Olympic Medal Count 2021

2021 Summer Olympics is now over, and we can now play around with the results without having to speculate about future performance of countries. I wanted to quickly test different ranking methods and see how they compare.

Why?

Because ranking the olympic performance of countries is not very straightforward, and people aren’t aware of the tradeoffs between different ranking methods.

Ranking methods

In this section I will go through some sensible ways to rank countries. Before we do that, let’s have a quick look at the data as it is presented on the olympics website.

Out [4]:

	country	gold	silver	bronze
0	USA	39	41	33
1	China	38	32	18
2	Japan	27	14	17
3	Great Britain	22	21	22
4	Russia	20	28	23
...	...	...	...	...
88	Ghana	0	0	1
89	Grenada	0	0	1
90	Kuwait	0	0	1
91	Moldova	0	0	1
92	Syria	0	0	1

93 rows × 4 columns

Number of gold medals

This is the most common ranking method I’ve seen. It ranks countries by the number of gold medals earned, using the number of silver and bronze medals as tie-breakers.

Out [5]:

	country	gold	silver	bronze
0	USA	39	41	33
1	China	38	32	18
2	Japan	27	14	17
3	Great Britain	22	21	22
4	Russia	20	28	23
5	Australia	17	7	22
6	Netherlands	10	12	14
7	France	10	12	11
8	Germany	10	11	16
9	Italy	10	10	20
10	Canada	7	6	11
11	Brazil	7	6	8
12	New Zealand	7	6	7
13	Cuba	7	3	5
14	Hungary	6	7	7

Total number of medals

This is another common method that attempts to fix the downsides of “ranking by gold”. Instead, it ranks the countries by the total number of medals earned.

Out [6]:

	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
0	USA	39	41	33	113
1	China	38	32	18	88
4	Russia	20	28	23	71
3	Great Britain	22	21	22	65
2	Japan	27	14	17	58
5	Australia	17	7	22	46
9	Italy	10	10	20	40
8	Germany	10	11	16	37
6	Netherlands	10	12	14	36
7	France	10	12	11	33
10	Canada	7	6	11	24
11	Brazil	7	6	8	21
12	New Zealand	7	6	7	20
14	Hungary	6	7	7	20
15	South Korea	6	4	10	20
43	Ukraine	1	6	12	19
21	Spain	3	8	6	17
13	Cuba	7	3	5	15
16	Poland	4	5	5	14
23	Switzerland	3	4	6	13
34	Turkey	2	2	9	13
33	Taiwan	2	4	6	12

Weighted ranking

This is a mixture of the previous two methods. It ranks countries based on the total number of medals, but each gold medal is worth 3 points, each silver medal is worth 2 points, and each bronze medal is worth 1 point.

Out [7]:

	country	gold	silver	bronze	weighted
0	USA	39	41	33	232
1	China	38	32	18	196
4	Russia	20	28	23	139
3	Great Britain	22	21	22	130
2	Japan	27	14	17	126
5	Australia	17	7	22	87
9	Italy	10	10	20	70
6	Netherlands	10	12	14	68
8	Germany	10	11	16	68
7	France	10	12	11	65
10	Canada	7	6	11	44
11	Brazil	7	6	8	41
12	New Zealand	7	6	7	40
14	Hungary	6	7	7	39
15	South Korea	6	4	10	36
13	Cuba	7	3	5	32
21	Spain	3	8	6	31
16	Poland	4	5	5	27
43	Ukraine	1	6	12	27
17	Czech Republic	4	4	3	23
23	Switzerland	3	4	6	23
18	Kenya	4	4	2	22
22	Sweden	3	6	0	21
24	Denmark	3	4	4	21
33	Taiwan	2	4	6	20
34	Turkey	2	2	9	19

Out [8]:

	country	gold	silver	bronze	weighted
0	USA	39	41	33	384
1	China	38	32	18	322
4	Russia	20	28	23	230
3	Great Britain	22	21	22	217
2	Japan	27	14	17	211
5	Australia	17	7	22	150
9	Italy	10	10	20	120
8	Germany	10	11	16	115
6	Netherlands	10	12	14	114
7	France	10	12	11	108
10	Canada	7	6	11	75
11	Brazil	7	6	8	69
12	New Zealand	7	6	7	67
14	Hungary	6	7	7	65
15	South Korea	6	4	10	62
13	Cuba	7	3	5	54
21	Spain	3	8	6	51
43	Ukraine	1	6	12	47
16	Poland	4	5	5	45
23	Switzerland	3	4	6	39
17	Czech Republic	4	4	3	38
18	Kenya	4	4	2	36
24	Denmark	3	4	4	35
33	Taiwan	2	4	6	34
34	Turkey	2	2	9	34