2018 Winter Olympics Wrap-Up

Another Olympics has come and gone so it is once again time to take a look at who "won" the Games by several different metrics. Per my previous posts, I continue to use a weighted scoring system to tally up Olympic medals by country. This year I once again tracked not just the medal counts but also economic and demographic metrics for each country - you can see my full spreadsheet here.

Norway was the clear victor in medal scores, winning in every category: golds, silvers, bronzes, total medals, and weighted medal score. The top performers by weighted medal score were:
123 - Norway
107 - Germany
89   - Canada
75   - USA
64   - Netherlands
Norway went from a weighted medal count of 75 in 2010 to 80 in 2014 to explode this year - a true success story! Meanwhile Russia has gone the opposite direction, from 91 (#1) four years ago to 37 (#12) this year. Russia was technically banned from competition this year for doping . . . and yet three Russian athletes competing as individuals were caught for doping at this year's games anyway!

Because Norway is so small, it crushed the competition even (especially!) when normalized by population. The top performers by weighted medal score per million citizens were:
23.43 - Norway
5.60   - Switzerland
5.49   - Sweden
4.59   - Austria
3.77   - Netherlands

These countries are all pretty affluent, though, so how do things change if we normalize instead by GDP? Not much! The top performers by weighted medal score per $B GDP (PPP) were:
0.33 - Norway
0.14 - Liechtenstein
0.10 - Sweden
0.09 - Austria
0.09 - Switzerland

We can mix up the leaderboard a little bit if we normalize by GDP per capita. The top performers by weighted medal score per $1,000 GDP per capita were:
2.12 - Germany
1.84 - Canada
1.71 - Norway
1.51 - China
1.35 - Olympic Athletes from Russia

Many congratulations to Norway, a small country that absolutely crushed much larger and richer countries than itself at this year's Olympics - well done! Keep up the good work and we'll hope to give you more competition in four years!

Summer Olympics Wrap-Up

The Rio Olympics have come and gone! Although there was great anxiety that it would be a cluster****, the games seem to have gone off just fine.

Because we don't have TV at home, Katie and I were only able to watch a few select events that were made available by the BBC - mostly synchronized diving and wrestling. I have a few take-aways from having watched ~20 hours of coverage of these events:

• The BBC announcer for synchronized diving should announce all events! That guy was amazing! "Oh wow, what a dive! If that were a steak, it would be medium-rare - just perfect!" "I am literally out of my seat right now!" "Oh, goodness, she just fell like a tree - timberrrrrrrr!"
• Freestyle wrestling is more enjoyable to watch than Greco-Roman wrestling. Greco-Roman seemed to be 90% handwrestling and leaning into each other with occasional passivity penalty scores. Freestyle was more offense-driven.
• Women's wresting is more enjoyable to watch than men's. By and large women's wrestling was more aggressive, more dramatic, and more interesting. At least 50% of the medals were determined by a score in the final seconds of the match whereas men's matches always seemed to go to whoever was ahead halfway through the second period.
• There may be no crying in baseball but there is a lot of crying in wrestling! Interestingly, while the men tended to cry in victory, the women tended to cry in defeat (and beam in victory). There are several potential psychology and sociology papers to be written about that phenomenon!
• IMD has truly transformed the way I watch the Olympics. Previously I only really cared about the USA but this year I found myself cheering for Azerbaijani and Belarusian wrestlers out of solidarity with my MBA classmates. Frankly the Olympics is more fun and interesting to watch when you care about more countries than just your own!

But really, on to the real question at hand: who "won" the Olympics? Per my previous posts, I continue to use a weighted scoring system to tally up Olympic medals by country. This year I tracked not just the top performers but every country that won at least one medal - you can see my full spreadsheet here.

