sahayman@watcgl.UUCP (Steve Hayman) (08/24/84)
(I wish I had the actual numbers in front of me to back up the forthcoming statistics. But I can't find them. So trust me! The end result is known to be correct.) Well, we all saw the USA run away with a whole passel of medals in Los Angeles. And a fine job they did, but let's be fair and consider two factors - 1) The U.S. is a big country 2) Powerful Eastern block countries were absent. So how can we come up with some objective way of evaluating the performance of the participating countries? To balance out populations we can consider the Per Capita medal count. On that basis the overall winner was Iceland, with Canada 4th (I think) and the U.S. a respectable 13th (Better luck next time!). However this statistic doesn't take into account the lack of the Soviet Union, East Germany etc as some medals were won which would not have been otherwise. So let's consider world records - anyone who set a world record would probably have won a gold even if the Russians were there. Again we find the Americans in front with 19 world records, West Germany and Canada next with 4 each. Of course we must compensate again for the differing populations. Once we do this, we can conclude that by the only TRUE, UNBIASED measure of Olympic success, namely World Records Per Capita, the overall Olympic champion country was... Canada. Standing on guard for thee, Steve Hayman University of Waterloo Warriors Band Official Band of the Canadian Olympic Basketball Teams
halle1@houxz.UUCP (J.HALLE) (08/27/84)
There is another way to look at the medal picture, and probably a more relevant one. Include in the totals for each country the medals won by athletes that train in that country but competed for another country. The main recipient would be the USA, since a large number of medals were won by non-Americans with athletic scholarships at American schools. How many of them would have won without training here? I haven't done the comparison, but I'm sure it would have added at least 5-10 golds and 10-15 others in track and field alone.
jeff@dciem.UUCP (Jeff Richardson) (08/28/84)
I always thought that the Olympics were for determining the best
athletes, not the most athletic country. I think it's this sort of
attitude that leads to boycotts. The real Olympic winner is not Canada
or the U.S.; it's the athletes, and I hope they punch anyone who asks
them things like, "do you ever wonder whether you would have won this
medal if the Soviets had been there?" Let's take the politics out of
the Olympics.
--
Jeff Richardson, DCIEM, Toronto (416) 635-2073
{linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd}!utcsrgv!dciem!jeff
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!dciem!jeffhaapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) (08/28/84)
> 1) The U.S. is a big country > 2) Powerful Eastern block countries were absent. > So how can we come up with some objective way of evaluating the > performance of the participating countries? To balance out > populations we can consider the Per Capita medal count. On that > basis the overall winner was Iceland, with Canada 4th (I think) > and the U.S. a respectable 13th (Better luck next time!). I saw a letter to the editor in the local newspaper from a man who had divided the (10-5-4-3-2-1) point totals by the population (in millions to get the 'real' score. The 'winner' was New Zealand, with ~ 35. Second was Finland, with ~ 24. Canada was, I think, fourth, with ~ 14. U.S. was way down the list, with ~ 7.5. Tom Haapanen {allegra, decvax}!watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS]) (08/28/84)
> There is another way to look at the medal picture, and probably a more > relevant one. Include in the totals for each country the medals won by > athletes that train in that country but competed for another country. > The main recipient would be the USA, since a large number of medals were > won by non-Americans with athletic scholarships at American schools. > How many of them would have won without training here? Who else offers large scholarships for athletes in order for them to take up basketweaving at a given university?