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Toyota New TOP Sponsor of IOC

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Although the rumor mill was in action for several weeks noting that this would occur, Toyota officially signed on today to be a TOP Sponsor of the Olympic Movement for the 2017-2020 and 2021-2024 Olympiads. This is a game changer in many ways.

The figures announced are that Toyota will provide support to the IOC equal to $835 million (US) over 8 years. In the most recent Olympiads TOP Sponsor support has been in the $100-$150 million range per Olympiad, but Toyota is increasing this to the $400-$425 million range.

Below we give the details of all the TOP sponsors since the program began in 1984. TOP originally stood for The Olympic Programme, but more recently has been changed to The Olympic Partners. TOP was devised by then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Vice-President Dick Pound as a way to generate income for the IOC and make it less dependent on the largesse of US television networks. The plan was to make it exclusive, with only a few sponsors, and only one in each product category, but to charge dearly for that exclusivity. The idea was based on the sponsorship policy that Peter Ueberroth used to make the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics so financially successful.

But paying dearly is relative. In the 1985-88 Olympiad, TOP brought in about $96 million total, while companies now must pay more than that each simply to be a member. Official figures are not always announced anymore so the numbers below from 2004-2016 must be considered estimates, but they are certainly close for total revenue generated by the IOC. You will note that for TOP VIII (2013-16) total revenue to the IOC was about $1.15 billion (US). The Toyota support for TOP IX (2017-20) will already push those numbers to $1.56 billion (US), a 35% increase.

But if the Toyota deal becomes more standard, and other companies are pushed to provide support in the same range, this could completely change Olympic economics for Organizing Committees (OCOGs). Let’s assume that the IOC can get $300 million per Olympiad now per company, still less than what Toyota is paying, and that it gets between 10-15 TOP sponsors each Olympiad (there have been a maximum of 12). That now brings the numbers up to the $3-4 billion range per TOP program (perhaps more), an increase in the 250-300% range.

Further, the IOC provides money from the TOP program to OCOGs with most recent figures being about 50% provided to the OCOGs and a large percentage of the rest to the NOCs (International Federations receive IOC money from television sponsorship money). The IOC has kept only about 10% of TOP dollars for its own operating expenses. Assuming those expenses are relatively fixed, increasing perhaps slightly more than inflation, the IOC could now afford to provide a larger percentage of TOP income to OCOGs and NOCs, and this would be a larger percentage of an already greatly increased corpus.

While recent summer host cities have been receiving money in the $1.0-1.5 billion range from the IOC, via TOP income and television contracts, as seed money to get started with their operating expenses, it is possible, with this new paradigm for TOP sponsorship that this could greatly increase, perhaps more than even double. That would make the option to host Olympics again more financially viable to host cities.

A few other things about the Toyota sponsorship. Its becomes the first automobile manufacturer to become a TOP sponsor. It is the 30th company to become a TOP sponsor and its sponsorship of TOP is also a landmark for the IOC, making it the 100th sponsorship overall, as many companies have been sponsors multiple times. Coca-Cola, Matushita/Panasonic, and VISA have been TOP sponsors at every Olympiad since the program’s inception, although Coca-Cola and VISA have not yet signed on for 2021-24. As Michael Payne, former director of IOC marketing, pointed out in a tweet, it will be interesting to see how the Toyota deal affects negotiations for future TOP sponsorship with Coca-Cola and VISA.

[table]

TOP,I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII,VIII,IX,X,

End,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2008,2012,2016,2020,2024,Totals

3M,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Acer,,,,,,,x,,,,1

Atos Origin,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

Bausch & Lomb,,x,x,,,,,,,,2

Bridgestone,,,,,,,,x,x,x,3

Brother,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Coca-Cola,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,,9

Dow Chemical,,,,,,,x,x,x,,3

Federal Express,x,,,,,,,,,,1

General Electric,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

IBM,,,x,x,,,,,,,2

John Hancock,,,x,x,x,,,,,,3

Johnson & Johnson,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Kodak,x,x,x,x,x,x,,,,,6

Lenovo,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Manulife,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Mars,,x,,,,,,,,,1

Matushita/Panasonic,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,10

McDonalds,,,,x,x,x,x,x,x,,6

Omega,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

Philips,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Proctor & Gamble,,,,,,,x,x,x,,3

Ricoh,,x,,,,,,,,,1

Samsung,,,,x,x,x,x,x,x,,6

Schlumberger SEMA,,,,,x,,,,,,1

Time/Sports Illustrated,,x,x,x,x,,,,,,4

Toyota,,,,,,,,,x,x,2

UPS,,x,x,x,,,,,,,3

VISA,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,,9

Xerox,,,x,x,x,,,,,,3

# Sponsors,8,12,10,11,10,12,11,11,12,3,100

Money ($US [millions]),$96,$172,$279,$579,$663,$866,$958 ,$1155 ,$1560 ,$900 ,$7228

[/table]

Cricket

Cricket and the Olympics

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On the 14th of February, the 2015 Cricket World Cup got underway in Australia and New Zealand. It is the largest sporting event after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, although it will be mainly followed in (former) members of the British Commonwealth. Cricket was an Olympic sport for only a single match, but connections between the two stretch from 1866 to 2012.

Crystal Palace

Our connection begins 30 years before the first modern Olympics, at the 1866 British National Olympic Games. These were in a large part the effort of William Penny Brookes. Brookes was also the founder of the Wenlock Olympian Games, first held in 1850 and still contested today.

Held at Crystal Palace, the National Olympic Games were a big success. The 440 yard hurdles event was won by an 18-year-old who had taken some time off from a cricket match: W.G. Grace.

Embed from Getty Images

Most cricket connaisseurs will need no further explanation, but for those not in the know, William Gilbert Grace, going by W.G. Grace, is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. The bearded legend is described well at CricInfo:

The statistics of his career are alone enough to explain why – more than 54,000 first-class runs (there are at least two different versions of the precise figure, so let’s leave it at that) spread across 44 seasons, including 839 in just eight days of 1876, when he hit a couple of triple-centuries, and only one other batsman managed to top a thousand runs in the entire season; a thousand in May in 1895, when he was nearly 47; and 2800-odd wickets costing less than 18 runs apiece.

