Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

[Kepler]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

My boy is in Arizona, he doesn't say good things so far. He has been in Tucson, Yuma, and in a week He'll be in Phoenix.

Well, Yuma is hell and Phoenix is a 600-square mile strip mall, so I get that. Tucson north of Speedway is San Miguel de Allende-level beautiful. Tucson south of Speedway is Naucalpan de Juárez-level ugly.

We're going to buy in Prescott, which is quiet and pretty.

[walrus]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Well, Yuma is hell and Phoenix is a 600-square mile strip mall, so I get that. Tucson north of Speedway is San Miguel de Allende-level beautiful. Tucson south of Speedway is Naucalpan de Juárez-level ugly.

We're going to buy in Prescott, which is quiet and pretty.

Prescott looks nice but as far as heat goes Tucson wasn't any better than Yuma when he was there. he couldn't fly during the day as the plane would over heat sitting on the tarmac during the engine run up I'd take that over January though

[PrezdeJohnson09]

The medal per team size needs to be adjusted for the events that have a team. For the 22 members of a soccer team, there's only one medal available.

The US only had one team event that was not represented- men's soccer. All other teams were there- really- to capture 2 BB medals, 24 members; 24 for 2 Ruby 7, 41 for 10 rowing, 18 for one football, 16 for one field hockey, etc. Just the big field events- the US had 82 athletes all who can only get 6 medals among them all.

Then there needs adjustments for the team + individual sports- there's a team gymnastics- so one medal per 6 (or so), as well as overall, and THEN per event. Or the various relay medals.

The US did not have men's field hockey or women's or men's handball.

[alfablue]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

The US did not have men's field hockey or women's or men's handball.

Thanks for the correction. But the point was there were a lot of players that collectively could get one medal. Fiji's one gold that took a lot of players should be equal to Puerto Rico's one gold from one player. So the numbers need to be normalized somehow.

It's different when you get 3 in a sport that all three can get a medal at the same time.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Thanks for the correction. But the point was there were a lot of players that collectively could get one medal. Fiji's one gold that took a lot of players should be equal to Puerto Rico's one gold from one player. So the numbers need to be normalized somehow.

It's different when you get 3 in a sport that all three can get a medal at the same time.

Not to mention, some sports don't even allow you to have three in a sport. Swimming for instance, a rule that was passed for 1984 because many events were being swept by Americans. So, long before everyone gets a trophy culture, the swimming federation passed the "everyone gets a trophy" rule... It always blew my mind that the third best person in an event could be sitting at home while the fourth best person in said event wins the bronze medal.

This is all why the entire medals count is the most useless "scoreboard" in the history of sports.

[St. Clown]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Thanks for the correction. But the point was there were a lot of players that collectively could get one medal. Fiji's one gold that took a lot of players should be equal to Puerto Rico's one gold from one player. So the numbers need to be normalized somehow.

It's different when you get 3 in a sport that all three can get a medal at the same time.

Sure, you stop comparing the athlete counts and start comparing team counts (or unit counts, if you want to avoid terminological confusion). In this case, an individual competitor would be a unit, and in the case of swimming or gymnastics the teams of four (last year of five-person teams for gymnastics) would also be a unit. If the team of four has different athletes for different events - as in three of the four swimmers in a medley are the same throughout all events while two different swimmers make up that fourth spot, you have two units counted.

[alfablue]

Re: Olympic Spoiler Thread - You've Been Warned.

Sure, you stop comparing the athlete counts and start comparing team counts (or unit counts, if you want to avoid terminological confusion). In this case, an individual competitor would be a unit, and in the case of swimming or gymnastics the teams of four (last year of five-person teams for gymnastics) would also be a unit. If the team of four has different athletes for different events - as in three of the four swimmers in a medley are the same throughout all events while two different swimmers make up that fourth spot, you have two units counted.

There is actually a good google doc that has all of that data- if the news ever wants to actually do an even analysis like that. It lists each country, each sport, and the number of athletes for that sport, as well as the numbers for each medal.

Where I see it getting a little more complicated- athletes who are competing in multiple events- that wasn't pointed out. For instance, we have 47 swimmers, but those 47 are competing for a possible +80 medals (as listed).

Anyway, it's more complicated than just number of medals vs. number of the entire team.