The USA won in every category: golds, silvers, bronzes, total medals, and weighted medal score. The top performers by weighted medal score were:

1. 379 - USA
2. 221 - Great Britain
3. 210 - China
4. 168 - Russia
5. 130 - Germany
6. 118 - France
7. 105 - Japan
8. 084 - Italy
9. 083 - Australia
10. 065 - Netherlands

Russia's lackluster performance wasn't much of a surprise as they were banned from track and field competition. China's performance, on the other hand, was a big shock. They went from a weighted medal score of 346 (#1 overall) in 2008 to 294 in 2012 (#2 overall) all the way down to 210 this year - a very distant 3rd. What could account for this precipitous drop? They had home field advantage in 2008 but that surely wasn't responsible for 100% of their peak performance back then.

This year there were many discussions not just of overall medal counts but also of countries that "punched above their weight." Accordingly, I added population and GDP as normalization metrics to the spreadsheet. The top performers by weighted medal score per million citizens were:

1. 30.00 - Grenada
2. 15.79 - Bahamas
3. 13.90 - Jamaica
4. 11.04 - New Zealand
5. 08.59 - Croatia
6. 06.13 - Denmark
7. 05.83 - Slovenia
8. 05.75 - Fiji
9. 05.71 - Bahrain
10. 05.38 - Hungary

The top performers by weighted medal score per $B GDP (PPP) were:

1. 3.00 - Grenada
2. 1.64 - Jamaica
3. 0.67 - Bahamas
4. 0.63 - Fiji
5. 0.56 - Armenia
6. 0.53 - North Korea
7. 0.47 - Georgia
8. 0.38 - Burundi
9. 0.37 - Croatia
10. 0.34 - Kenya

The top performers by weighted medal score per $1,000 GDP per capita were:

1. 15.42 - Kenya
2. 13.86 - China
3. 12.71 - North Korea
4. 10.06 - Ethiopia
5. 06.62 - USA
6. 06.57 - Russia
7. 05.66 - Uzbekistan
8. 05.37 - Great Britain
9. 04.83 - Jamaica
10. 03.79 - Burundi

My friend, colleague, and data scientist extraordinaire took the liberty of throwing the spreadsheet into Tableau for visualization - check it out for a more engaging analysis!

Winter Olympics are Over

Last night marked the end of the Winter Olympics and we're sad to see them go. At least they ended with a bang, Canada's 3-2 overtime win over USA in men's hockey--a riveting game that unfortunately came out with the wrong victor. Next time!

The final weighted medal scores (Gold 5, Silver 3, Bronze 1) for the top countries were as follows:

USA 103

Germany and Canada 96

Norway 75

South Korea 50

Austria 44

Russia 37

China and Sweden 35

Switzerland 33

Well done to all the athletes; I look forward to the 2014 games!

Over the past two weeks Katie and I have become accustomed to having some TV on in the background while we cook. Now that the Olympics are over, we've begun making our way through all of the seasons of Seinfeld--chronologically, of course!

What a show! We're just getting started with it and it's amazing to see the early episodes--now 20 years old! Everything seems so . . . scripted. It's almost like watching a small ensemble play. The actors aren't comfortable in their characters yet so their acting seems very . . . intentional. Still, the comedy is good and we've had several laugh out loud moments already.

Great stuff! So thank you, NBC, for both the Olympics and Seinfeld! And 30 Rock! And The Office! Now if only you had football . . .

Sports Season Transition

There were two reasons to be depressed following the Super Bowl this year. The first was that Peyton Manning failed to win a second league championship. Colts special teams were poor and Manning couldn't get any help at all from his receivers. Kudos to New Orleans, which played a great game of ballsy calls and good execution.

The second reason to be depressed is simply that the football season is now over. Sure there will be some buzz around scouting combines, spring training, and the NFL draft, but things really won't pick back up again until August. This makes Bryan sad--probably more productive, but sad.

Fortunately there are some silver linings. For instance, the end of football always marks the beginning of college baseball. The mighty Rice Owls opened the season poorly, being swept this weekend by Stanford, but it's better to stumble at this point of the season than in the post-season!

Another silver lining is the start of the beach volleyball season. In colder climates, beach volleyball might not be possible for months, but here in Houston this weekend offered the perfect opportunity for it. Saturday was sunny with a high in the low 70s. Several of us met early in the morning and played for hours. Some rust had to be shaken off--and it didn't help that some of us had been out until 4 AM the night before--but it was a lot of fun. Welcome back, Spring weather!

