007 For the Love of Olympics – For the Love of Data

Fun Fact: The main riff in NBC’s Olympic them is from Bugler’s Dream (1958) by Leo Arnaud.

History

Most believe games started in 776 BC as part of a religious festival in Greece to honor Zeus; however, some evidence suggests it could have started as early as the 10th century BC
The stadion race was the first event, a 600 foot race. This may have been the only event for the first 13 Olympics
They occurred every four years for twelve centuries, until 396 AD; then there was a break in games until 1896

How to Qualify for the Olympics

Individual:
- For each gender, up to three people per country can attend if they meet the entry standard
- For each gender, one person per country can attend if no one meets the standard
Team: Each country may send one team that meets the entry standard
Slightly more complicated criteria for relays and marathon – generally involving your finish in various qualifying events

Fun Fact: The marathon was not added until 1896 in Athens and was standardized at 26.2 miles in the 1908 London games because that was the distance between Windsor Castle and White City Stadium.

Cost of the Games

Many people feel the Olympics are a terrible investment for the host country. Rio’s estimated cost was $3bn, but it is projected to be at least 50% over budget at approximately $4.6bn.

Metric	Value
BRL / month	1972
BRD to USD	0.31
USD / month	611.32
USD / year	7335.84
Estimated cost of games	4600000000
Cost in # of yearly salaries	627058.39
Population	209567920
Cost in % of population	0.002992

Sochi is the most expensive so far, but Summer games are typically more expensive than Winter.

Fun Fact: The first Winter games were in 1924 (Chamonix).

Who are the Athletes?

Country Rankings

Country	Population	Athletes	Rank by # of Athletes
United States	324118787	563	1
Brazil	209567920	483	2
Germany	80682351	440	3
Australia	24309330	428	4
France	64668129	408	5
United Kingdom (Great Britain)	65111143	372	6
China	1382323332	352	7
Canada	36286378	320	8
Japan	126323715	312	9
Spain	46064604	312	10

Country	Population	Athletes	Rank by Population
China	1382323332	352	1
India	1326801576	123	2
United States	324118787	563	3
Indonesia	260581100	28	4
Brazil	209567920	483	5
Pakistan	192826502	7	6
Nigeria	186987563	77	7
Bangladesh	162910864	7	8
Russian Federation	143439832	283	9
Mexico	128632004	125	10

Country	Population	Athletes	Rank Per Capita
Republic of the Cook Islands*	20948	9	1
Palau	21501	5	2
Nauru	10263	2	3
San Marino	31950	5	4
British Virgin Islands*	30659	4	5
Bermuda*	61662	8	6
Saint Kitts and Nevis	56183	7	7
Seychelles	97026	10	8
Tuvalu	9943	1	9
Antigua and Barbuda	92738	9	10

Fun Fact: The flame started at the 1928 Amsterdam games.

Gender & Age Breakdown

Who are the Oldest and Youngest of All Time?

Category	Male	Female
Oldest Competitor	Oscar Swahn (Sweden) Age 72 1920, Shooting	Lorna Johnstone (UK) Age 70 1972, Equestrian
Oldest Gold Medalist	Oscar Swahn (Sweden) Age 64 1912, Shooting	Lida "Eliza" Pollock (USA) Age 63 1904, Team Archery (Bronze)
Oldest Medalist	Oscar Swahn (Sweden) Age 72 1920, Shooting (Silver)	Lida "Eliza" Pollock (USA) Age 63 1904, Archery (Bronze)
Youngest Gold Medalist	Klaus Zerta (Germany) Age 13 1960, Rowing	Donna Elizabeth de Varona (USA) Age 13 1960, Swimming - Team
Youngest Medalist	Dimitrios Loundras (Greece) Age 10 1896, Gymnastics - Team (Bronze)	Luigina Giavotti (Italy) Age 11 1928, Gymnastics - Team (Silver)

Fun Fact: Boxing and wrestling were added in 708 BC and 688 BC respectively.

A Look at the Medals

Summer Medal Values & Rewards

Gold: $600 (The gold medal consist of just 1% of actual gold, 92.5% silver and 6.16% copper).
Silver: $325 (While in silver medal, the gold is replaced by more copper, the rest of the material is the same like gold medal)
Bronze: $3 (Bronze medal however is 97% copper and 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin)

Who are the Big Winners at Rio 2016?

