The Olympic Bragging Competition

As my title says, it's no longer the Games. The Olympics are mostly about showing off. It's an environment for the western world, primarily, to show off.

The playing field isn't level.

The competition can hardly be called fair. The amateur component having been taken off a long time ago, and now, like any professional business, the Olympics is an environment for the wealthier countries to show off.

But I still believe that the games should be held. It's the only place that the world gathers together to meet and compete. Even if the playing field isn't fair, the interaction is worth the effort, even for some of the countries without the means to train and prepare. It's a place for them to come and enjoy the brotherhood and sisterhood of participating in something that does not involve diplomatic muscle.

In that sense, I believe everyone's a winner.

Most of the medals are concentrated in sports that only some of the western world competes in. Or have the technology and wealth to afford.

Even when it comes to determining which place a country places, counting medals is done suspiciously differently by various countries.

For example, in the 2016 Olympics, it's clear that the U.S. won the entire games. They had the most gold medals of any nation, 46. They had the most silver medals of any nation, 37. And they had the most bronze medals of any nation, 38. They had the most medals of any nation, 121.

Then it gets tricky. China had the next highest total count of medals. 70 medals in total. However, Great Britain had more gold medals than China, so most media was reporting GB in second place.

But as you can see from the list above, Canada isn't listed.

Because here's how the Canadian media is reporting the standings.

To be fair, they give you the option to sort the list, but when you read the various reports on CBC's website, they refer to their position as 10th overall. At a press conference of the Canadian Olympic Committee, they also refer to this 10th place position as being a success given their 12th place overall target.

Similarly, GB's press are extremely excited about having beaten China in the standings.

But did they?

New Zealand has an interesting way to rank countries, which seems much fairer. A metal count per capita.

See http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_projections/olympics-2016.aspx

It's hardly possible for a country with a million people to beat one that has three-hundred million in these competitions. Better to look at the events that they're competing in and determine who actually bested whom?

I personally don't like statistics that don't have an ultimate purpose. Something to help humanity. Statistics for statistics sake. Statistics that don't add value to any conversation. Statistics that don't add value to the welfare of humanity. Or provide insight to help us become better. Or give us warning signs.

If you take New Zealand's analysis a bit further you may come to the following interesting facts:

Based on the ratio of total medals won to the number of athletes the country sent, Azerbaijan wins. They sent 56 athletes and won a total of 18 medals. Ratio is 32.1%.

Contrast that with the announced winner, the U.S. They sent 558 athletes who won a combined total of 121 medals. Medals to athletes ratio is 21.7%. In this scenario, the U.S. is in 5th place. Not shabby given the number of athletes.

It gets a little interesting if you focus only on the gold medals to judge ranking. When you do that, the country that won the Rio Olympics is Tajikistan. They sent 7 athletes and won a single gold medal.

In this scenario, the U.S. is in 8th place.

You can see the camaraderie in the opening and closing ceremonies. When all the athletes are together.

Everyone's a winner.

Eliud the Great

On Sunday, August 21, 2016, Eliud Kipchoge won the gold medal in the Rio Olympics. Eliud is no stranger to winning. The winning time was also not special. He normally wins with times five minutes faster. But this was the Olympics and time wasn't the most important thing. Winning was. And Eliud Kipchoge won in style.

The conditions in Rio weren't perfect, which made for the slower times. The leading pack was fairly large well into the race, which only picked up in the latter stages, closer to mile-22 of the 26.2 mile race.

Eliud Kipchoge has a marvellous running style to watch. Bouncy and energetic. There are some who would say that Kipchoge's running style wastes energy, but I think that his style is what uniquely allows him to excel so well.

In the London Marathon in April 2016, he came close to breaking the world record. I watched the race and I think what happened is that in the last mile, Eliud realised how close he was and slipped up into another gear. The gear-changing was a couple of seconds too late. The world record was set by Dennis Kimetto in the 2014 Berlin marathon at 2:02:57. Eliud Kipchoge finished the 2016 London marathon in 2:03:05. And what a close finish.

In Kipchoge style, he looked strong and fresh finishing the London marathon. Nobody wonders whether or not he would have crushed that record if he had kicked sooner. He would have smashed it. But the dynamics of running a marathon necessarily entails listening to your body, watching the other runners and planning your race. After all, it's not a walk in the park.

Again in the Rio marathon, when Kipchoge decided to push the race forward, he did it incrementally. The lead pack of 12 was broken down by twos. To 10 runners, to 8, then 6 finally 4. Eliud Kipchoge, two Ethiopians, Feyisa Lelisa and Lemi Berhanu, and American Galen Rupp. They subsequently dropped Berhanu and for the last couple of miles it was down to three.

Kipchoge dropped Lelisa and Rupp with his constant injection of speed. Rupp was the first to fall back, and finally Lelisa couldn't sustain the increased pace. Not just the increased pace. But the increased pace after two hours of running. Eliud Kipchoge looked like he was just getting going. His face stuck in a permanent smile, enjoying a run. Not a sign of pain, or stress anywhere.

He's 31 years old, so he has another Olympics left inside him. But at the level he's performed at, and he continues to perform at, one wonders if he can maintain the pace.

Since he's switched from the track events to the road racing events, he's won seven of the last eight races he's competed in.

And another thing. I would have thought that running a marathon in April was too close to the Olympics - in August. But Kipchoge was interviewed about that strategy, to which his intelligent response was that he needed to keep his fitness by getting involved in races.

By running the Olympics, Eliud Kipchoge has possibly put himself out of running the Fall/Autumn races. Berlin, Chicago or New York. There are probably non-monetary benefits to being the Olympic champion, that will be useful for Kipchoge later in life.

He is the second Kenyan to win an Olympic gold medal in the marathon. One would think, given Kenya's success in the world major's, the country would have had a streak of winners. But that's not the case. It hasn't been the case. The first ever gold medal in the Olympics was in 2008, Beijing, when Sammy Wanjiru won gold in spectacular style.

In 2016, Kenya has won both the men's and women's gold medals.

On a sidenote, Kenya had three runners in this race. Wesley Korir and Stanley Biwott did not finish.