In the meantime I'm continuing to enjoy the Winter Olympics. I've never cheered so hard for sports I understand so little! Saturday night, at a friend's birthday party, we all found ourself huddled around the TV and cheering on the US Curling team, not to mention our speed skaters. The USA is still in first place according to my weighted medal scoring system, with a score of 66, but Germany is breathing down our neck with 56. Here's hoping for an exciting final week!

Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics have begun and I once again find myself captivated by numerous sports that I don't understand at all. There's just something so fundamentally interesting about assembling the best in the world for fair competition, no matter the sport or event.

Relative to the Winter Olympics of 2006, these games have more meaning for me. Of course I cheer for the USA, as I always have, and for Italy, as I always have. But now I also cheer for Switzerland and a host of other countries where I now have dear friends, classmates, and colleagues. For example, when the Czech Republic won gold, I smiled broadly as I knew my Czech friends would be celebrating intensely--especially as seriously as they take winter sports!

As there is still debate among countries about the proper way to "score" Olympic medal counts (See my post from the Summer Olympics of 2008.), I continue to use my weighted medal system (See my follow-up post from the Summer Olympics of 2008.) in which golds receive 5 points, silvers 3 points, and bronzes 1 point. By this account, the current standings are:

USA and Germany tied for first (14 points), France (11), South Korea (8), Canada (6), Czech Republic, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Slovakia tied (5), Italy (2)

Note that if the Czech Republic and Slovakia are combined (as I know my good friend, Martin Najzr, would want), they're in fourth place, just behind France. Russia is conspicuously missing from the list so far, but I know our comrades will pick up the pace soon.

Let the Games begin; I look forward to following the events over the next two weeks!

Olympic Wrap-up

The final results are in according to my "official" scoring system:

1. China: 346
2. USA: 330
3. Russia: 206
4. Great Britain: 149
5. Australia: 132

Congratulations to the Chinese; we'll see you in London for a rematch in 2012!

Olympics Scoring

After heated debate with my classmates from around the world, I have decided to revise my Olympics medal scoring system. While we all agree that points should be given for silver and bronze medals (After all, shouldn't winning gold and silver be worth more than just winning gold alone?), the topic of dispute was how many points each medal should be awarded.

Under my original scheme, golds were worth 3 points, silvers 2, and bronzes 1. This means that earning silver and and bronze together would be equivalent to earning gold. Our consensus was that a single gold was worth more than silver and bronze together; after all, gold is the best in the world. Accordingly, my new "official" system assigns 5 points to gold, 3 points to silver, and 1 point to bronze.

As of now, China retains the lead with 330 points (49 gold, 19 silver, 28 bronze). The US follows closely with 317 points (34 gold, 37 silver, 35 bronze). Russia, Great Britain, and Australia bring up the rest of the top five, each with scores in the 100s. With only two days of competition left, GAME ON!

Also, I have posted pics of my dinner up in the Swiss mountains in my facebook album.

Kings of the Beach

Much controversy has surrounded the measurement of "success" in the Olympics. Should success be measured by the total number of medals won as advocated by the US? Or by just the number of golds won, which is used by the rest of the world? While I agree with the US that silver and bronze medals should be considered--otherwise why award them at all--I don't think they should count as much as golds. Accordingly I have been tracking the official medal count throughout the Olympics: a weighted score for which golds count 3, silvers 2, and bronzes 1. With all of China's golds it has led this scoring system throughout the games.

At last, however, the US is catching up. With 29 golds, 34 silvers, and 32 bronzes, it has 187 points. China, with 46 golds, 15 silvers, and 22 bronzes, still leads with 190 points. We'll see what the next three days hold in store for the final tally!

This morning the US demonstrated its beach dominance with a gold in men's beach volleyball to accompany yesterday's gold for the women. In indoor the women have already advanced to the finals while the men are ahead of Russia 1-0 right now in the semifinals. Hopefully we'll have some more volleyball medals soon!

