The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not officially declare a single country to be an overall champion of each Olympic Games, although the IOC does publish a medal count for each Olympic Games, in which countries are ranked by most gold medals earned, followed by most silver medals earned, followed by most bronze medals earned. However, the U.S. broadcast rights holder for the Olympic Games, NBC, ranks countries based on total medals earned, followed by most gold medals earned, followed by most silver medals earned. This can result in discrepancies in which country is at the top of the medal count, as happened in the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics: in both instances, the United States was at the top of the NBC medal count, but the host country (China in 2008, Canada in 2010) was at the top of the IOC medal count.
However, the traditional medal count isn't actually a great indicator of how well countries perform in the Olympics for a number of reasons. First, and excluding mixed-gender or open-gender events, there is a gender imbalance in regards to the number number of events (in the 2018 Winter Olympics, there will be fewer events for women than for men). Second, some Olympic sports have considerably more events than others, for example, there are only two ice hockey events in the Winter Olympics (one tournament for each gender), but there are, in 2018, 14 events in long track speed skating. In the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Netherlands was ranked fifth in the medal count by both the IOC and NBC standards, even though all but one of their 24 total medals was in long track speed skating, and their other medal was in short track speed skating.
It's time to rethink the medal count altogether, and, after the closing ceremony, I will publish the total number of medal points that each country earned in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The medal points system is a very complex system, but I'll explain it the best way I can:
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the final blog post in the seven part Road to Pyeongchang series previewing the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang County, South Korea.
However, the traditional medal count isn't actually a great indicator of how well countries perform in the Olympics for a number of reasons. First, and excluding mixed-gender or open-gender events, there is a gender imbalance in regards to the number number of events (in the 2018 Winter Olympics, there will be fewer events for women than for men). Second, some Olympic sports have considerably more events than others, for example, there are only two ice hockey events in the Winter Olympics (one tournament for each gender), but there are, in 2018, 14 events in long track speed skating. In the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Netherlands was ranked fifth in the medal count by both the IOC and NBC standards, even though all but one of their 24 total medals was in long track speed skating, and their other medal was in short track speed skating.
It's time to rethink the medal count altogether, and, after the closing ceremony, I will publish the total number of medal points that each country earned in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The medal points system is a very complex system, but I'll explain it the best way I can:
- Sports are classified more narrowly than the IOC classification of sports (for example, alpine, cross-country, freestyle, and Nordic combined skiing, as well as snowboarding, are all considered separate sports for medal points purposes, but the IOC considers all of those sports to be part of the sport of skiing).
- Disciplines are classified considerably more narrowly than the IOC classifications of disciplines (for example, ice dancing is classified as a discipline of figure skating for medal points purposes, but the IOC classifies figure skating as a discipline of skating).
- Event groups are classified so that very similar events are part of the same group (for example, freestyle skiing events that contain a judged component are classified as judged events of freestyle skiing for medal purposes; there isn't an official IOC equivalent of the event group classification).
- Each event group is allocated three base event group points (BEGP).
- Should an event group have separate events for men and women, 1 1/2 allocated base event group points (ABEGP) are allocated to each gender. Should an event group have separate events for men, women, and mixed gender, one ABEGP is allocated to each gender classification. Three ABEGPs are allocated to the mixed-gender classification of event groups with only mixed-gender events.
- In three women's event groups (two-person bobsled, singles luge, and individual ski jumping), internally-adjusted and allocated base event group points (IAABEGP) are allocated because of the lack of a four-woman bobsled event, a women's doubles luge event, or a women's team ski jumping event.
- Due to the lack of any women's Nordic combined events in either Nordic combined event group (individual or team), externally-adjusted and allocated base event group points (EAABEGP) are added to the women's individual ski jumping event and all five of the women's cross-country skiing sport groups.
- The total weight of an event group within a gender classification is total allocated and adjusted base event group points (TAABEGP), and it is formed by adding ABEGP, IAABEGP, and EAABEGP. The women's individual ski jumping event group is worth more than any other event group, at 4 1/2 TAABEGP, whereas each of the biathlon relay event groups (men, women, and mixed-gender) are worth one TAABEGP. The total number of TAABEGP in the 2018 Winter Olympics is 117 (49 for men, 49 for women, and 19 for mixed-gender teams).
- Medal points are the value of each medal: gold is worth four medal points, silver is worth two medal points, and bronze is worth one medal point. Ties for a medal position are allocated medal points under the following rules (n = number of athletes/teams tied for a medal position):
- A two way tie for gold is treated as 1/2 of a gold medal and 1/2 of a silver medal to each tied athlete or team for medal point purposes.
- A three-way tie for gold is treated as 1/3 of a gold medal, 1/3 of a silver medal, and 1/3 of a bronze medal to each tied athlete or team for medal point purposes.
- A four or more way tie for gold is treated as 1/n of a gold medal, 1/n of a silver medal, and 1/n of a bronze medal to each tied athlete or team for medal point purposes.
- A two-way tie for silver is treated as 1/2 of a silver medal and 1/2 of a bronze medal to each tied athlete or team for medal point purposes.
- A three or more way tie for silver is treated as 1/n of a silver medal and 1/n of a bronze medal to each tied athlete or team for medal point purposes.
- Any tie for bronze is treated as 1/n of a bronze medal to each tied athlete for medal point purposes.
- Medal points possible (MPP) is the number of medal points that a country would earn for podium sweep(s) in all events of a gender classification of an event group without any ties for a medal position.
- Medal points earned (MPE) is the number of medal points that a country actually earned in a gender classification of an event group.
- Medal points earned per event (MPEpE) is the average number of medal points earned per event of a gender classification of an event group.
- Medal points earned percentage (MPE%) is the percentage of MPP that was actually earned by a country in a gender classification of an event group.
- Total allocated and adjusted base event group points earned (TAABEGPE) is TAABEGP divided by MPE%.
- Aggregate total allocated and adjusted base event group points earned (ATAABEGPE) is the combined TAABEGPE of each gender classification of an event group.
- Each country's ATAABEGPE in each event group is added together to produce a total ATAABEGPE (for 2018, cell BA43 of the spreadsheet linked to below) that each country will be ranked by in the medal points system.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the final blog post in the seven part Road to Pyeongchang series previewing the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang County, South Korea.
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