The following is courtesy of my brother, Kebes:

Most sources seem to rank countries by gold medal count, or total medal count. I prefer to scale the results by the population of the country. After all, if Olympic aptitude (raw talent/motivation) is spread uniformly throughout the gene-pool/geography, then having 10-times the population means that you have 10-times the chance of a citizen within your arbitrary borders being born with the requisite talent/motivation. (Yes, this assumption has its flaws.) Differences beyond this population-scaled value can then be attributed to funding, opportunity, national spirit, etc.  (and in the case of China, the government forcing kids to train/compete, sometimes against their wishes). 

So, presented below are the current Olympic standings, after scaling for population. (The list of participating countries comes from Wikipedia, the medal standings come from the CBC, and the population and GDP statistics are from the CIA World Factbook.)

The shape of the above data might suggest my technique is unfair. After all, the big-population countries seem to have a difficult time ‘overcoming’ the size of their population (whereas a small country can anomalously grab one medal and be rocketed to the top). Then again, there are many small-population countries without any medals, so the peak in performance is actually somewhere in the middle of the population distribution.

Here is a table listing with all participating countries:

Name	Medals per million ppl
	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Bahamas	0.00	3.25	3.25	6.51
Jamaica	2.14	1.07	0.71	3.92
Slovenia	0.50	1.00	1.00	2.49
Australia	0.68	0.73	0.83	2.23
New Zealand	0.72	0.24	1.20	2.16
Norway	0.65	1.08	0.43	2.15
Cuba	0.18	0.96	0.96	2.10
Armenia	0.00	0.00	2.02	2.02
Lithuania	0.00	0.84	1.12	1.96
Belarus	0.41	0.52	1.03	1.96
Trinidad and Tobago	0.00	1.91	0.00	1.91
Estonia	0.76	0.76	0.00	1.53
Bahrain	1.39	0.00	0.00	1.39
Latvia	0.45	0.45	0.45	1.34
Mongolia	0.67	0.67	0.00	1.34
Georgia	0.65	0.00	0.65	1.30
Denmark	0.36	0.36	0.55	1.28
Croatia	0.00	0.45	0.67	1.11
Slovakia	0.55	0.37	0.18	1.10
Hungary	0.30	0.50	0.20	1.01
Netherlands	0.42	0.30	0.24	0.96
Azerbaijan	0.12	0.24	0.49	0.86
Kazakhstan	0.13	0.26	0.46	0.85
Switzerland	0.26	0.00	0.53	0.79
Britain	0.31	0.23	0.25	0.79
Mauritius	0.00	0.00	0.78	0.78
Finland	0.19	0.19	0.38	0.76
Ireland	0.00	0.24	0.48	0.72
Bulgaria	0.14	0.14	0.41	0.69
South Korea	0.26	0.20	0.16	0.63
France	0.11	0.25	0.27	0.62
Ukraine	0.15	0.11	0.35	0.60
Czech Republic	0.29	0.29	0.00	0.59
Sweden	0.00	0.44	0.11	0.55
Canada	0.09	0.27	0.18	0.54
Russia	0.17	0.15	0.20	0.52
Germany	0.21	0.12	0.18	0.51
Italy	0.14	0.17	0.17	0.48
Spain	0.12	0.25	0.07	0.44
Kyrgyzstan	0.00	0.19	0.19	0.37
Greece	0.00	0.19	0.19	0.37
Kenya	0.13	0.13	0.11	0.37
Austria	0.00	0.12	0.24	0.37
United States	0.12	0.13	0.12	0.36
Romania	0.18	0.04	0.13	0.36
Zimbabwe	0.08	0.24	0.00	0.32
Panama	0.30	0.00	0.00	0.30
Serbia	0.00	0.10	0.20	0.30
Tajikistan	0.00	0.14	0.14	0.28
Poland	0.08	0.16	0.03	0.26
North Korea	0.09	0.04	0.13	0.26
Moldova	0.00	0.00	0.23	0.23
Singapore	0.00	0.22	0.00	0.22
Uzbekistan	0.04	0.07	0.11	0.21
Dominican Republic	0.11	0.11	0.00	0.21
Japan	0.07	0.05	0.08	0.20
Belgium	0.10	0.10	0.00	0.19
Portugal	0.09	0.09	0.00	0.19
Chinese Taipei	0.00	0.00	0.17	0.17
Togo	0.00	0.00	0.17	0.17
Argentina	0.05	0.00	0.10	0.15
Israel	0.00	0.00	0.14	0.14
Turkey	0.01	0.06	0.04	0.11