Total Medals

Italy and Canada had a strong showing in total medals, but fell off in gold medals
Top 10 controlled almost 60% of total medals

Country	Total Medals	% of Total Medals	Running Total	Rank
United States	121	0.12422997946612	0.12422997946612	1
China	70	0.071868583162218	0.19609856262834	2
United Kingdom (Great Britain)	67	0.068788501026694	0.26488706365503	3
Russian Federation	56	0.057494866529774	0.3223819301848	4
Germany	42	0.043121149897331	0.36550308008214	5
France	42	0.043121149897331	0.40862422997947	5
Japan	41	0.042094455852156	0.45071868583162	6
Australia	29	0.029774127310062	0.48049281314168	7
Italy	28	0.028747433264887	0.50924024640657	8
Canada	22	0.02258726899384	0.53182751540041	9
Korea, South	21	0.021560574948665	0.55338809034908	10

Fun Fact: If Texas were a country, it would rank 8th for # of medals in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Total Gold

Brazil and Argentina won many golds, but few others
Top 10 controlled 70% of total golds

Country	Gold	% of Gold Medals	Running Total	Rank
United States	46	0.14983713355049	0.14983713355049	1
United Kingdom (Great Britain)	27	0.087947882736156	0.23778501628664	2
China	26	0.084690553745928	0.32247557003257	3
Russian Federation	19	0.061889250814332	0.38436482084691	4
Germany	17	0.055374592833876	0.43973941368078	5
Japan	12	0.039087947882736	0.47882736156352	6
France	10	0.03257328990228	0.5114006514658	7
Korea, South	9	0.029315960912052	0.54071661237785	8
Netherlands	8	0.026058631921824	0.56677524429967	9
Australia	8	0.026058631921824	0.5928338762215	9
Hungary	8	0.026058631921824	0.61889250814332	9
Italy	8	0.026058631921824	0.64495114006515	9
Brazil	7	0.022801302931596	0.66775244299674	10
Spain	7	0.022801302931596	0.69055374592834	10

Percentage of Medal Type by Country

Six countries won nothing but Gold
Fiji and Argentina dominated in Golds as a % of total medals

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total Medals
Puerto Rico*	1	0	0	1
Singapore	1	0	0	1
Tajikistan	1	0	0	1
Kosovo	1	0	0	1
Jordan	1	0	0	1
Fiji	1	0	0	1
Argentina	0.75	0.25	0	4
Jamaica	0.54545454545455	0.27272727272727	0.18181818181818	11
Hungary	0.53333333333333	0.2	0.26666666666667	15
Croatia	0.5	0.3	0.2	10
Greece	0.5	0.16666666666667	0.33333333333333	6
Slovakia	0.5	0.5	0	4
Bahrain	0.5	0.5	0	2
Vietnam	0.5	0.5	0	2
Independent Olympic Athletes	0.5	0	0.5	2
Cote d'Ivoire	0.5	0	0.5	2
The Bahamas	0.5	0	0.5	2

Fun Fact: Swimming was added as an event in 1896 (freestyle); backstroke was added in 1904.

Michael Phelps

32nd among 205 currently competing countries as far as most medals won
28 total medals – 23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze
13 individual medals puts him ahead of Leonidas of Rhodes – sprinter form 152BC
50 miles swam per week in prep for 2008 Olympics; 12,000 calories consumed each day
If Katie Ledecky maintained her current medal pace, she’d be 39 before she tied Phelps
He hasn’t won bronze since 2004

Popularity of Events

Swimming, Track and Field, Gymnastics, and Soccer are the most popular sports for people to watch. 538 did an interesting comparison in the 2012 Olympics to come up with a medal multiplier based on number of events vs. number of viewers. The US, China, and Russia dominate on an adjusted medal count.

See the chart below (again based on London 2012). Sailing, for instance, has a lot of events but not much viewership, so it gets a reduction. Soccer, however, has only a few events but a large amount of viewers, so it’s multiplier is very high.

Growth – Interest in the Olympics, number of events, number of competitors, and costs are all going up. On a per capita basis, it hasn’t been this hard to win a medal since 1896.

Sources

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