Taken from http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/es/fereidoun-esfandiary-1.html

Olympic Record
Basketball
1948 London
Iran 14th

.
Fereidoun Esfandiary played basketball in the Olympic Games for Iran in 1948, but it was only a footnote to a much larger life. The son of Iranian diplomats, he was born in Belgium and lived in 17 countries as a child. From 1952-54 he served on the United Nations’ Conciliation Commission for Palestine. During the 1960s he wrote several works of fiction, notably The Day of Sacrifice, The Beggar, and Identity Card. In 1970, Esfandiary legally changed his name to FM-2030. He did it because he expected to live to be 100, in 2030, and in order to break free of naming conventions that he considered a relic of humankind’s tribalistic past. He noted, “The name 2030 reflects my conviction that the years around 2030 will be a magical time. In 2030, we will be ageless and everyone will have an excellent chance to live forever. 2030 is a dream and a goal.” FM-2030 taught at the New School for Social Reseach in Manhattan, UCLA, and Florida International University, and served as a corporate consultant to Lockheed, JC Penney, and Rockwell International.

FM-2030 made many predictions of the future and considered himself to have been born in the wrong century, stating, “I am a 21st-century person who was accidentally launched [born] into the 20th. I have a deep nostalgia for the future.” His predictions about future life, that have already come true, included in vitro fertilization, genetic engineering, teleconferencing, teleshopping, and telemedicine. He also predicted what he termed a “Santa Claus machine” that would effectively be a Xerox machine for three-dimensional objects, and thought that free energy from the sun would someday produce limitless resources and limit the need for competition. FM-2030 also began writing non-fiction books in the 1970s, which included Optimism One: The Emerging Radicalism and Are You a Transhuman? Monitoring and Stimulating Your Personal Rate of Growth in a Rapidly Changing World. FM-2030 died from pancreatic cancer in 2000, but in an effort to continue his life, his body was frozen and placed into cryonic suspension at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona

Taken from the http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/jim-thorpe-1.html written by Bill Mallon

Olympic record
Track and Field Athletics.
1912 Stockholm
Pentathlon – Gold
Decathlon – Gold
High Jump – 4th
Long Jump – 7th

He was born “Wa-tho-huck”, a Sauk and Fox name meaning “Bright Path”, though his Christening certificate listed him as Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe. But he is known to the modern world simply as Jim Thorpe – possibly the greatest athlete of all time. He was born on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, near the town of Bellemont to Hiram P. Thorp, the son of Hiram G. Thorp, a trapper, and No-ten-o-quah, a member of the Thunder Clan of Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk and Fox Tribe. His mother was Charlotte Vieux, who had been brought up as a Potawatomi Indian, but she was the daughter of a Frenchman, and an Indian woman, Elizabeth Goslin, who had both Potawatomi and Kickapoo blood. Jim Thorpe was one of 11 children, and had a twin brother, who died when he was only eight.

In 1898, at age 11, Jim Thorpe was sent to the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, one of the two Indian schools that had been set up by the U.S. Government and Military, where he remained until 1904. In June 1904, Jim Thorpe entered the second Indian school, Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There he became a legend as both a football player and track & field athlete. Thorpe’s football career at Carlisle has been well documented. He is considered the greatest American football player pre-World War I. He primarily played running back, but apparently could do everything on the football field.

Less has been written of his track & field career. Thorpe was undefeated in the decathlon – he competed in only one, that being the 1912 Olympic decathlon. The first decathlons in the United States were the 1912 Olympic Trials, but Thorpe did not compete. There were only two entrants in the decathlon Eastern Olympic Trials, so Thorpe was added to the team based on the strength of his performance in the pentathlon trial the week previously. On 18 May, Thorpe had taken part in the pentathlon Olympic Trials. He won three of the five events and finished second in the other two to win the trials with a score of 7 pts.

In Stockholm he first won the pentathlon on 7 July, winning four of the five events and taking third in the javelin to win easily with only seven points. The next day he competed in the Olympic high jump, finishing equal fourth, and four days later, he took seventh in the long jump. On 13 July, he started the decathlon, in that year a three-day affair. His performance there is well-known as he set a world record which would have stood until 1926, had it not been struck from the books. The King of Sweden gave him his gold medals and told him, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”

He returned to America and a hero’s welcome. On 2 September he competed in the AAU All-Around Championship, the early American forerunner of the decathlon, which he won, breaking Martin Sheridan’s world record in the process. He scored 7,476 points and won by over 3,000 points. His track & field career was over.