Iceland	0.00	0.10	0.00	0.10
Tunisia	0.10	0.00	0.00	0.10
Ethiopia	0.05	0.01	0.03	0.09
Brazil	0.02	0.02	0.04	0.08
China	0.04	0.02	0.02	0.08
Ecuador	0.00	0.07	0.00	0.07
Thailand	0.03	0.03	0.00	0.06
Chile	0.00	0.06	0.00	0.06
Algeria	0.00	0.03	0.03	0.06
Morocco	0.00	0.03	0.03	0.06
Cameroon	0.05	0.00	0.00	0.05
Colombia	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.04
Malaysia	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.04
Venezuela	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.04
Afghanistan	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.03
Iran	0.02	0.00	0.02	0.03
Nigeria	0.00	0.01	0.02	0.03
Mexico	0.02	0.00	0.01	0.03
Sudan	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02
South Africa	0.00	0.02	0.00	0.02
Indonesia	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.02
Egypt	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01
Vietnam	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.01
India	0.001	0.000	0.002	0.003
Tuvalu	0	0	0	0
Nauru	0	0	0	0
Palau	0	0	0	0
Cook Islands	0	0	0	0
British Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
San Marino	0	0	0	0
Monaco	0	0	0	0
Liechtenstein	0	0	0	0
Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	0	0	0
Cayman Islands	0	0	0	0
American Samoa	0	0	0	0
Marshall Islands	0	0	0	0
Bermuda	0	0	0	0
Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	0	0
Andorra	0	0	0	0
Dominica	0	0	0	0
Seychelles	0	0	0	0
Grenada	0	0	0	0
Aruba	0	0	0	0
FS Micronesia	0	0	0	0
Virgin Islands	0	0	0	0
Kiribati	0	0	0	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0	0	0	0
Tonga	0	0	0	0
Saint Lucia	0	0	0	0
Guam	0	0	0	0
São Tomé and Príncipe	0	0	0	0
Vanuatu	0	0	0	0
Samoa	0	0	0	0
Netherlands Antilles	0	0	0	0
Barbados	0	0	0	0
Belize	0	0	0	0
Maldives	0	0	0	0
Malta	0	0	0	0
Cape Verde	0	0	0	0
Suriname	0	0	0	0
Luxembourg	0	0	0	0
Djibouti	0	0	0	0
Solomon Islands	0	0	0	0
Equatorial Guinea	0	0	0	0
Montenegro	0	0	0	0
Bhutan	0	0	0	0
Comoros	0	0	0	0
Guyana	0	0	0	0
Cyprus	0	0	0	0
Qatar	0	0	0	0
Fiji	0	0	0	0
Timor-Leste	0	0	0	0
Swaziland	0	0	0	0
Gabon	0	0	0	0
Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0
Gambia	0	0	0	0
Botswana	0	0	0	0
FYR Macedonia	0	0	0	0
Namibia	0	0	0	0
Lesotho	0	0	0	0
Kuwait	0	0	0	0
Oman	0	0	0	0
Liberia	0	0	0	0
Mauritania	0	0	0	0
Uruguay	0	0	0	0
Albania	0	0	0	0
Congo	0	0	0	0
Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0
Lebanon	0	0	0	0
Palestine	0	0	0	0
Costa Rica	0	0	0	0
Central African Republic	0	0	0	0
Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	0	0	0
United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0
Eritrea	0	0	0	0
Turkmenistan	0	0	0	0
Nicaragua	0	0	0	0
Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0
Libya	0	0	0	0
Jordan	0	0	0	0
Sierra Leone	0	0	0	0
Laos	0	0	0	0
Paraguay	0	0	0	0
Hong Kong, China	0	0	0	0
El Salvador	0	0	0	0
Honduras	0	0	0	0
Benin	0	0	0	0
Burundi	0	0	0	0
Haiti	0	0	0	0
Bolivia	0	0	0	0
Somalia	0	0	0	0
Chad	0	0	0	0
Rwanda	0	0	0	0
Guinea	0	0	0	0
Zambia	0	0	0	0
Mali	0	0	0	0
Angola	0	0	0	0
Senegal	0	0	0	0
Guatemala	0	0	0	0
Niger	0	0	0	0
Malawi	0	0	0	0
Cambodia	0	0	0	0
Burkina Faso	0	0	0	0
Côte d’Ivoire	0	0	0	0
Syria	0	0	0	0
Madagascar	0	0	0	0
Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0
Mozambique	0	0	0	0
Yemen	0	0	0	0
Ghana	0	0	0	0
Saudi Arabia	0	0	0	0
Iraq	0	0	0	0
Peru	0	0	0	0
Nepal	0	0	0	0
Uganda	0	0	0	0
Tanzania	0	0	0	0
Myanmar	0	0	0	0
DR Congo	0	0	0	0
Philippines	0	0	0	0
Bangladesh	0	0	0	0
Pakistan	0	0	0	0

