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.

MetricValue
BRL / month1972
BRD to USD0.31
USD / month611.32
USD / year7335.84
Estimated cost of games4600000000
Cost in # of yearly salaries627058.39
Population209567920
Cost in % of population0.002992

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

Cost line graph Olympic games

Cost table for historic games


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


Who are the Athletes?

Country Rankings

CountryPopulation AthletesRank by # of Athletes
United States3241187875631
Brazil2095679204832
Germany806823514403
Australia243093304284
France646681294085
United Kingdom (Great Britain)651111433726
China13823233323527
Canada362863783208
Japan1263237153129
Spain4606460431210
CountryPopulation AthletesRank by Population
China13823233323521
India13268015761232
United States3241187875633
Indonesia260581100284
Brazil2095679204835
Pakistan19282650276
Nigeria186987563777
Bangladesh16291086478
Russian Federation1434398322839
Mexico12863200412510
CountryPopulation AthletesRank Per Capita
Republic of the Cook Islands*2094891
Palau2150152
Nauru1026323
San Marino3195054
British Virgin Islands*3065945
Bermuda*6166286
Saint Kitts and Nevis5618377
Seychelles97026108
Tuvalu994319
Antigua and Barbuda92738910

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


Gender & Age Breakdown

Men vs. Women Pie Chart

Gender by Age bar chart

Oldest / Youngest by Avg. Age

Who are the Oldest and Youngest of All Time?

CategoryMaleFemale
Oldest CompetitorOscar Swahn (Sweden)
Age 72
1920, Shooting
Lorna Johnstone (UK)
Age 70
1972, Equestrian
Oldest Gold MedalistOscar Swahn (Sweden)
Age 64
1912, Shooting
Lida "Eliza" Pollock (USA)
Age 63
1904, Team Archery (Bronze)
Oldest MedalistOscar Swahn (Sweden)
Age 72
1920, Shooting (Silver)
Lida "Eliza" Pollock (USA)
Age 63
1904, Archery (Bronze)
Youngest Gold MedalistKlaus Zerta (Germany)
Age 13
1960, Rowing
Donna Elizabeth de Varona (USA)
Age 13
1960, Swimming - Team
Youngest MedalistDimitrios 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)

CNN bar graph - who pays for the gold

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
CountryTotal Medals % of Total MedalsRunning TotalRank
United States1210.124229979466120.124229979466121
China700.0718685831622180.196098562628342
United Kingdom (Great Britain)670.0687885010266940.264887063655033
Russian Federation560.0574948665297740.32238193018484
Germany420.0431211498973310.365503080082145
France420.0431211498973310.408624229979475
Japan410.0420944558521560.450718685831626
Australia290.0297741273100620.480492813141687
Italy280.0287474332648870.509240246406578
Canada220.022587268993840.531827515400419
Korea, South210.0215605749486650.5533880903490810

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
CountryGold % of Gold MedalsRunning TotalRank
United States460.149837133550490.149837133550491
United Kingdom (Great Britain)270.0879478827361560.237785016286642
China260.0846905537459280.322475570032573
Russian Federation190.0618892508143320.384364820846914
Germany170.0553745928338760.439739413680785
Japan120.0390879478827360.478827361563526
France100.032573289902280.51140065146587
Korea, South90.0293159609120520.540716612377858
Netherlands80.0260586319218240.566775244299679
Australia80.0260586319218240.59283387622159
Hungary80.0260586319218240.618892508143329
Italy80.0260586319218240.644951140065159
Brazil70.0228013029315960.6677524429967410
Spain70.0228013029315960.6905537459283410

Percentage of Medal Type by Country

  • Six countries won nothing but Gold
  • Fiji and Argentina dominated in Golds as a % of total medals
CountryGold Silver Bronze Total Medals
Puerto Rico*1001
Singapore1001
Tajikistan1001
Kosovo1001
Jordan1001
Fiji1001
Argentina0.750.2504
Jamaica0.545454545454550.272727272727270.1818181818181811
Hungary0.533333333333330.20.2666666666666715
Croatia0.50.30.210
Greece0.50.166666666666670.333333333333336
Slovakia0.50.504
Bahrain0.50.502
Vietnam0.50.502
Independent Olympic Athletes0.500.52
Cote d'Ivoire0.500.52
The Bahamas0.500.52

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.

538 Medal Multiplier

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.

E007-538-gold-per-capita

Sources

  1. http://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicorigins.shtml
  2. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/11/487838010/what-team-usa-looks-like-a-by-the-numbers-look-at-america-s-olympic-athletes?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news
  3. https://github.com/flother/rio2016
  4. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/14/489832779/if-michael-phelps-were-a-country-where-would-his-gold-medal-tally-rank
  5. http://www.foxsports.com/olympics/gallery/28-incredible-facts-about-michael-phelps-28-olympic-medals-23-golds-count-how-many-081316
  6. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/http://olympstats.com/
  7. http://olympstats.com/
  8. http://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/oldest-youngest.htm
  9. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/winning-an-olympic-gold-medal-hasnt-been-this-difficult-since-1896/
  10. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-countries-medal-in-the-sports-that-people-care-about/
  11. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hosting-the-olympics-is-a-terrible-investment/
  12. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1607/1607.04484.pdf
  13. http://www.chron.com/olympics/article/Where-Texas-would-rank-in-Olympic-medal-count-if-9176024.php
  14. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/brazil/wages
  15. https://www.google.com/?ion=1&espv=2#q=brl%20to%20usd
  16. http://www.totalsportek.com/news/olympic-gold-medal-prize-money/
  17. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/19/sport/olympic-rewards-by-country/
  18. https://www.olympic.org/swimming-equipment-and-history
  19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Qualification#Qualifying_standards