An Olympic sport

In 1894, cricket’s association with the Olympics becomes much closer. At the time the IOC is founded, cricket is one of the few well-organized sports, and it is therefore not surprising that it ends up on the short-list of sports for the first Olympics in 1896.

The sport was however never held, no doubt hampered by the fact that Athens (or Greece, for that matter), lacked a wicket.

The first and only ever Olympic cricket match was held at the 1900 Games. Belgium, Britain and the Netherlands, were scheduled to send a team to France, each to play the host nation, but not each other. However, the Low Countries failed to send teams, leaving France v. Great Britain as the only match.

Great Britain (or England, as they were billed) was represented by the touring Devon and Somerset Wanderers, while the French team was made up of clubs that belonged to the Union des Sociétés Français de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). Most of the “French” players were actually British expatriates living in France, and we’ve only been able to confirm three team members to be French.

The twelve-a-side match was not an exciting affair, the British side being far stronger, eventually winning by 158 runs (see the original scorecard as well as a match report). Most of the Olympic competitors were, as Ian Buchanan has put it “distinctly average club players”, with the exception of two Wanderers players: Montague Toller and Alfred Bowerman, who both played first-class cricket (that’s the top-level, three-days-or-more form of cricket).

No return to the Games

The closest cricket has ever got to making a return to the Olympic Games after its brief appearance in 1900 came four years later in the unlikely setting of St. Louis, Missouri. September 22 was due to see the start of a tournament to decide the “World’s Amateur Cricket Championships” but, a few weeks before it was due to begin, the event was cancelled due to a lack of available pitches. The only confirmed entry we know of came from the city of Philadelphia. The Philadelphians, who included America’s greatest ever cricketer Bart King, would have been rated  alongside South Africa, England and Australia as the four best teams in the world at the time.

Tentative plans were made for a cricket tournament at the 1908 Rome Olympics. When Rome relinquished its right to hold the Games, London made no effort to follow through with these plans.

 So far, cricket has never returned to the Olympics, although the short Twenty20 format seems an ideal candidate for this. Reasons for the sports non-inclusion are rumored to sit with the sport’s governing body ICC and its most powerful members. The ICC is recognized by the IOC.

First-class Olympians

Toller and Bowerman, who played in 1900, are not the only Olympians to have played first-class cricket. We have identified at least 38 more Olympians with at least 1 first-class match. 24 of them competed at the Olympics in field hockey, which makes sense if you know that in Britain, cricket was only played in summer, with hockey or rugby being the winter-time activity.

Embed from Getty Images

Brian Booth batting for Australia

Of these 40 first-class players, there are four who have also played in Test matches (first-class matches between countries that have been given Test status):

  • Brian Booth played 29 Test matches for Australia (1961-66), after competing at the 1956 Olympics in hockey. He captained the team for two matches during the 1965-66 Ashes series.
  • John Douglas played 23 Test matches for England (1911-25). In 1908, he won Olympic gold in the middleweight boxing division. He died tragically in a shipwreck off the Danish coast.
  • Claude Buckenham contested 4 Test matches for England (1909-10), all in the English tour of South Africa in those years. Earlier, Buckenham had played football for Upton Park FC, which represented Britain in football at the 1900 Olympics, winning the Olympic “tournament”.
  • Jack MacBryan is credited with a single Test match for England. He played during a rain-plagued match against South Africa in 1924, where did not bowl, bat or dismiss anybody, while fielding for 66.5 overs. Four years earlier, he had won a gold medal in field hockey.

 Cricket venues

As a final link between the Olympics and top class cricket, four cricket grounds have been used as an Olympic venue. This does not include the 1900 Olympics, as that match was held as the Vincennes velodrome.

In 1928, the demonstration sport of kaatsen (similar to the US version of handball and pelota) was held on the cricket grounds outside the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. A much better known venue is the Melbourne Cricket Ground. At the 1956 Olympics, it was the main stadium, hosting the opening and closing ceremony, the track and field competitions, as well as matches in football and field hockey. Demonstration matches in baseball and Aussie rules football were also conducted at the MCG.

For the 2000 Olympics, several football matches were held in the stadium. The same occurred in Brisbane, where the Brisbane Cricket Ground served as the venue.

The most famous cricket ground in the world is Lord’s, which calls itself “The home of cricket”. With some right: it has been in use at its current location since 1814. At the 2012 Olympics, the archery competitions were held there.

Embed from Getty Images

The archery competitions at Lord’s.

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Gold Medalist Deaths While the Title Holder

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A bit more on the tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of French swimming gold medalist Camille Muffat, French boxing medalist Alexis Vastine, and renowned French sailor, although not an Olympian, Florence Arthaud.

Muffat was the gold medalist in the women’s 400 metre freestyle at the London Olympics, and thus died while holding the crown. She becomes the 83rd Olympian to have died as the holding gold medalist. She is the 29th Olympian to have been an individual gold medalist, but dying before the event was next contested. (Earlier post incorrect as when checking the database I looked for Olympians dying within 4 years, and neglected some of the 1912 and 1936 Olympians who waited 8 and 12 years for the next Olympics. Thanks to Harri Piironen for pointing this out.)