The countries without medals are sorted by population (so the last entry on that list is the one with the highest population that didn’t win a medal).

Another thing I was curious about was which country was the most “efficient” in terms of “medals per dollar of Olympic funding” or something like that. Unfortunately funding stats are hard to find. Instead I estimated the economic power of a country using published numbers for gross domestic product (GDP). Here is the trend based on GDP and GDP per capita:

(The log plot obviously cuts off all those countries without any medals at all.)

Lastly, it isn’t surprising to see that more money means more athletes sent to the Olympics:

Point being, there are many ways to interpret the Olympic rankings. A straight medal count isn’t necessarily the most fair.

Addendum: The BBC also put together some similarly-themed lists.

 

Conclusion by Nique:  In the end we can see that the U.S. and China don’t rock as hard as one might first assume.  They are in fact, rather average.  As is Canada.  And there ain’t nothing wrong with being average.  Go team!

4 comments

I have a new crush: Adam van Koeverden. He was the flag bearer for the Canadian team at the opening ceremonies for the Beijing games and has recently won a silver medal in flat water kayaking in these Olympics, which he can add to his gold and bronze from Athens. He is super talented and hard-working and blah, blah, blah… dude is hot.

Yum. Plus he seems like a cool guy, based on the interview I just watched of him hanging out with the CBC commentator after winning his latest medal. He is humble and grateful and well spoken. Plus I dig the smackdown he posted on his website where he comments on all the armchair critics complaining about Canada’s performance at the games. So… people like me I guess. But he is totally right. We don’t suck! Canada’s athletes are awesome and it’s not all about winning gold, it’s about being good at what you do.  So us losers eating poutine while we bitch at people who use their bodies for something other than a garbage disposal unit can suck it. The most useful thing I ever did for my country was push for a paperless office at work. (Digression: the MUHC does not recycle! It’s 2008 and they still don’t recycle! My colleagues and I actually drop our recycling off in front of random houses so the city will pick it up. Shame on you MUHC, shame). Not that Olympic medals are useful but they do provide some sense of pride I guess… So congrats to the athletes who came in first, second, third and twenty-ninth. You all rock. I still don’t care enough about sports to contribute to your cause financially but I encourage you to keep on keeping on.