Jim Thorpe also played professional baseball. It has been written that he was a poor excuse for a major league player, but this is probably unwarranted denigration. He was no star, but he was an adequate major leaguer. In his final major league year, 1919, he batted .327 for 62 games. His career major league average was .252. But most of his early baseball career was spent in the minor leagues. He played for the Rocky Mount Railroaders in 1909-1910, pitching and playing the outfield. After the 1912 Olympics, he was signed by the New York Giants and began a 7-year major league career, playing 6 seasons with the Giants, some time with the Cincinnati Reds, and finishing one year with the Boston Braves in 1919. In 1920-22 he extended his career, playing Triple A ball in the three major Triple A leagues, with the Akron Buckeyes (International League), the Toledo Mud Hens (American Association), and the Portland Beavers (Pacific Coast League).

Jim Thorpe later played professional football, but by then he was definitely in the twilight of his athletic brilliance. When Thorpe starred for Carlisle on the gridiron, there was no true professional football league, although there were scattered barnstorming teams. While still playing major league baseball, Thorpe signed with one of them in 1915, the Canton Bulldogs. He was paid the then astronomical sum of $250.00 (US) per game. He played for the Bulldogs from 1915 through 1919 while they were still an independent team. By then he was 32 years old, but still the most feared runner in the game. On 20 August 1920, the National Football League (NFL) was established among four barnstorming professional teams from Ohio – Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Dayton. Because of his name and prominence, Thorpe was appointed as the first president of the National Football League. Thorpe continued to play as well, since he was the biggest drawing card in the nascent league. Jim Thorpe played in the NFL from 1920-26 and again in 1928. How good was he as a football player? As did many other magazines, Football Digest produced an end of century special in June 1999, listing the Top 100 football players of all time. Thorpe was ranked 17th.

When his athletic career ended, Thorpe turned to Hollywood. He worked as an extra and stuntman in numerous movies, but never earned much money from his acting career. He later turned to drinking heavily, and he would eventually die, while living only in a trailer, far from auspicious surroundings for the one-time greatest athlete in the world.

In early 1913, it was revealed that Thorpe had played minor league baseball in the United States, as described above. For this he was retroactively declared a professional by the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and the IOC and his records at the 1912 Olympics were declared void. He had to return his gold medals, and his Challenge Trophies. What is not so well known is that Thorpe should never have been disqualified in the first place.

Over the years numerous attempts were made to get the IOC to reverse the decision, mostly started by Thorpe’s children. Some efforts succeeded gradually. In 1973, the AAU restored Thorpe’s amateur status for the years 1909-1912. This was followed in 1975 by the United States Olympic Committee making a similar restoration.

In 1982, the Thorpe family, aided by Bob Wheeler, one of Thorpe’s biographers, and his wife, Florence Ridlon, succeeded in their long struggle to have Jim Thorpe’s medals restored by the International Olympic Committee. It was revealed in Sports Illustrated that a key factor in this decision was a discovery by Ridlon, who found a pamphlet in the Library of Congress which gave the rules and regulations for the 1912 Olympic Games. It stated that the statute of limitations for a claim against any Olympic athlete’s eligibility in 1912 had to have been made within 30 days after the awarding of the prizes. The announcement of Thorpe’s professional baseball career occurred in January 1913. Thus it was almost six months after the end of the Olympics and his disqualification was completely unwarranted.
On 27 February 1982, Wheeler and Ridlon founded The Jim Thorpe Foundation, expressly for the purpose of moving to have his medals and honors restored. On 13 October 1982, only eight months after the formation of The Jim Thorpe Foundation, but fully 70 years too late, the IOC Executive Board approved, in a sense, the restoration of Jim Thorpe’s medals, declaring him co-winner with Sweden’s Hugo Wieslander (decathlon) and Norway’s Ferdinand Bie (pentathlon). At a meeting of the IOC Executive Board, this time on 18 January 1983 in Los Angeles, commemorative medals were presented to Bill and Gail Thorpe, two of Thorpe’s children.

At least some closure had occurred. Finally, the IOC had seen and admitted what the world had always known. Jim Thorpe was the winner of the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, and despite all the century-ending polls to the contrary, still, over a 100 years later, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”

Personal Bests: HJ – 1.956 (1912); LJ – 7.16 (1909); Dec – 6564 (1912).

