Winter Olympics, the numbers that count

Versatility is the name of the game: the Winter Olympics feature 14 different sports with over 60 different events. To win the Olympics outright requires more than excellence in some sports or events.

Overall winners USA, a close race it was with Canada, second by only 0,9% of the total weighted points, won outright only 3 sports, and none of them a major one: the Nordic Combined, Snowboarding and Figure Skating. But they ranked in the top 3 in 7 out of 14 sports, and in the top 5 in 9 out of 14 sports.

Canada too won outright in 3 sports (Ice Hockey, Curling and Freestyle Skiing) and showed enough versatility to reach the top 3 in 7 out of 14 sports, like the USA, but could go no further.

Germany won the daredevils’ disciplines of Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton, but made it into the top 3 in only 5 out of 14 sports.

 

Different sports for different folks: Vancouver celebrated 8 different winning nations for 14 different sports. In descending order according to the weighted points value of the sport, here are the winners (in parenthesis, % of total weighted points gone to the sport):

 

Winter Countries: traditionally dominant in winter sports, the Alpine countries of Europe suffered a severe blow in Vancouver: Austria only, 5^th overall, made a decent showing, while the games were barely passable for Switzerland (8^th), and definitely disastrous for France (10^th) and Italy (12^th).

The North American continent stole the show with first and second place, Germany, only marginally an Alpine country, came in powerfully in 3^rd place and Norway, which was second midway through the Games, finished a very respectable 4^th. The remaining top 10 places went to Sweden, Russia and Finland, confirming the trend towards nations of the far North.

No one was surprised that no African nation scored points, but who would have bet on the Aussies snatching 74 weighted points and finishing ahead of the Ukraine, Denmark or Great Britain, among others?

 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Men events accounted for 19% more of weighted points than the Ladies’, and one reason why Germany did not rank higher is because it finished only 6^th in the Men’s ranking, while it came 1^st, narrowly, in the Ladies. The USA on the other hand showed all their versatility by winning the Men and coming 2^nd in the Ladies ranking. Witness to the fact that it was a close race, hosts Canada were 2^nd in the Men and 3^rd in the Ladies.