The full list of the 83 Olympians who died while the holder of a gold medal is as follows:

[table]

Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Spt,Year,YOD

Joseph Olivier,M,S,FRA,RUG,1900,1901

Alfred Tysoe,M,S,GBR,ATH,1900,1901

Galen C. Spencer,M,S,USA,ARC,1904,1904

David Bratton,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1904

Étienne Desmarteau,M,S,CAN,ATH,1904,1905

George Van Cleaf,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1905

George Sheldon,M,S,USA,DIV,1904,1907

David Hesser,M,S,USA,WAP,1904,1908

John B. Taylor,M,S,USA,ATH,1908,1908

Carl Holmberg,M,S,SWE,GYM,1908,1909

Reggie Doherty,M,S,GBR,TEN,1908,1910

Bernard Redwood,M,S,GBR,MTB,1908,1911

Carl Folcker,M,S,SWE,GYM,1908,1911

Kostas Tsiklitiras,M,S,GRE,ATH,1912,1913

Ralph Rose,M,S,USA,ATH,1912,1913

Ronald Brebner,M,S,GBR,FTB,1912,1914

Guido Romano,M,S,ITA,GYM,1912,1916

Gaston Salmon,M,S,BEL,FEN,1912,1917

Alister Kirby,M,S,GBR,ROW,1912,1917

Isaac Bentham,M,S,GBR,WAP,1912,1917

Victor Willems,M,S,BEL,FEN,1912,1918

Joseph Dines,M,S,GBR,FTB,1912,1918

Cecil Healy,M,S,ANZ,SWI,1912,1918

Henry Macintosh,M,S,GBR,ATH,1912,1918

Harry Sears,M,S,USA,SHO,1912,1920

Mike Kelly,M,S,USA,SHO,1920,1923

Frans De Haes,M,S,BEL,WLT,1920,1923

Émile Albrecht,M,S,SUI,ROW,1924,1927

Sybil Bauer,F,S,USA,SWI,1924,1927

Ödön von Tersztyánszky,M,S,HUN,FEN,1928,1929

René Borjas,M,S,URU,FTB,1928,1931

George Saling,M,S,USA,ATH,1932,1933

Andrew Libano,M,S,USA,SAI,1932,1935

Paul Wevers,M,S,GER,CAN,1936,1941

Ludwig Stubbendorf,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1941

Herbert Adamski,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1941

Hugo Strauß,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1941

Kalle Jalkanen,M,W,FIN,CCS,1936,1941

Heinz Körvers,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1942

Martin Karl,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1942

Ernst Winter,M,S,GER,GYM,1936,1943

Arthur Knautz,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1943

Hans Maier,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1943

Hans Woellke,M,S,GER,ATH,1936,1943

Foy Draper,M,S,USA,ATH,1936,1943

Heinz Brandt,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1944

Kurt Hasse,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1944

Toni Merkens,M,S,GER,CYC,1936,1944

Endre Kabos,M,S,HUN,FEN,1936,1944

Georg Dascher,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1944

Hannes Hansen,M,S,GER,HAN,1936,1944

Shigeo Arai,M,S,JPN,SWI,1936,1944

Lauri Koskela,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Kustaa Pihlajamäki,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Rudolf Lippert,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1945

Willi Menne,M,S,GER,ROW,1936,1945

Ferenc Csík,M,S,HUN,SWI,1936,1945

Olivér Halassy,M,S,HUN,WAP,1936,1946

Corny Johnson,M,S,USA,ATH,1936,1946

Charles Leaf,M,S,GBR,SAI,1936,1947

Sayed Jaffar,M,S,IND,HOK,1936,1937

Gunnar Höckert,M,S,FIN,ATH,1936,1940

Nils Östensson,M,W,SWE,CCS,1948,1949

George Ahlgren,M,S,USA,ROW,1948,1951

Ed Sanders,M,S,USA,BOX,1952,1954

Skippy Browning,M,S,USA,DIV,1952,1956

Viktor Blinov,M,W,URS,ICH,1968,1968

István Kozma,M,S,HUN,WRE,1968,1970

Yuliya Riabchynska,F,S,URS,CAN,1972,1973

Yuriy Lahutin,M,S,URS,HAN,1976,1978

Bronisław Malinowski,M,S,POL,ATH,1980,1981

Volodymyr Smyrnov,M,S,URS,FEN,1980,1982

Sergey Rogozhin,M,S,URS,EQU,1980,1983

Valeriy Hoborov,M,S,URS,BAS,1988,1989

Paolo Caldarella,M,S,ITA,WAP,1992,1993

Roberto Balado,M,S,CUB,BOX,1992,1994

Fabio Casartelli,M,S,ITA,CYC,1992,1995

Sergey Grinkov,M,W,RUS,FSK,1994,1995

Sandra Schmirler,F,W,CAN,CUR,1998,2000

Bekzat Sattarkhanov,M,S,KAZ,BOX,2000,2000

Sammy Wanjiru,M,S,KEN,ATH,2008,2011

Camille Muffat,F,S,FRA,SWI,2012,2015

[/table]

Here is the list of the 29 individual gold medalists who died as holders:

[table]

Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Spt,Year,YOD

Étienne Desmarteau,M,S,CAN,ATH,1904,1905

George Sheldon,M,S,USA,DIV,1904,1907

Kostas Tsiklitiras,M,S,GRE,ATH,1912,1913

Ralph Rose,M,S,USA,ATH,1912,1913

Frans De Haes,M,S,BEL,WLT,1920,1923

Sybil Bauer,F,S,USA,SWI,1924,1927

Ödön von Tersztyánszky,M,S,HUN,FEN,1928,1929

George Saling,M,S,USA,ATH,1932,1933

Gunnar Höckert,M,S,FIN,ATH,1936,1940

Ludwig Stubbendorf,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1941

Hans Woellke,M,S,GER,ATH,1936,1943

Kurt Hasse,M,S,GER,EQU,1936,1944

Toni Merkens,M,S,GER,CYC,1936,1944

Endre Kabos,M,S,HUN,FEN,1936,1944

Lauri Koskela,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Kustaa Pihlajamäki,M,S,FIN,WRE,1936,1944

Ferenc Csík,M,S,HUN,SWI,1936,1945

Corny Johnson,M,S,USA,ATH,1936,1946

Ed Sanders,M,S,USA,BOX,1952,1954

Skippy Browning,M,S,USA,DIV,1952,1956

István Kozma,M,S,HUN,WRE,1968,1970

Yuliya Riabchynska,F,S,URS,CAN,1972,1973

Bronisław Malinowski,M,S,POL,ATH,1980,1981

Volodymyr Smyrnov,M,S,URS,FEN,1980,1982

Roberto Balado,M,S,CUB,BOX,1992,1994

Fabio Casartelli,M,S,ITA,CYC,1992,1995

Bekzat Sattarkhanov,M,S,KAZ,BOX,2000,2000

Sammy Wanjiru,M,S,KEN,ATH,2008,2011

Camille Muffat,F,S,FRA,SWI,2012,2015

[/table]

Full details of the Olympians, the events in which they competed, and their deaths can be found at www.sports-reference.com/olympics.