Further details on his sporting career are available at Baseball-Reference.com and Pro-Foorball-Reference.com

• Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA) won 2 medals to bring his Winter Olympic total to 13, a new all-time best, bettering the 12 won by his countryman, Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR-CCS). This also moved Bjørndalen to =4^th all-time among all Olympians, =3^rd all-time among male Olympians, trailing only – Michael Phelps (USA-SWI) (22); Larisa Latynina (URS-GYM) (18), and Nikolay Andrianov (URS-GYM) (15). Bjørndalen is tied with 13 with Borys Shakhlin (URS-GYM), Edoardo Mangiarrotti (ITA-FEN), and Takashi Ono (JPN-GYM).
• Bjørndalen’s 2 medals in Sochi marked the 5^th time he has won 2 or more medals at an Olympic Games (1998/2002/2006/2010/2014). He is only the second Olympian ever to do this, equalling the mark of German canoeing legend Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, who did it in 1988/1992/1996/2000/2004.
• Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS) won 3 gold medals in Sochi, to bring her total for Olympic medals to 10, after 5 in Vancouver, and lone silvers in 2002 and 2006. Her 10 Winter Olympic medals ties her for first among women at the Winter Olympics, with Stefania Belmondo (ITA-CCS) and Raisa Smetanina (EUN/URS-CCS).
• Victor Ahn won 4 medals in Sochi, making him only the 3^rd Winter Olympian to win 4 medals at 2 or more Olympics (2006/14); the others were Lyubov Yegorova (1992-94) and Bjørn Dæhlie (1992-94-98). This has been done 26 times at the Summer Olympics, including 3 times by Larisa Latynina (1956-60-64) and Michael Phelps (2004-08-12). It has almost always been achieved by gymnasts (15) and swimmers (8), but once by an archer (Hubert Van Innis [1900/20]), once by a shooter (Carl Osburn [1912-20]), and once by an athlete (Paavo Nurmi [1920-24]). Ahn is only the second Olympian to have done this non-consecutively after Hubert Van Innis, as noted above.
• Ahn’s 4 Olympic medals in short-track speed skating is only the 2^nd time this has been accomplished at one Winter Olympics. The other time was also by Ahn, as An Hyeon-Su in 2006, representing Korea.
• Sven Kramer (NED-SSK) won 3 medals in Sochi, after winning 2 in Torino and Vancouver, giving him a total of 7 Olympic medals in speed skating. This equals the all-time record for speed skating medals won by a male, held by Clas Thunberg (FIN) and Ivar Ballangrud (NOR), but its been a long-time as Thunberg finished his Olympic career in 1928 and Ballangrud in 1936.
• The all-time Olympic speed skating record, male or female, is 9 by Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, who competed in Sochi but did not medal. Three women have now won 8 speed skating medals, including Ireen Wüst (NED), who won 5 medals in Sochi to bring her total to 8, and equal the marks of Karin Enke-Kania (GDR) and Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann-Kleemann (GER).
• Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser (CAN-ICH) played on the gold medal winning women’s ice hockey team for Canada. This was the 5^th consecutive Olympics at which these two have helped Canada win a medal – with 4 golds from 2002-14, after a silver medal in 1998. Their 5 medals in a team sport equals the all-time Olympic record held by Teresa Edwards (USA-BAS) (5/401) and Dezső Gyarmati (HUN-WAP) (5/311).
• Hefford and Wickenheiser were joined by Caroline Ouellette in Sochi, and the three have now won 4 gold medals in women’s ice hockey. This equals the all-time Olympic record for gold medals won in a team sport, held by USA basketball players Teresa Edwards and Lisa Leslie.
• Ouellette became the first Winter Olympian to win 4 or more gold medals, while never losing an event (info courtesy Nick Zaccardi of NBCOlympicTalk). This has been done 19 times at the Summer Olympics, led by Ray Ewry (USA-ATH), with 10, or 8 if you elect not to count 1906 (which is wrong). Kristin Otto (GDR-SWI) won 6 gold medals with no losses. Two athletes won 5 golds while going undefeated – American shooter Bud Fisher and Russian synchro swimmer Anastasiya Davydova.
• Bode Miller won a bronze medal in Sochi in Alpine skiing, giving him 6 all-time. This moves him to =2^nd all-time among Olympic Alpine skiiers, trailing the 8 medals won by Norway’s Kjetil André Aamodt. Miller is tied with 2 women – Croatian Janica Kostelić and Swede Anja Pärson.
• Three freestyle skiiers won their second Olympic medal in that sport, to move to =2^nd all-time on the Olympic freestyle skiing lists – Alexandre Bilodeau (CAN), Lydia Ierodiaconu-Lassila (AUS), and Hannah Kearney (USA). They trail Norway’s Kari Traa, the only freestyler to win 3 medals in the sport at the Olympics.
• With the addition of the team trophy, 11 figure skaters won 2 medals in Sochi, something that had only been done once before at the Winter Olympics, in 1936 by German Ernst Baier in singles and pairs. It was also done in 1908 by Britain’s Madge Syers in singles and pairs, when the sport was contested at the Summer Olympics. The 11 figure skaters were as follows: Tetiana Volosozhar (RUS), Maksim Trankov (RUS), Kseniya Stolbova (RUS), Fyodor Klimov (RUS), Yelena Ilyinykh (RUS), Nikita Katsalapov (RUS), Charlie White (USA), Meryl Davis (USA), Patrick Chan (CAN), Scott Moir (CAN), and Tessa Virtue (CAN).
