Redefining who is the most victorius

Gary Jacobsen
Published: August 25, 2008

Americans can take justifiable pride in the stellar performance of our athletes in the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Men and women from the United States earned 110 medals, more
than any other country. The gold, silver and bronze medals that they earned are a tribute to their dedication and hard work over many years.

China, Russia, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and France also earned large numbers of medals, attesting to the ability of their athletes. National pride in all of these countries has never been higher.

In keeping with the spirit of good sportsmanship, however, Americans and others from countries that also earned large numbers of medals must acknowledge that many smaller countries also did well
and, in some cases, outperformed bigger countries. The tiny island nation of Jamaica, for example, with 2,804,000 citizens, about the same as the state of Arkansas, earned 11 medals, or one per
254,000 citizens. To duplicate this accomplishment, Great Britain (just as an example) would’ve had to earn 239 medals.

To give credit to all countries, large and small, that competed in the Olympics, we must divide the national population by total medals earned. The resulting number can be called the performance index,
for lack of a better term. As in golf, a low number indicates superior performance.

If we look at the performance indexes of all countries that earned at least five medals, we see that the final standings change. The United States drops from first place to 32nd, above Romania, but just
behind Kenya. Similarly, the final standing of Great Britain changes from 4th to 19th, just behind Switzerland.

The superstars of the XXIX Olympiad, determined by performance indexes, are, in order:

1. Jamaica

2. Slovenia

3. Australia

4. New Zealand

5. Norway

6. Cuba

7. Armenia

8. Belarus

9. Lithuania

10. Georgia

11. Denmark

12. Croatia

13. Slovakia

14. Hungary

15. Netherlands

We should now all be looking forward to the XXX Olympiad, which will be held in 2012 in London. I am confident they will be every bit as exciting and personally rewarding to all athletes as the Beijing
Olympics.

Source:  http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml.

Gary Jacobsen lives in Woodbridge. Contact him at .