Evaluating the (Your Country Here) Olympic Medal Count Research Completed

Title

Evaluating the (Your Country Here) Olympic Medal Count

Lead Author

Stephen Seiler

Organisation(s)

Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

Publication Year

2013

Publisher

Human Kinetics Inc

Contacts

Stephen Seiler

email: stephen.seiler@uia.no

Abstract

An Olympic Games is a measurable test of a nation´s sporting power. Medal counts are the object of intense scrutiny after every Olympiad. Most countries celebrate any medal with national glee, since 60% of competing countries will win none. In 2012, 10% of the competing countries won 75% of all medals. Despite this concentration among a few countries, more countries are winning more medals now than 20 years ago, thanks in part to athlete-support and -development programs arising around the globe. Small strong sporting countries like Norway are typified by fairly large variation in medal results from Olympiad to Olympiad and a high concentration of results in a few sports. These are important factors to consider when evaluating national performance and interpreting the medal count. Medal conversion, podium placements relative to top 8 placements, may provide a measure of the competitiveness of athlete-support programs in this international zero sum game where the cost of winning Olympic gold keeps rising whether measured in dollars or human capital.

Keywords:

Elite athletes, Performance analysis, Athlete support, Talent development

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1860

Added

July 25, 2013

Last Modified

July 25, 2013