• Armin Zöggeler (ITA) won his sixth medal in Olympic luge, all in singles. He became the 1^st Winter Olympian to win medals in 6 Olympics, and only the 6^th person overall. The other Summer Olympians were: Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (GDR/GER-CAN), Aladár Gerevich (HUN-FEN), Anky van Grunsven (NED-EQU), Elisabeta Oleniuc-Lipă (ROU-ROW), and Hans Günter Winkler (FRG/GER-EQU). However, Zöggeler joined Gerevich and Winkler as the only Olympians to do this in the same event – Gerevich in team sabre, and Winkler in team show jumping. Zöggeler is the 1^st Olympian, Winter or Summer, to win 6 medals in the same individual Olympic event.
• Aleksandr Tretyakov (RUS) and Martins Dukurs (LAT) won medals in skeleton in Sochi, after also doing so in Vancouver. Their 2 medals in this sport equals the Olympic best for skeleton held by Jack Heaton (USA-1928/48) and Gregor Stähli (SUI-2002/06).
• Kelly Clark (USA) won her third medal in snowboarding halfpipe, making her the first Olympic snowboarder to win 3 Olympic medals.
• Vic Wild (RUS) and Žan Košir (SLO) won medals in parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom, with Wild winning gold medals in both events. This made them the first snowboarders to win 2 medals at one Winter Olympics and Wild the first to win 2 gold medals at one Winter Olympics.
• In biathlon Darya Domracheva (BLR) won 3 gold medals in Sochi, the first female biathlete to win 3 gold medals at a single Winter Olympics. Tora Berger and Tiril Eckhoff, both Norwegian biathletes, won 3 medals, and with Domracheva, the three of them equalled the record for women with 3 biathlon medals at one Winter Olympics, held previously by 7 other women.
• Russian bobsledders Aleksandr Zubkov and Aleksey Voyevoda won gold medals in both 2- and 4-man in Sochi. This is the best you can do in Olympic bobsledding at one Games, with Zubkov and Voyevoda becoming the 11^th and 12^th sliders to accomplish this.
• With the new event of luge mixed team relay, 7 luge sliders equalled the record with 2 Olympic medals at one Games. This had been performed 5 times previously, from 1968-76, always with a double in men’s singles and doubles. One woman, German Natalie Geisenberger, became the first female to accomplish this. Four German sliders became the first to win 2 gold medals at one Winter Olympics – Geisenberger, Felix Loch, Tobias Arlt, and Tobias Wendl. The other double medalists in luge in Sochi were Russian Albert Demchenko, and Latvians Andris Šics and Juris Šics.
• Ireen Wüst (NED) became the 5^th Winter Olympic speed skater, and 2^nd female, to win 5 medals at one Olympics. This had previously been done by Clas Thunberg (FIN-1924), Roald Larsen (NOR-1924), Eric Heiden (USA-1980), and the one female, Cindy Klaasen (CAN-2006).
• Albert Demchenko (EUN/RUS-LUG) and Noriaki Kasai (JPN-SKJ) both competed in their 7^th Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, setting an all-time record for most appearances at the Winter Olympics. Both competed consecutively from 1992-2014.
• Claudia Pechstein (GDR/GER-SSK) competed in her 6^th Winter Olympics in Sochi, equalling the female record for Winter Olympic appearances, held now by Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi-Hämäläinen (FIN-CCS) (1976-1994), Emese Nemeth-Hunyady (AUT/HUN-SSK) (1984-2002), Gerda Weissensteiner (ITA-BOB/LUG) (1988-2006), Anna Orlova (LAT-LUG) (1992-2010), and Pechstein (1992-2014). Of those, Pechstein is the only one whose appearances were not consecutive, as she did not compete in 2010 because of a doping controversy.
• Nine men also competed in their 6^th Winter Olympics in Sochi, equalling the previous record. They were: Hubertus von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe (MEX-ASK) (1984-2014), Teemu Selänne (FIN-ICH) (1992-2014), Janne Ahonen (FIN-SKJ) (1994-2014), Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA/CCS) (1994-2014), Sergey Dolidovich (BLR-CCS) (1994-2014), Lee Gyu-Hyeok (KOR-SSK) (1994-2014), Todd Lodwick (USA-NCO) (1994-2014), Mario Stecher (AUT-NCO) (1994-2014), and Armin Zöggeler (ITA-LUG) (1994-2014).
• Hubertus von Fürstenberg-von Hohenlohe’s appearance in Alpine skiing in Sochi was 30 years after his first Winter Olympic appearance at Sarajevo in 1984. This set an all-time record for span of appearances at the Winter Olympics, breaking his own mark of 26 set in 2010, which he co-held with Costa Rican skiier Arturo Kinch (1980-2006).
• Claudia Pechstein’s appearance in speed skating in Sochi came 22 years after her first Winter Olympic in Albertville in1992. This set an all-time record for span of appearances at the Winter Olympics by a woman, bettering the previous mark of 18, held by 7 women. The mark was also bettered in Sochi by Japanese speed skater Maki Tabata and French/Hungarian Alpine/freestyle skiier Ophélie David. Both first competed in 1994, making their span of appearances 20 years. David competed in Alpine skiing for Hungary in 1994 and returned in 2010-14 as a freestyler for France.
• Ophélie David’s gap of 16 years between appearances (1994/2010) was the record for longest gap between appearances by a woman at the Winter Olympics. It was equalled at Sochi by American curler Erika Brown (1998/2014) and Japanese ice hockey player Yoko Kondo (1998/2014).
• The Winter Olympic men’s record for largest gap between appearances was 20 by American Jack Heaton, bobsledder/skeleton slider, who competed in 1928 and then not again until 1948. This record was equalled in Sochi by Czech Republic ice hockey player Petr Nedvěd, who first competed in 1994, but then for his adopted country of Canada.