Uncategorized

Olympians Die in Argentine Helicopter Crash

The time you won your town the race,
We chaired you through the marketplace.
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder high.

Yesterday, two helicopters crashed in Argentina during the filming of a reality survival show. All aboard the choppers were killed, including French swimmer Camille Muffat, a gold medalist in the 400 metre freestyle at the 2012 London Olympics, and Alexis Vastine, a French boxing bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It was, sadly, not the first time that plane disasters claimed the lives of Olympic athletes, often those still young, still in their prime, still with lives to live, victories to win, and laughs to laugh.

Today the road all runners come,
Shoulder high we bring you home.
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Camille Muffat 1989-2015 RIP

Shortly after the 1948 Winter Olympics, on 8 November 1948, the Czechoslovak ice hockey team boarded a flight from Paris to London, but the plane disappeared over the English Channel, and six Czechoslovak Olympians, along with all the other passengers, would skate no more. Gone were Jaroslav Jiřík, Karel Stibor, Ladislav Troják, Miloslav Pokorný, Vilibald Šťovík, and Zdeněk Jarkovský.

Smart lad to slip betimes away,
From fields where glory does not stay.
For quickly though the laurel grows,
It withers quicker than a rose.

On 15 February 1961 the US figure skating was travelling to the World Championships in Praha, Czechoslovakia, when their Sabena Boeing 707 crashed on approach to the Brussels airport in Belgium, Everyone was killed including the entire US figure skating team, which included Olympians Laurie Owen, Maribel Owen, Maribel Vinson Owen, Dudley Richards, Ray Hadley, Jr., and Ila Ray Hadley.

Eyes the shady night has shut,
Cannot see the record cut.
And silence sounds no worse than cheers,
After earth has stopped the ears.

In August 1979, two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collided over Dniprodzerzhynsk, Ukraine, killing 178 including the complete football team of Pakhtakor Toshkent. On the plane was Soviet footballer Vladimir Fyodorov, who had played for the Soviet Union at the 1976 Montréal Olympics.

Now you will not swell the rout,
Of lads who wore their honors out.
Runners whom renown outran,
And the name died before the man.

On 27 April 1993, a Buffalo DHC-5D of the Zambian Air Force crashed off the coast of Gabon about 500 metres from Libreville, killing all 30 aboard including 18 Zambian footballers and their coaches. This include 8 previous Zambian Olympians – Alex Chola, Derby Makinka, Efford Chabala, Eston Mulenga, Godfrey Chitalu, Richard Mwanza, Samuel Chomba, and Wisdom Chansa.

The Zambian team at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations pay tribute to the lost generation of Zambian football.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

On 7 September 2011, a Yakovlev Yak-42D carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team crashed on take-off from Tunoshna Airport, in Yaroslavl, Russia. Olympians from five different nations were lost that night – Pavol Demitra (Slovakia), Stefan Liv (Sweden), Ruslan Saley (Belarus), Kārlis Skrastiņš (Latvia), and Josef Vašíček (Czech Republic).

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl’s. – A. E. Housman

There have been others. And likely there will sadly be more in the future. For the most complete list of Olympians who have died in plane crashes, see our list at http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=2. May they all rest in peace, may we give honor to their lives, and may they stay, in our memories, forever young.

Uncategorized

International Women’s Day

1 Comment

Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day, which has been celebrated now since 1909. So in terms of the Olympics, which nations have been most fair in promoting female participation? This is a difficult question to answer as many of the most prominent nations have competed in the Olympics for the longest time, when there were far fewer women’s events. But here are the nations that have had the highest percentage of females on their Olympic teams, overall, looking at the Summer Games only:

[table]

NOC,Total,Men,Women,Fem%%%

East Timor,5,2,3,60.0%

Bhutan,19,8,11,57.9%

Saint Kitts and Nevis,17,8,9,52.9%

China,2076,1015,1061,51.1%

Palau,18,9,9,50.0%

DPR Korea (North),325,172,153,47.1%

Saint Lucia,17,9,8,47.1%

São Tomé and Principe,11,6,5,45.5%

Belarus,537,295,242,45.1%

Angola,148,82,66,44.6%

[/table]

Among the major nations, the players you would expect, here is how their Summer Olympic team breakdown works out:

[table]

NOC,Total,Men,Women,Fem%%%

Russia,1633,942,691,42.3%

Jamaica,320,207,113,35.3%

German Demo. Rep.,1129,761,368,32.6%

Romania,1456,995,461,31.7%

New Zealand,1112,760,352,31.7%

The Netherlands,2468,1795,673,27.3%

Germany,3516,2592,924,26.3%

United States,7327,5467,1860,25.4%

Brazil,1708,1279,429,25.1%

Fed. Rep. of Germany,1371,1027,344,25.1%

Great Britain,5281,4011,1270,24.0%

Cuba,1204,918,286,23.8%

Poland,2233,1715,518,23.2%

Sweden,2738,2263,475,17.3%

Norway,1361,1125,236,17.3%

France,4911,4082,829,16.9%

Switzerland,1741,1486,255,14.6%

[/table]

Again, remember that many of these nations competed prior to World War II, when there were very few women’s events.

