that recognition. Who cares who came out on top...the olympics and what it is and how everyone conducts themselves during that time is amazing!
Comments are closed.