Here are the top individual medal winners from Sochi, listing all those with 3 or more medals, females listed first:

[table]

Name,G,S,B,TM

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),2,3,-,5

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),3,-,-,3

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3,-,-,3

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),2,-,1,3

Charlotte Kalla (SWE-CCS),1,2,-,3

Tora Berger (NOR-BIA),1,1,1,3

Shim Seok-Hui (KOR-STK),1,1,1,3

Tiril Eckhoff (NOR-BIA),1,-,2,3

Arianna Fontana (ITA-STK),-,1,2,3

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),3,-,1,4

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),2,1,-,3

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2,1,-,3

Maksim Vylegzhanin (RUS-CCS),-,3,-,3

Ondřej Moravec (CZE-BIA),-,2,1,3

[/table]

And here are all those who won 2 or more gold medals in Sochi:

[table]

Name,Golds

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),3

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),3

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),2

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),2

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),2

Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA),2

Aleksandr Zubkov (RUS-BOB),2

Tina Maze (SLO-ASK),2

Kamil Stoch (POL-SKJ),2

Tetiana Volosozhar (RUS-FSK),2

Aleksey Voyevoda (RUS-BOB),2

Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR-BIA),2

Dario Cologna (SUI-CCS),2

Maksim Trankov (RUS-FSK),2

Felix Loch (GER-LUG),2

Natalie Geisenberger (GER-LUG),2

Jorien ter Mors (NED-SSK),2

Tobias Arlt (GER-LUG),2

Tobias Wendl (GER-LUG),2

Jørgen Graabak (NOR-NCO),2

Vic Wild (RUS-SNB),2

[/table]