And what about those nations who have had very few, in some cases, almost no, female Summer Olympians:

[table]

NOC,Total,Men,Women,Fem%%%

Saudi Arabia,142,140,2,1.4%

Kuwait,192,189,3,1.6%

Pakistan,354,346,8,2.3%

Afghanistan,100,97,3,3.0%

Monaco,64,62,2,3.1%

Iraq,174,168,6,3.4%

Qatar,108,104,4,3.7%

Botswana,52,50,2,3.8%

British Virgin Islands,23,22,1,4.3%

Iran,463,441,22,4.8%

[/table]

Among current IOC Member nations, only three have had only 1 female competitor – British Virgin Islands (22), Brunei (5), and Tuvalu (4), while six have had only 2 women compete – Botswana (50), Kiribati (5), Monaco (62), Nauru (6), Oman (37), and Saudi Arabia (140). The numbers in parentheses indicate those nations’ male Olympians

Charlotte Cooper - First Female Olympic Gold Medalist - 1900 Tennis
Charlotte Cooper – First Female Olympic Gold Medalist – 1900 Tennis

 

As noted, in those early years, there were very few events for women at the Olympics. How bad was it, Johnny? Here is the breakdown:

[table]

Events,Men,Women,Mixed,Total,Fem%%%,FemEligible

1896,43,0,0,43,0.0%,0.0%

1900,71,2,22,95,2.1%,25.3%

1904,92,3,0,95,3.2%,3.2%

1906,72,1,1,74,1.4%,2.7%

1908,96,3,7,106,2.8%,9.4%

1912,91,5,6,102,4.9%,10.8%

1920,130,7,15,152,4.6%,14.5%

1924,112,10,4,126,7.9%,11.1%

1928,92,14,3,109,12.8%,15.6%

1932,99,14,4,117,12.0%,15.4%

1936,110,15,4,129,11.6%,14.7%

1948,112,19,5,136,14.0%,17.6%

1952,117,25,7,149,16.8%,21.5%

1956,116,26,9,151,17.2%,23.2%

1960,113,29,8,150,19.3%,24.7%

1964,119,33,11,163,20.2%,27.0%

1968,115,39,18,172,22.7%,33.1%

1972,132,43,20,195,22.1%,32.3%

1976,130,49,19,198,24.7%,34.3%

1980,134,50,19,203,24.6%,34.0%

1984,144,62,15,221,28.1%,34.8%

1988,151,72,14,237,30.4%,36.3%

1992,159,86,12,257,33.5%,38.1%

1996,163,97,11,271,35.8%,39.9%

2000,168,120,12,300,40.0%,44.0%

2004,166,125,10,301,41.5%,44.9%

2008,165,127,10,302,42.1%,45.4%

2012,162,132,8,302,43.7%,46.4%

Totals,3374,1208,274,4856,24.9%,30.5%

[/table]

Wojdan Shaherkani, Judo player from Saudi Arabia – London 2012

So, as you can see, prior to World War II, women rarely had even 15% of the events in which they could compete, with the exception of 1900 when there were a lot of mixed events.

How many women have actually competed at the Summer Olympics, as a percentage of the total, since 1896? Here is that table:

[table]

Year,Women,Total,Wom%,WomNOCs,NOCs,%NOC

1896,0,246,0.0%,0,12,0.0%

1900,23,1614,1.4%,6,31,19.4%

1904,6,650,0.9%,1,15,6.7%

1906,6,841,0.7%,2,21,9.5%

1908,44,2023,2.2%,3,22,13.6%

1912,53,2377,2.2%,10,27,37.0%

1920,77,2670,2.9%,14,29,48.3%

1924,135,3067,4.4%,20,44,45.5%

1928,274,2878,9.5%,25,46,54.3%

1932,126,1334,9.4%,19,38,50.0%

1936,329,3956,8.3%,27,49,55.1%

1948,393,4073,9.6%,32,59,54.2%

1952,521,4932,10.6%,41,69,59.4%

1956,383,3344,11.5%,38,72,52.8%

1960,612,5350,11.4%,45,83,54.2%

1964,680,5137,13.2%,53,93,57.0%

1968,783,5557,14.1%,54,112,48.2%

1972,1060,7113,14.9%,67,121,55.4%

1976,1260,6073,20.7%,65,92,70.7%

1980,1123,5259,21.4%,56,80,70.0%

1984,1569,6798,23.1%,95,140,67.9%

1988,2202,8453,26.0%,118,159,74.2%

1992,2723,9386,29.0%,134,169,79.3%

1996,3519,10339,34.0%,168,197,85.3%

2000,4069,10648,38.2%,191,200,95.5%

2004,4304,10561,40.8%,192,201,95.5%

2008,4611,10901,42.3%,195,204,95.6%

2012,4657,10520,44.3%,201,205,98.0%

Totals,25467,107829,23.6%,209,221,94.6%

[/table]

So as we celebrate International Women’s Day, we can see that at the Olympics, in terms of female participation, things were once very bad, they are better now, but there is still a long way to go.

Uncategorized

Eugeniusz Lokajski

[table]

Full name,Eugeniusz Zenon Lokajski

Born,14 December 1908 in Warszawa; Mazowieckie

Died,25 September 1944 in Warszawa; Mazowieckie

Measurements,181 cm / 74 kg

Affiliations,Warszawianka

[/table]

A multi-talented athlete who was adept in a number of track and field disciplines and also as a gymnast, Eugeniusz Lokajski is also known for his contributions, both as a soldier and also as a documenter through his photography, to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.

Champion of Poland at the javelin in both 1934 and 1935 he recorded a throw of 73.25m in the early summer of 1936 that established him as one the favourites for Berlin. A shoulder injury incurred shortly before the Olympic Games hampered him and he could only finish 7th as a throw of 71m claimed the Olympic title. His shoulder never recovered enough for him to return to serious athletics despite an attempted comeback. He was also a national champion at gymastics in 1934 and 1935.

Conscripted into the Polish Army in 1939 Lokajski served as an infantry commander and was taken prisoner by Soviet forces during the Siege of Brest-Litovsk. He escaped from his captors and returned to his hometown of Warsaw where he ran a photographic business.