Meanwhile this afternoon I will be focused on the women's long jump finals, where Rice alum Funmi Jimoh will be competing. She had a good jump in the qualifiers; hopefully she can dig in for an even better one today. Go USA and go Rice!

Swiss Dairy

Last night was fantastic. The entrepreneurs behind my spring startup project, deskNet, took my group out for a celebration dinner. This was something we intended to do back in May when the project finished, but final exams, Kenya, and vacation interfered. It was nice to take a break, though, as this way they could update us on their progress. It seems that we really added some value as they are now running an operation much more focused on a specific strategy.

They picked us up at IMD and drove us about an hour up into the mountains. When it became clear that the only signs of life for miles around were evergreen trees and cattle, we came upon a dairy farm that doubled as an out-of-the-way restaurant, La Bréguette. Apparently others were in on the secret as the rows of tables inside the farm house were packed. We settled down to a delicious meal of escargots, cold meats, fondue, and incredible desserts. Cream, cheese, and chocolate were made there at the dairy so were prominently featured throughout the menu. Add a little (OK, a lot) Swiss white wine and great conversation and we found ourselves back at IMD after midnight. The crisp night air and bright stars up in the mountains were really refreshing; Switzerland is not a bad place to live. I wish the deskNET team all the best and I look forward to following their success.

Today has been a great day for USA volleyball. Misty May and Kerri Walsh won their second consecutive Olympic gold in beach volleyball (their 108th consecutive match win) while the indoor women's team advanced to the gold medal match. Tomorrow it's time for the men to show that they can keep up!

Michael Phelps

As I was heading to bed last night, I couldn't decide whether or not to get up at 4:58 AM to watch Phelps go for his 8th gold of the Olympics. Having played a few hours of beach volleyball yesterday, I was pretty tired and actually fell asleep while trying to decide whether or not to get up and reset my alarm clock for 4:57 AM. I guess my decision was made for me. Oh well, I would see the results of his race on the Internet as soon as I woke up anyway.

Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up inexplicably. I glanced over at the alarm clock; it read 4:57 AM. This was clearly fate intervening so, blurry eyed, I turned on Zattoo, found a channel that was showing aquatics, and tuned in just as the 4x100MR was about to start.

I'm glad I did--what a race! Things didn't start out too well for the US and the BBC commentator remarked several times that he didn't think we were performing well enough to fend off the strong Australians in the anchor leg. In fact we had slipped to third place when Phelps dove in for the third leg. 100m later we were in first and Jason Lezak wasn't about to give it up.

8 gold medals and 7 world records in 9 days. Michael Phelps, what a machine. Sure he's genetically predisposed to swimming but it takes much more than that to accomplish what he has. Years of focused, intense practice; discipline to maintain perfect form even when exhausted; mental toughness to push harder even when there is nothing left; heart to persevere even when unthinkable success has already been achieved.

What I love most about his feat is that some of his golds came from team events. His fate rested not just in his hands but also in the hands of others who wouldn't share the media attention, glory, or financial reward. Yet they all rallied around him and dug down deep--Jason Lezak, especially--to make it happen.

I'm glad I woke up to watch; I was inspired by the drive, dedication, and teamwork of those representing the USA.

Italian Volleyball

While I'm working on my career strategy all day I have some olympic coverage going on in the background. Because NBC won't broadcast online to viewers outside the US, I have to be creative with my choice of media. Fortunately I found a web service called Zattoo that shows many international channels online. Right now I am watching USA beach volleyball on an Italian channel--che bella!

The Olympics Have Begun!

As we finished our last day of Stakeholder Managment today, our breaks were consumed by watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Everyone cheered as countries represented in our class marched in. What fun--I can't wait for the competitive rivalries to start once the events get going.

I was proud to learn that Rice is well represented in the Olympics: we have eight athletes and coaches representing their countries. Additionally, Rice's president is there at the opening ceremony. Go Rice and Go USA!