And here are all those who won 2 or more medals in individual events, led by Dutch speedskater Ireen Wüst. Again, women given first, followed by the men:

[table]

Name,IG,IS,IB,ITM

Ireen Wüst (NED-SSK),1,3,-,4

Darya Domracheva (BLR-BIA),3,-,-,3

Marit Bjørgen (NOR-CCS),2,-,-,2

Tina Maze (SLO-ASK),2,-,-,2

Park Seung-Hui (KOR-STK),1,-,1,2

Martina Sáblíková (CZE-SSK),1,1,-,2

Anna Fenninger (AUT-ASK),1,1,-,2

Maria Riesch (GER-ASK),1,1,-,2

Charlotte Kalla (SWE-CCS),-,2,-,2

Shim Seok-Hui (KOR-STK),-,1,1,2

Arianna Fontana (ITA-STK),-,1,1,2

Nicole Hosp (AUT-ASK),-,1,1,2

Therese Johaug (NOR-CCS),-,1,1,2

Margot Boer (NED-SSK),-,-,2,2

Victor Ahn (RUS-STK),2,-,1,3

Martin Fourcade (FRA-BIA),2,1,-,3

Kamil Stoch (POL-SKJ),2,-,-,2

Dario Cologna (SUI-CCS),2,-,-,2

Vic Wild (RUS-SNB),2,-,-,2

Sven Kramer (NED-SSK),1,1,-,2

Kjetil Jansrud (NOR-ASK),1,-,1,2

Jorrit Bergsma (NED-SSK),1,-,1,2

Michel Mulder (NED-SSK),1,-,1,2

Ondřej Moravec (CZE-BIA),-,1,1,2

Denny Morrison (CAN-SSK),-,1,1,2

Christof Innerhofer (ITA-ASK),-,1,1,2

Peter Prevc (SLO-SKJ),-,1,1,2

Žan Košir (SLO-SNB),-,1,1,2

[/table]

Russia won the medal chase at the 2014 Sochi Olympics by winning 33 medals, with 13 golds, both tops, whether you use the North American or the European system. Will Russia win as many medals in 2018, or perhaps more? No.

I’ll predict right now, knowing nothing about Russian athletic performance between now and 2018, that they will win 23 medals in Pyeongchang, and probably 9 golds. How can I predict that now?

Its done by a thing I call the “Host Nation Bounce Analysis.” It has long been suspected that each nation that hosts an Olympics (and I know the IOC policy is that nations don’t host Olympics, cities do – spare me) improves their performance in the medal tables. To truly analyze this I looked at the performance of hosting nations since World War II, looking at how many medals they won at their hosting Olympics (0 in the table below), at the Olympics before they hosted (-1), and at the three Olympics after they hosted (1/2/3 below). We could easily calculate the percentage of medals and gold medals they won at each of these five Olympic Games.

In the table below I call the percentage of medals and gold medals they won at their hosting Olympics as 100%, and compared their performance, relative to the number of medals and golds available, at the other four Olympics contiguous with the one they hosted. Using current base numbers of 300 events, and 950 medals (combative sports have 2 bronze medals in most cases), we get the following estimates for medals won and percentages of medals won by host nations:

 

[table]

#,G,TM,%G,%TM,%HostGM,%HostTM

-1,19.0,55.0,6.33%,5.79%,57.7%,67.8%

0,32.9,81.2,10.95%,8.54%,100.0%,100.0%

1,21.5,59.6,7.17%,6.28%,65.4%,73.4%

2,15.7,47.6,5.24%,5.01%,47.7%,58.7%

3,12.5,38.6,4.17%,4.06%,38.1%,47.5%

[/table]

 

So there is a definite bounce effect. Nations tend to win only about 60-70% of medals at the Olympics prior to their host Olympics. And likewise, they win less medals at the Olympics after they host. Further, this has a reasonably linear decrease over time, earning about 70% of the medals at the 1^st Olympics post-hosting, and then about 55% and 40% at the 2^nd and 3^rd Olympics post-hosting.

Now this analysis has been done for the Summer Olympics. The reason for that is that until recently, there simply weren’t enough events at the Winter Olympics to do a solid statistical analysis, although I did look at it. With the small number of events, there is simply too much statistical noise. With the 98 events held in Sochi, this may now be eliminated, but we have only one Winter Olympics to base that on.