He worked as a teacher in one of the illegal “underground universities” set up by the resistance before taking over his late brother’s responsibilities transporting arms and munitions. Lokajski commanded his own platoon of soldiers during the uprising but he was also charged by his commanding officer to use his talents as a photographer and record the events in the streets of Warsaw and he also provided portraits of resistance fighter for use of fake documents. He died in 1944 when caught in an artillery barrage during a trip to collect photographic materials. His body was only found in 1945 after the end of the war. Eugeniusz Lokajski was buried in the “Aleja Zasłużonych” (Avenue of the Meritorious) at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

Personal Best: JT – 73.27 (1936).

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Position

1936 Athletics,Javelin Throw,7

[/table]

Uncategorized

Jim Kerr

1 Comment

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,James Lancefield “Jim” Kerr

Born,17 August 1940 in Plainfield; New Jersey (USA)

Measurements,182 cm / 73 kg

Country ,United States / Virgin Islands

[/table]

Jim Kerr was on the US Olympic team in the modern pentathlon in 1964 but did not compete. He excelled in both swimming and running, and was on state championship teams in both cross-country and swimming at Waukesha South High School in Wisconsin. He later swam at the University of Michigan. After college Kerr competed in fencing competitions and was a competitor at several US national championships. He later settled in the US Virgin Islands, where he continued to compete in fencing and represented the US Virgin Islands as a fencer at the 1984 Olympics. Later in life, Kerr became blind and began sailing for recreation. He then started competing in disabled sailing competitions for the blind, with an aim to sail at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Should Kerr make the US Virgin Islands sailing team for the 2016 Paralympics, it would be a record of sorts. While overlapping the Olympics and Paralympics, and only an alternate in 1964, it would be 52 years since his first appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo. The record for longest time span as an Olympic competitor is 48 years by Japanese equestrien Hiroshi Hoketsu, who competed in 1964, and then not again until 2008, and returned in 2012 at London.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Position

1964 Modern Pentathlon,Individual/Team,DNS

1984 Fencing,Individual Épée,=61

[/table]

Alpine skiing

Alpine World Championships were once held during the Olympics

1 Comment

On Tuesday the World Alpine Skiing Championships get underway in Colorado (USA) towns of Vail and Beaver Creek. From 1948 through 1980, no World Championships in the sport were held in Olympic years, with the Olympic races doubling as World Championships – except for the combined event. This event, which has been on the Olympic Program again since 1988, did produce a World Champion, but not an Olympic Champion. Who are these Olympic “champions”?

Embed from Getty Images

Gustavo Thöni (center) twice won the “Olympic” combined event, in 1972 and 1976. He also won three Olympic medals at these Games.

After the combined event was held in both 1936 and 1948, it was abandoned in 1952 to make room for the new giant slalom competition. But as it was still held at the regular World Championships (which were held in even years between Olympics), the combined event returned in 1956. However, it was never an actual event – no separate races were held – but instead conducted on paper only. Based on weighting factors and the time behind the winner of each race, the skiers were awarded points, with the lowest total winning (this format was later replaced by a simpler format with finishing times simply added up). Another difference with the present-day combined event is that it also included the giant slalom, not just the downhill and the slalom. From 1956 through 1980, the medal winners in these events were:

[table]

Year, Gender, Gold, NOC, Silver, NOC, Bronze, NOC

1956, Men, Toni Sailer, AUT, Charles Bozon, FRA, Stig Sollander, SWE
1956, Women, Madeleine Berthod, SUI, Fieda Dänzer, SUI, Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo, ITA
1960, Men, Guy Périllat, FRA, Charles Bozon, FRA, Hans-Peter Lanig, GER
1960, Women, Anne Heggtveit, CAN, Sonja Sperl, GER, Barbi Henneberger, GER
1964, Men, Ludwig Leitner, GER, Gerhard Nenning, AUT, Billy Kidd, USA
1964, Women, Marielle Goitschel, FRA, Christl Haas, AUT, Edith Zimmermann, AUT
1968, Men, Jean-Claude Killy, FRA, Dumeng Giovanoli, SUI, Heinrich Messner, AUT
1968, Women, Nancy Greene, CAN, Marielle Goitschel, FRA, Annie Famose, FRA
1972, Men, Gustav Thöni, ITA, Walter Tresch, SUI, Jim Hunter, CAN
1972, Women, Annemarie Möser-Pröll, AUT, Florence Steurer, FRA, Toril Førland, NOR
1976, Men, Gustav Thöni, ITA, Willi Frommelt, LIE, Greg Jones, USA
1976, Women, Rosi Mittermaier, FRG, Danièle Debernard, FRA, Hanni Wenzel, LIE
1980, Men, Phil Mahre, USA, Andreas Wenzel, LIE, Leonahard Stock, AUT
1980, Women, Hanni Wenzel, LIE, Cindy Nelson, USA, Ingrid Eberle, AUT

[/table]

Many of these are not surprising winners, as Sailer, Killy, Mittermaier and Wenzel medalled in all three events. Others, however, are not known as Olympics heroes. Ludwig Leitner, for example, did not reach the podium on any of the Olympic events, but did achieve three top eight positions. The 1972 bronze medallist, Jim Hunter, didn’t place in the top 10 in any of the three races.

Embed from Getty Images

Hanni Wenzel won both of Liechstein’s only two Olympic titles to date in 1980, and could have won a third one if the combined event would have had medal status at the time.

 

Uncategorized

How many Olympians have there been?

1 Comment

You’d think that one of the easier questions for us to answer would be: “How many Olympians have there been”? This simple question is actually quite hard to answer. We do have an answer, of course, but it’s also definitely wrong.

As with many statistical issues, one first has to define what an Olympian is. We could look to the World Olympians Association (WOA), which defines an Olympian as:

An Olympian is an athlete who has been accredited to participate in the Olympic Games in a full medal sport.

This is a useful starting point: it explicitly names athletes (so no coaches, doctors, team leaders, etc.) and also excludes competitors in demonstration sports (which have not been held since 1992), exhibitions (last held in 2008) and other side-events. However, the “accredited” part of the definition is a bit less useful for us.

