Zika, drugs, and medals: The Rio Olympics thread

[Sheilbh]

Brazil

Looking forward to the Paralympics now

[CountDeMoney]

Looking forward to the Paralympics now

Those are the retards, right?

[alfred russel]

Looking forward to the Paralympics now

Those are the retards, right?

No, mental handicapped individuals compete in the special olympics. The paralympics are the "parallel olympics" for people with physical handicaps.

America should be poised for a strong performance. In addition to the strong sporting culture we have (at least at elite levels) that helps us succeed during the traditional olympics, our military adventurism ensures that we have a substantial supply of athletically oriented young men with physical disabilities.

[Liep]

After that segment at the closing ceremony I'm already looking forward to Tokyo 2020.

[celedhring]

The opening ceremony is gonna be an anime/videogame wankaton, isn't it? With some samurai thrown in I guess. I'm sold.

[Josquius]

Looking forward to the Paralympics now

Those are the retards, right?

No, mental handicapped individuals compete in the special olympics. The paralympics are the "parallel olympics" for people with physical handicaps.

America should be poised for a strong performance. In addition to the strong sporting culture we have (at least at elite levels) that helps us succeed during the traditional olympics, our military adventurism ensures that we have a substantial supply of athletically oriented young men with physical disabilities.

Excellent point though....

It does make that invictus games thing even dumber.

Thinking about this, I guess it's a good thing that the paralympics  aren't so popular internationally. Were they as well regard as the Olympics I could imagine dictatorships specially "creating" competitors

[Liep]

                     Medals        Population       Population per Medal
1 Grenada          1             106,825                    106,825
2 Bahamas         2             388,019                    194,009
3 Jamaica          11          2,725,941                    247,812
4 New Zealand  18          4,595,700                    255,316
5 Denmark        15          5,676,002                    378,400
6 Croatia           10          4,224,404                    422,440
7 Slovenia          4           2,063,768                    515,942
8 Georgia           7          3,679,000                    525,571
9 Azerbaijan      18          9,651,349                    536,186
10 Hungary       15          9,844,686                    656,312

[Valmy]

This was a great Olympics for the US and the UK. And once again everybody was hand wringing before the games started and everything was great...well except for that weird algae in the pool thing.

Excited to see the games go back to Tokyo in 2020. Japan always does an amazing job at these things.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

                     Medals        Population       Population per Medal
1 Grenada          1             106,825                    106,825
2 Bahamas         2             388,019                    194,009
3 Jamaica          11          2,725,941                    247,812
4 New Zealand  18          4,595,700                    255,316
5 Denmark        15          5,676,002                    378,400
6 Croatia           10          4,224,404                    422,440
7 Slovenia          4           2,063,768                    515,942
8 Georgia           7          3,679,000                    525,571
9 Azerbaijan      18          9,651,349                    536,186
10 Hungary       15          9,844,686                    656,312

The problem with per-capita statistics like this is that it doesn't take much of a population to saturate the events with competitors, since there are a limited number of slots.  Team sizes start to plateau once populations get into the tens of millions.  Thus, any nation in the 8 - 12 million range with a well-developed national sports program will always dominate this measure.  Medals per athlete sent would be more interesting.

[alfred russel]

The problem with per-capita statistics like this is that it doesn't take much of a population to saturate the events with competitors, since there are a limited number of slots.  Team sizes start to plateau once populations get into the tens of millions.  Thus, any nation in the 8 - 12 million range with a well-developed national sports program will always dominate this measure.  Medals per athlete sent would be more interesting.

I tend to disagree. If we keep the focus on individual sports, the Olympics (theoretically) identify the best person in the discipline. Big countries can generally get in 3 people if they meet qualification standards, and the 4th best American is unlikely to go to the Olympics and win the 100m, for instance.

On team sports, big countries have an advantage, because a cluster of decent players is likely, while a small country is very unlikely to get a cluster of decent players, on a per capita basis they are just as likely to get a brilliant player (to excel in individual events).

[alfred russel]

Where small countries may have an advantage is disproportionate funding on focus for promising athletes.

Suppose Luxembourg has a decent guy at javelin. That guy may get funding and encouragement. If nothing else he will likely be an Olympian, which would give him the reason to stick with the sport. Maybe he would only be the #7 guy in the US, in which case he would get left out and likely drop out of the sport.

5, 6, or 7 years later, that guy who would be extremely marginal in the US program may have developed well, and might turn into a medal contender.

[CountDeMoney]

Excited to see the games go back to Tokyo in 2020. Japan always does an amazing job at these things.

I simply cannot wait for the PRC's media offensive for that one, and how Japan refuses to apologize for World War II during a press conference on the construction status of the Olympic gymnastics center.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I tend to disagree. If we keep the focus on individual sports, the Olympics (theoretically) identify the best person in the discipline. Big countries can generally get in 3 people if they meet qualification standards, and the 4th best American is unlikely to go to the Olympics and win the 100m, for instance.

On team sports, big countries have an advantage, because a cluster of decent players is likely, while a small country is very unlikely to get a cluster of decent players, on a per capita basis they are just as likely to get a brilliant player (to excel in individual events).

Well, I think that is more supporting what I said rather than refuting it.  At some point, without some genetic predisposition for a certain country's population, the chances of the best in a particular sport even out and it becomes about the quality and maturity of the development programs.  On that note, a significant number of Olympic athletes today are going through the same basic development programs (the NCAA and various major pro sports leagues around the world), meaning that any relatively well-off nation with a large enough pool and sufficient interest from the population should have roughly equal chances.  At some point it ceases to matter of the pool is 10 million, 100 million, or 1 billion.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

I simply cannot wait for the PRC's media offensive for that one, and how Japan refuses to apologize for World War II during a press conference on the construction status of the Olympic gymnastics center.

It will be even funnier after the Japanese men's gymnastics team makes the Chinese look stupid again.  #ThirdSinoJapaneseWar

[CountDeMoney]

The lap pool is contested waters, come in the next day they'll have built an artificial island in it with its own diving platform overnight, you watch. #SkeetSurfin'SouthChinaSea