So considering this, I am predicting that Russia will win 70% of the number of the medals and gold medals they won in Sochi – or 23 medals and 9 gold medals. Have at it, prognosticators.

And so it ends. A massive day for Russian winter sport puts the host nation over 60 points clear at the close of competition. Thanks to a strong finish in bobsleigh and some points from ice hockey, the USA nudge clear of Norway and into 2nd place with Canada, Germany and the Netherlands making up the rest of the top six.
Many thanks to Michael Thiel and “Janak” for pointing out some errors in the calculations.

The scoring table is as follows;
1st 8 points
2nd 7
3rd 6
4th 5
5th 4
6th 3
7th 2
8th 1
If countries are level on points their single best result is the tiebreak.

[table]
Rank, Nation,Points,Tie breaker
Rank, Nation,Points,Tie breaker
1, RUS, 378,
2, USA, 310,
3, NOR, 304,
4, CAN, 279,
5, GER, 246,
6, NED, 218,
7, AUT, 192,
8, FRA, 169,
9, SWE, 154,
10, SUI, 145, 6x1st
11, CHN, 145, 2x1st
12, ITA, 142,
13, JPN, 119,
14, CZE, 107,
15, SLO, 97,
16, KOR, 77,
17, POL, 71, 4x1st
18, FIN, 71, 1x1st
19, BLR, 55,
20, GBR, 48,
21, AUS, 39,
22, LAT, 36,
23, UKR, 28,
24, KAZ, 24,
25, SVK, 22,
26, NZL, 14,
27, BEL, 12,
28, CRO, 7, 2nd
29, ESP, 7, 4th
30, DEN, 6,
31, HUN, 5,
32, BUL, 4,

[/table]

Thank you and good night.

Assuming Russia wins a medal in bobsledding today, that will give them 33 medals in Sochi. It is only the 5^th time that a nation has won over 30 medals at a Winter Olympics, after Germany and the United States in both 2002 and 2010, and will rank them 4^th all-time for nations at the Olympic Winter Games, whether they finish with 32 or 33 medals. The top 4 national performances at a single Winter Olympics have been as follows:

[table]

 

Year,NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Totals

2010,United States,9,15,13,37

2002,Germany,12,16,8,36

2002,United States,10,13,11,34

2010,Germany,10,13,7,30

[/table]

 

But in 2010, Russia won “only” 15 medals, meaning they will have improved from 15 to 33 in Sochi, a gain of 18 medals (or possibly 17). How does that improvement rank all-time at the Winter Olympics? Either way, it will be second all-time after the USA improving from 13 to 34 from 1998-2002, a gain of 21, which, like Russia, benefitted from hosting the Winter Olympics on home soil. But the Netherlands also improved in Sochi, from 8 to 24 medals, a bump of 16 medals, thanks to their impressive speed skaters. That is 3^rd all-time.

Here are all the nations that have seen a bump of 10 or more medals from one Winter Olympics to the next. Please note that this is a little easier as the number of events increases at each Winter Olympics.

 

[table]

Year,NOC,TM,Δ

1998,United States,13,

2002,United States,34,21

2010,Russia,15,

2014,Russia,33,18

2010,Netherlands,8,

2014,Netherlands,24,16

1988,Norway,5,

1992,Norway,20,15

2006,United States,25,

2010,United States,37,12

1972,Soviet Union,16,

1976,Soviet Union,27,11

1988,Austria,10,

1992,Austria,21,11

1984,Switzerland,5,

1988,Switzerland,15,10

[/table]

 

And that is @bambam1729 signing off from Sochi, folks. Its been fun. I’ll leave you with the words of the Reverend Robert de Courcy Laffan, who spoke them at the Closing Banquet at the end of the 1908 Olympics in London:

“The Olympic Movement was one with great ideals – the perfect physical development of a new humanity, the spreading all over the world of the spirit of sport, which was the spirit of the truest chivalry, and the drawing together of all the nations of the earth in the bonds of peace and mutual amity. They were at the beginning of one of those great world movements which was going to develop long after all present had passed away.”

 

With 2 days of competition left Russia and the USA still lead the table with the host nation still maintaining a healthy lead. Norway and Canada are divided by just two points in the chase for 3rd place disqualifications in biathlon meant Germany actually lose points today.