Among accredited athletes are of course those who eventually compete, but also those who fail to start for any reason (injury, disability, left off the team) or are only brought on a substitutes. In some sports, there are even various levels of accreditation. For example, in football (or soccer if you prefer), each team is nowadays allowed to enter 18 players, which are allowed to stay in the Olympic Village. However, if one of these gets injured, they are allowed to replaced them by one of four players on a separate list. Many of these alternate players don’t actually go to the Olympics, but they do have an accreditation. It seems to us that  being present at the Olympics would be a minimum to qualify as an Olympian.

Embed from Getty Images

The 18 Mexican football players that were handed an Olympic gold medal in London 2012.

We could then, of course, use that criterion to decide who is an Olympian. But this is pretty hard. Finding entry lists or accreditation lists is one, but these never say if a person was actually in town or not, which means we would have to figure this out for each athlete personally. And not just for recent years, but also for entrants from 1896, making this a virtually impossible task.

So instead of following the WOA, we’ve used our own definition:

An Olympian is an athlete who has competed in the Olympic Games in a full medal sport.

But that definition still isn’t complete. What exactly is a full medal sport? And what are Olympic Games, even?

Turns out that you can debate about both. While the Olympic Games of the modern era are pretty well-known, there’s an odd-one-out: the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens. While organized and approved by the IOC at the time, the IOC later decide not to recognize these Games as official – despite their importance to the Olympic Movement. Many Olympic historians disagree with this view, and so do we, so we include these Games in our figures.

Embed from Getty Images

Ray Ewry won a total of 10 Olympic gold medals, including two at the 1906 Intercalated Games, which are not currently recognized by the IOC.

Regarding the full medal sports, there is also debate about the early Olympics. In 1900, the Olympics were held in conjunction with the sports events at the World Exposition in Paris. Many events did not use the predicate ‘Olympic’, despite the fact that the we consider them to have been part of the Olympics. Four years later, when the Olympics were a side-show of yet another major exhibition (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition), the organizers did the opposite, and labelled every sporting event “Olympic”, including e.g. track and field championships for elementary school boys from St. Louis, handicap races, and other competitions hardly word the predicate “Olympic”.

Archery_on_Antropology_days_during_1904_Summer_Olympics

One of the more shameful “Olympic” events in St. Louis were the Anthropology Days in St. Louis, were so-called ‘savages’ competed against one another.

Some historians indeed consider all events held in Paris and St. Louis to have been Olympic. The IOC has never officially made a list of Olympic events in 1900 and 1904, although the list of medallists on their website can be taken as such. A clear method by the IOC to decide which events are Olympic, however, is unknown to us. The approach we use was set up by one of us, Bill Mallon, in the late 1990s when writing books about those early Olympics. He applied four criteria to events:

  1. the events must be open to amateurs only (this was the IOC opinion at the time)
  2. all competitors must compete equally (disallowing handicap events)
  3. the events must be open to competitors from all nations (even if only competitors from one nation competed)
  4. the events must be open to all (no limitations on age, origin, competency, etc. such as “junior”, “novice”)

This gives a list that excludes many of the fringe events held in these years, but is also slightly longer than the one used by the IOC.

Moving forward in time, there’s another category of events that qualified as full medal events at the time they were held, but that are often omitted: the art, aeronautics and alpinism competitions. From 1912 through 1948, Olympic medals were awarded in art, and between 1924 and 1936, medals were also handed out in alpinism and aeronautics. These medallists are not found on the IOC website, but they definitely received medals, which is why we include them as well.

So, with all that defining out of the way, it’s finally time to give you a number:

128,420

Now, we do have to say that this number is – sadly – wrong. Records books of the Olympics aren’t always complete, and we know for certain that many athletes are missing. For example, the members of the Greek gymnastics teams in 1896 have so far never surfaced, and neither have the names of the art competitors in 1920 that didn’t win a prize. In some cases, we do even know the number of athletes that we’re missing, but we don’t know if these are all “new” Olympians or not.

Even for more recent Olympics, information on who competed isn’t always clear-cut. In handball, all players on the team are listed on the match roster, even if they didn’t play. For recent years, detailed substitution information is available, but this is lacking for earlier years, leaving us to rely alternative sources such as video footage, contact with the athlete in question, etc.

Embed from Getty Images

Some of the 128,420 Olympians during the opening of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

Apart from missing data in the sources, we are of course only human, and therefore make errors. For example, we recently figured out we had missed two substitutes in the 1964 4-man bobsled competition (although both were already known as Olympians) – even though this information was in the Official Results.

To compensate for that, we sometimes unearth information that isn’t even in the Official Results. For example, last year, we found out two missing divers in the 1960 women’s diving event, and an hitherto unknown substitute in the 1920 water polo match Brazil – Sweden.

So, it is with full confidence we can say that 128,420 is the wrong number. But we dare you to come up with a better one!

Uncategorized

Individual and Team Olympic Medal Records

1 Comment

So we know who holds the Olympic records for most medals won and most gold medals won – that’s an easy one, Michael Phelps, who has won 22 medals and 18 gold medals (and is probably not done yet).

But Phelps won 9 medals in relay races, winning a medal in every swim relay race in 2004, 2008, and 2012, so he had a little help. What about winning individual medals? Who has won the most individual medals and individual gold medals? Is it still Phelps?

Not quite. The most individual medals title still belongs to Larisa Latynina, the Soviet gymnast who won 18 medals in all, the records that Phelps broke in London. Latynina won 14 of those medals by herself. Here is the list of all those winning 9 or more individual medals, and women who won 8 or more:

[table]

IndMeds,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

14,Larysa Latynina,F,S,URS,GYM

13,Michael Phelps,M,S,USA,SWI

12,Nikolay Andrianov,M,S,URS,GYM

10,Borys Shakhlin,M,S,URS,GYM

10,Takashi Ono,M,S,JPN,GYM

10,Aleksey Nemov,M,S,RUS,GYM

10,Ray Ewry,M,S,USA,ATH

9,Ole Einar Bjørndalen,M,W,NOR,BIA

9,Paavo Nurmi,M,S,FIN,ATH

9,Bjørn Dæhlie,M,W,NOR,CCS

9,Sawao Kato,M,S,JPN,GYM

9,Viktor Chukarin,M,S,URS,GYM

9,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR,GYM

9,Martin Sheridan,M,S,USA,ATH

8,Věra Čáslavská,F,S,TCH,GYM

8,Claudia Pechstein,F,W,GER,SSK

8,Karin Enke-Kania,F,W,GDR,SSK

8,Gunda Niemann-St’mann-Kleemann,F,W,GER,SSK

[/table]

Larysa Latynina
As you can see, Latynina is the only woman with more than 8 individual medals, with 4 women tied at that level. Two people on this list, Ray Ewry and Martin Sheridan, won some of their medals in 1906 (Ewry 2, Sheridan 5), so purists may demur and drop them from this list.