Anyhoodle, the Olympics end on Sunday and for Canada they are already over since we have no one competing on the last day. But I am pleased to report that we did just fine. 18 medals may not sound like a lot but when you consider the population of our country we are perfectly… average. I even have the spreadsheets to prove it, courtesy of Kebes, who can always be counted on to overanalyse every situation and then create an algorithm to make his point. I will post the nifty graphs tomorrow, once the final medal tally is determined.

1 comment

I don’t give the slighest shit about sports.  So why do I always faithfully watch the Olympics whenever they roll around?  Well, perhaps faithfully is too strong a word.  I leave the TV on in the background while I intertronisize and I periodically check the CBC website to see how Canada is doing in the medal standings.  The answer is always the same: we suck. 

And yet whenever Canadians are competing in a sport, I will watch, no matter how lame I find the sport to be.  Seriously, is there anything more boring that watching people lift weights?  The answer is yes: baseball is more boring.  And yet I have sat myself down in front of the TV and watched people make funny faces as they lift heavy things and I have watched men spit and scratch themselves as they prepare to hit a ball with a stick and I have been riveted. 

I have giggled at how silly the water polo players look in their little bathing caps tied with chin strings and yet still been enthralled whenever Canada took at shot at goal.  I have admired the divers’ bodies and then actually started paying attention to the dives, agreeing with the commentator who believed the Chinese crowd’s overblown reaction was affecting the judges’ scoring.  The home team DOES have an advantage, y’all. 

I have even watched sports where no Canadians were competing because some athletes are just awesome at their chosen field of awesomeness.  I watched the American “redeem team” take on the Chinese in basketball and you know what?  I was actually entertained!  You go Yao Ming, get on with your tall self!  I have even gotten caught up in Michael Phelps fever and rooted for him in spite of his Americaness, just because he’s breaking records and taking names.  Plus he’s ripped. 

But Michael Phelps aside, don’t you find yourself not only rooting for Canada but also hoping the Americans won’t win?  I think I am fairly typical in my patriotism.  I believe Canada rocks and the States suck.  We’re so much better than them!  Except not at sports.   And during the Olympics I kind of actually sort of care.  I have actually found myself giving a shit when Canada came in fourth or fifth or sixth and thought, damn you Canada for sucking so badly!  And yet, even though we suck, I wouldn’t really change it.  Because all those rich countries that fund sports like crazy are doing so at the expense of something else.  If their money is going into sports it is not going into health care or welfare or the arts or whatever else.  So I think Canada has its priorities straight because yeah, we kind of suck at the Olympics, but we have relatively cheap schooling, and medicare, and clean water and trees and shit.

So go ahead and suck all you Canadian athletes!  I know you’re doing your best.  And I know when you come home you’re going to have a life and then live it, as opposed to all of those athletes from more intense countries who will be locked back up in their cages and forced to do laps or whatever until they get too old to compete at which point they will turn to a life of drugs or worse… coaching!

But come on, we’d better do better at the 2010 winter Olympics (where we will have the home field advantage) because seriously, this shit is embarrassing.

6 comments

There’s almost no point in reviewing this movie, that’s how underwhelming it is. It feels like an extra long X-Files episode, which is fine except that it’s not a particularly good episode. It would be good as a CSI ep, but an X-Files ep? Not so much. There’s hardly anything supernatural going on and while one could argue that the subtlety of the paranormal portion of the story made for classic X-Files banter between Scully and Mulder since it allowed them to get back to their disagreeing ways, that would not be a valid argument. I needed more and I needed bigger. This is a movie after all. It’s the big screen. Give us something spectacular! The only spectacular thing in this film is Scully’s long, lustrous hair.

The interaction between the two leads is the only worthwhile thing in this film but even that grated because it seemed false. Surely after all this time they would be over all their stupid angst. It didn’t even make sense within the context of the narrative. Ugh. I could say more but that would require spoilers and I don’t care enough to bother. And you shouldn’t care enough to bother seeing this movie. Seriously, it’s not even worth renting.

2 niqueheads but 1 of them is for Scully’s hair and the other is for Mulder’s beard. [rating:20]

3 comments