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  • Writer's pictureChidubem Osuji

120 years of Olympic History.

Updated: Dec 28, 2022

ANALYSIS

The Olympic Games is an international sport event, which began in ancient Greece. The Olympic Games celebrate an Olympiad (period of four years). The first Olympiad of modern times was celebrated in 1896, and subsequent Olympiads are numbered consecutively, even when no games take place (as was the case in 1916, 1940, and 1944). 120 years of Olympic history from 1896 to 2016 is contained in this dataset. 230 countries have participated in the event during the period in view. 135,571 participants have engaged in a total of 66 sports. The average weight of a participant is 70.7kg, the average height is 175.34cm and the average age is 25.56. Out of a total of 135,571 participants, there are 13,372 Gold medalists, 13,295 Bronze medalists and 13,116 Silver medalists.

Athletics is the top sport won by medalists in the Olympics Games with 1,339, 1,296 and 1,334 for Gold, Bronze and Silver medals respectively. This is followed by Swimming won by 2.2% of participants.

The USA is the overall top country with most medals, 14% of the total medals won from the beginning of the games, 1896 till 2016. Russia is next with a total of 3,947 medals making up 9.9%.

Age group 18-30 won most medals within this period of review, a total of 30,513 medals which makes up 76.6% of medals won. 30-50 is the second top age group winning 15.8% of medals won.

In 1896 only men participated in the Olympic games, women became athletes in 1900 and the number of women participating in the games increased. Between 1900 and 1912 there was an increase of 86% and an increase of 71% between 1912 and 1932. In 2016, the number of female and male participants are almost equal.

For Summer, a total of 116,776 participants from 230 countries were involved in 52 sporting activities. 11,459 Gold medals, 11,409 Bronze medals and 11,220 Silver medals were won during the period in review.

Women won 27.7% of the total number of medals won during Summer (i.e., 34,088). 28,851 women participated from 222 countries participated in 40 sports. The youngest athlete was 11 years while the oldest was 74. The top 3 countries were USA, Russia and Germany. Swimming has the most medals, followed by athletics and rowing.

Men won 72.3% of medals during this season. 87,925 men have participated in games with Athletics being the sport with the most medals. The youngest athlete 10 years old and the oldest is 97 years. USA, Germany and Russia were the top 3 countries.

For the Winter season, 18,958 people from 119 countries took part in 17 sports. A total of 5,695 medals were won. 27% of the athletes were women from 90 countries who participated in 14 sports.

31.8% of medals have been won by female athletes from inception to 2016. Cross country skiing is the sport with the most medals won i.e., 339 then ice hockey and speed skating. The youngest and oldest athletes are 11 and 48 years old respectively.

73% are men from 114 countries who participated in 17 sports. Ice Hockey is the sport with the most medals. The youngest athlete was 12 years old while the oldest was 58 years old. Russia, USA and Germany are the top 3 countries during this season for the period in view.



DASHBOARD


OBSERVATIONS

  1. There is a drastic increase in the number of females participating in the Olympic games.

  2. The USA, Russia and Germany are constantly the top 3 countries with the most medals regardless of the season or sex of the participants.

  3. The top sports during the summer games are swimming, athletics and rowing while during the winter games are ice hockey, cross country skiing and speed skating are among the top 5 sports.

  4. Majority of medals won in both seasons was by athletes between the age group 18-30.


Dataset details

Playground - Maven Analytics

Name - 120 years of Olympic history

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1 Comment


Michael Brain Pretty
Michael Brain Pretty
Dec 23, 2022

Nice work

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