As to individual golds, yes, Phelps does lead this list with 11. And again, Ewry presents a problem with 10, including 2 in 1906, but he would still be second with 8, if you skip the 1906 Intercalated Olympics. Here is the list of all Olympians with 5 or more individual gold medals:

[table]

IndGolds,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

11,Michael Phelps,M,S,USA,SWI

10,Ray Ewry,M,S,USA,ATH

7,Věra Čáslavská,F,S,TCH,GYM

7,Carl Lewis,M,S,USA,ATH

6,Larysa Latynina,F,S,URS,GYM

6,Nikolay Andrianov,M,S,URS,GYM

6,Borys Shakhlin,M,S,URS,GYM

6,Paavo Nurmi,M,S,FIN,ATH

6,Bjørn Dæhlie,M,W,NOR,CCS

6,Lidiya Skoblikova,F,W,URS,SSK

5,Ole Einar Bjørndalen,M,W,NOR,BIA

5,Sawao Kato,M,S,JPN,GYM

5,Viktor Chukarin,M,S,URS,GYM

5,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR/EUN,GYM

5,Martin Sheridan,M,S,USA,ATH

5,Nadia Comăneci,F,S,ROU,GYM

5,Gert Fredriksson,M,S,SWE,CAN

5,Krisztina Egerszegi,F,S,HUN,SWI

5,Clas Thunberg,M,W,FIN,SSK

5,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,EUN,GYM

5,Bonnie Blair,F,W,USA,SSK

5,Eric Heiden,M,W,USA,SSK

[/table]

The women’s leader is Czechoslovak gymnast Věra Čáslavská with 7 individual gold medals, followed by Latynina, and Soviet speed skater Lidiya Skoblikova, both with 6. Among Winter Olympians, Skoblikova is tied with Norwegian cross-country skiier Bjørn Dæhlie, with 6 individual gold medals, followed by 4 Winter Olympians with 5: Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Finnish speed skater Clas Thunberg, and American speed skaters Bonnie Blair and Eric Heiden.

So who has won the most Olympic medals, without ever winning an individual medal? I dare say nobody in the twitterverse would ever get this trivia question correct, except for possibly the athlete herself, and even she may not know it. It is the Hungarian canoeist Katalin Kovács, who has won 8 Olympic medals from 2000-12, but never an individual one. Here are all those who won 6 or more Olympic medals, but never won an individual medal. As you would expect, they tend to be in sports with no, or few, opportunities to win individual medals.

[table]

Medals,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

8,Katalin Kovács,F,S,HUN,CAN

7,Willis Lee,M,S,USA,SHO

7,Bogdan Musiol,M,W,GDR/GER,BOB

6,Georgeta Damian-Andrunache,F,S,ROU,ROW

6,Steven Redgrave,M,S,GBR,ROW

6,Doina Ignat,F,S,ROU,ROW

6,Veronica Cogeanu-Cochelea,F,S,ROU,ROW

6,Wolfgang Hoppe,M,W,GDR/GER,BOB

6,Eugenio Monti,M,W,ITA,BOB

[/table]

Katalin Kovács

Now who has won the most Olympic gold medals but never won an individual gold? This one some people may get, as Jenny Thompson won 12 medals and 8 golds in swimming for the United States and leads the list, and is fairly well known. Her frustration at not winning an individual gold was well publicized (as was the same for her frequent teammate, Dara Torres – of note, Thompson and Torres were, and are, not friends). In fact this is not even close, as she leads 5 athletes with 5 team gold medals, with another 21 winning only 4 team golds. Here is the list of all those with 4 or more Olympic gold medals, but no individual gold medals:

[table]

Golds,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

8,Jenny Thompson,F,S,USA,SWI

5,Tom Jager,M,S,USA,SWI

5,Willis Lee,M,S,USA,SHO

5,Georgeta Damian-Andrunache,F,S,ROU,ROW

5,Steven Redgrave,M,S,GBR,ROW

5,Anastasiya Davydova,F,S,RUS,SYN

4,Dara Torres,F,S,USA,SWI

4,Ricco Groß,M,W,GER,BIA

4,Jason Lezak,M,S,USA,SWI

4,Einar Liberg,M,S,NOR,SHO

4,Lloyd Spooner,M,S,USA,SHO

4,Katrin Wagner-Augustin,F,S,GER,CAN

4,Doina Ignat,F,S,ROU,ROW

4,Aleksandr Tikhonov,M,W,URS,BIA

4,Jayna Hefford,F,W,CAN,ICH

4,Kevin Kuske,M,W,GER,BOB

4,André Lange,M,W,GER,BOB

4,Oreste Puliti,M,S,ITA,FEN

4,Hayley Wickenheiser,F,W,CAN,ICH

4,Kathrin Boron,F,S,GER,ROW

4,Teresa Edwards,F,S,USA,BAS

4,Jon Olsen,M,S,USA,SWI

4,Viorica Susanu,F,S,ROU,ROW

4,Lisa Leslie,F,S,USA,BAS

4,Caroline Ouellette,F,W,CAN,ICH

4,Matthew Pinsent,M,S,GBR,ROW

4,Anastasiya Yermakova,F,S,RUS,SYN

[/table]

So what does this all mean? Hell, we don’t know, but it was fun doing these lists!

All the Olympic Stats You'll Ever Need