title: Evaluating the (your country here) olympic medal count.
abstract: An Olympic Games is a measurable test of a nation´s sporting power. Medal counts are the object of intense scrutiny after every Olympiad. Most countries celebrate any medal with national glee, since 60% of competing countries will win none. In 2012, 10% of the competing countries won 75% of all medals. Despite this concentration among a few countries, more countries are winning more medals now than 20 years ago, thanks in part to athlete-support and -development programs arising around the globe. Small strong sporting countries like Norway are typified by fairly large variation in medal results from Olympiad to Olympiad and a high concentration of results in a few sports. These are important factors to consider when evaluating national performance and interpreting the medal count. Medal conversion, podium placements relative to top 8 placements, may provide a measure of the competitiveness of athlete-support programs in this international zero sum game where the cost of winning Olympic gold keeps rising whether measured in dollars or human capital.
authors: Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
authors: Stephen
authors: S
authors: Seiler
mesh_terms: D003163:Competitive Behavior; D006801:Humans; D013177:Sports / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis