Alternative medal table

[mp3duck]

I wondered what the current Olympic medal ranking would look like, if adjusted to take into account the number of people in each country...and so I did this...!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq-ys2685NiUdHJVRnBqeGcyU0VyRWlCaE5yZjg4T2c

It's based on the the medal table as it was around 09:30 Saturday, so will not be fully up-to-date for long.

Population figures taken from Google searches ("Population of xxxx")

 

[mp3duck]

This is an interesting idea, but it assumes that having more people in the country increases the chances of medals being won. I would argue that this is not true.

I agree, but still shows another view of the table

 

[mp3duck]

That's quite interesting, however, you should re-jig it so it works out the average gold/million, silver/million, bronze/million as this is how they rank the table, a country could have 50 medals but only 2 gold and so if a country only has 3 golds they would still rank higher.

Good idea, will adjust now

 

[mp3duck]

That's quite interesting, however, you should re-jig it so it works out the average gold/million, silver/million, bronze/million as this is how they rank the table, a country could have 50 medals but only 2 gold and so if a country only has 3 golds they would still rank higher.

Actually, would you not just sort it by Gold/Million THEN Silver/Million THEN Bronze/Million? That's the say they rank the medal table. So, if you're equal on Golds, it then ranks to Silver, and then to Bronze.

In this case, I should only rank against Gold, as there won't be 2 countries who will be equal on the gold/million.

Updated for Golds/Million

 

[mp3duck]

Interesting alternative approach, but as desires said, the ranking gives more weight to Golds than the other medals.

 

[mp3duck]

You were beaten to it -

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:2012

Not on this forum (I hope!)

 

[mp3duck]

I think the reason why China are doing so well now is investment in individual athletes. They spot them at a VERY young age, and from that point onwards, they are moulded into a Gold medal winning athlete. Money is no object there, but some of the training methods are a bit suspect.

One recent example is a Chinese diver who was not told about a grand parents death, and mothers cancer

 

[mp3duck]

The tables need updating! We've got so many medals now, it was always obvious USA and China would tie up 1st and 2nd, but if we get 3rd I think that will be amazing!

Agreed, to come third in the medal table would be an immense performance!