The Olympic medal ranking systems
Monday, 6 August 2012
Iftu Ahmed from Aurora, IL USA
Even though the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognise the global ranking of participant countries at the Olympic Games, but the IOC publishes the Olympic medal tables for informational purpose only where the IOC and the most world media commonly use the method of gold ranking first, silver ranking second, and bronze ranking third. This method can be identified as the Gold Medal Count Method (GMCM).
Using GMCM, the United States secured the apex position in the 1896, 1912 and 1964 Summer Olympic Games, but second in the Total Medal Count Method (TMCM). In the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the United States finished second position to China, the first ever top Asian country in the GMCM, but the United States was ahead in the TMCM. Thus, the United Sates favours the TMCM and also there are some American media outlets which support the GMCM.
That is why the current IOC president Jacques Rogge said, "I believe each country will highlight what suits it best. One country will say the gold medal and the other country will say the total tally count. We take no position on that."
There are numerous Olympic medal ranking systems and these are weighted ranking systems, demographic ranking systems and predicted ranking systems.
In the weighted ranking systems, most points are given to a gold medal. These are popular sometimes in some places, but never have been adopted at large.
In 1908, a British press invented the first weighted ranking systems by awarding 5 points for gold medal, 3 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal.
In 2004, the Australian Geography Teacher Associa-tion introduced 3 points for gold medal, 2 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal. It is the part of Fibonacci weighted ranking systems.
In 2008, the weighted ranking systems of New York Times are 4 points for gold medal, 2 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal and it is known as the exponential weighted ranking systems.
Luchies Olympic Formula (LOF) weighted ranking systems award 5 points for gold medal, 3 points for silver medal and 2 points for bronze medal. It is presented by blogger Michael Luchies.
In the Topend weighted ranking systems 6 points for gold medal, 2 point for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal are awarded.
Demographic ranking systems are of two kinds which are per-capita demographic ranking systems where the number of medals is divided by the population of the country, and the per-GDP demographic raking systems where the number of medals is divided by the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.
In the predicted ranking systems, there are several groups which forecast or predict the medal won for each country based on factors such as population, GDP and previous performances prior to Olympics and other international competitions up to the Olympics. These are the Olympic Medal Tracker from USA Today and Sports Myriad.
iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net
Even though the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not recognise the global ranking of participant countries at the Olympic Games, but the IOC publishes the Olympic medal tables for informational purpose only where the IOC and the most world media commonly use the method of gold ranking first, silver ranking second, and bronze ranking third. This method can be identified as the Gold Medal Count Method (GMCM).
Using GMCM, the United States secured the apex position in the 1896, 1912 and 1964 Summer Olympic Games, but second in the Total Medal Count Method (TMCM). In the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the United States finished second position to China, the first ever top Asian country in the GMCM, but the United States was ahead in the TMCM. Thus, the United Sates favours the TMCM and also there are some American media outlets which support the GMCM.
That is why the current IOC president Jacques Rogge said, "I believe each country will highlight what suits it best. One country will say the gold medal and the other country will say the total tally count. We take no position on that."
There are numerous Olympic medal ranking systems and these are weighted ranking systems, demographic ranking systems and predicted ranking systems.
In the weighted ranking systems, most points are given to a gold medal. These are popular sometimes in some places, but never have been adopted at large.
In 1908, a British press invented the first weighted ranking systems by awarding 5 points for gold medal, 3 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal.
In 2004, the Australian Geography Teacher Associa-tion introduced 3 points for gold medal, 2 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal. It is the part of Fibonacci weighted ranking systems.
In 2008, the weighted ranking systems of New York Times are 4 points for gold medal, 2 points for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal and it is known as the exponential weighted ranking systems.
Luchies Olympic Formula (LOF) weighted ranking systems award 5 points for gold medal, 3 points for silver medal and 2 points for bronze medal. It is presented by blogger Michael Luchies.
In the Topend weighted ranking systems 6 points for gold medal, 2 point for silver medal and 1 point for bronze medal are awarded.
Demographic ranking systems are of two kinds which are per-capita demographic ranking systems where the number of medals is divided by the population of the country, and the per-GDP demographic raking systems where the number of medals is divided by the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.
In the predicted ranking systems, there are several groups which forecast or predict the medal won for each country based on factors such as population, GDP and previous performances prior to Olympics and other international competitions up to the Olympics. These are the Olympic Medal Tracker from USA Today and Sports Myriad.
iftuahmed@sbcglobal.net