The scoring table is as follows;
1st 8 points
2nd 7
3rd 6
4th 5
5th 4
6th 3
7th 2
8th 1
If countries are level on points their single best result is the tiebreak.

[table]
Rank, Nation,Points,Tie breaker
1, RUS, 310,
2, USA, 290,
3, NOR, 261,
4, CAN, 259,
5, GER, 211,
6, NED, 208,
7, FRA, 159,
8, AUT, 148,
9, CHN, 145,
10, SUI, 141, 6x1st
11, SWE, 141, 2x1st
12, ITA, 122,
13, JPN, 115,
14, CZE, 97,
15, SLO, 89,
16, KOR, 69,
17, FIN, 60,
18, POL, 54,
19, BLR, 51,
20, GBR, 44,
21, AUS, 39,
22, UKR, 28, 1st
23, LAT, 28, 2nd
24, KAZ, 24,
25, SVK, 19,
26, NZL, 14,
27, BEL, 12,
28, CRO, 7, 2nd
29, ESP, 7, 4th
30, DEN, 6,
31, HUN, 5,
32, BUL, 4,
[/table]

Mikaela Shiffrin’s victory in the women’s slalom today gives her the following Olympic statistical bests/records:

• Youngest gold medalist in women’s slalom (surpassing Paola Magoni-Sforza (ITA-1984) (19-155)
• 5th youngest medalist in women’s slalom (at 18-345) – leader is Danièle Debernard (FRA-1972) (17-205)
• 5th youngest female gold medalist in Alpine skiing (18-345) – leader is Michela Figini (SUI-1984 Downhill) (17-315)
• 4th American victory in the event which moves the USA ahead of Switzerland (we currently both have 3).
• 6th American medal in the event – first since 1972 (Barbara Cochran) – still trail France (8) and Austria (7)
• First American victory in women’s slalom since 1972 (Barbara Cochran) and slalom overall since 1984 (Phil Mahre)

This is also the 5^th USA medal in Alpine skiing at Sochi, which equals the 2^nd best USA performance at any Winter Olympics (1984). We have won medals as follows:

[table]

Year,RankUS,RankEU,G,S,B,TM

2010,1,2,2,3,3,8

2014,,,2,1,2,5

1984,1,1,3,2,-,5

1964,3,3,-,2,2,4

1994,3,2,2,2,-,4

1960,4,6,-,3,-,3

1948,4,4,1,1,-,2

1952,4,2,2,-,-,2

1972,4,3,1,-,1,2

1992,=5,=7,-,2,-,2

2002,6,6,-,2,-,2

2006,5,2,2,-,-,2

1976,=7,=7,-,-,1,1

1980,6,5,-,1,-,1

1998,7,6,1,-,-,1

[/table]

USA Today at the Olympics

• Alpine Skiing – Women’s Slalom – the USA has won this event 3 times, but it has been 42 years. The 3 gold medals were won by Gretchen Fraser in 1948, Andi Mead-Lawrence in 1952, and Barbara Cochran in 1972. We have won 2 other medals – a silver by Betsy Snite in 1960 and a bronze by Jean Saubert in 1964. The USA is tied for 1st all-time with Switzerland in terms of most gold medals in the event. The 5 medals won is 3rd behind France (8) and Austria (7), also tied with Switzerland.
• Biathlon – Women’s Relay – this event has been contested 6 times and the USA has one top 10 finish, with an 8th in 1994.
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Men’s 500 metres – J. R. Celski is in the quarter-finals and still alive for a medal. The USA has 2 medals in this event, with a gold by Apolo Anton Ohno in 2006, and a bronze by Rusty Smith in 2002. This puts the USA =3rd all-time in terms of medals won, trailing Canada (5) and Korea (3).
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Men’s Relay – the United States is in the A Final and has a shot at a medal. The USA has won 3 medals in the event, with bronzes in 2006-2010 and a silver in 1994. The USA Olympic best in the event is 6:44.498 set by the US team in the Vancouver final.
• Short-Track Speed Skating – Women’s 1,000 metres – Jessica Smith and Emily Scott are in the quarter-finals and still alive for medals. The USA has 1 medal in the event, a silver by Katherine Reutter in 2010. We have had 1 other finalist, Amy Peterson in 1998, who placed 4th.
• Men’s Curling – the United States has been eliminated.
• Freestyle Skiing – Women’s Skiier-Cross – this is a new event to the Olympic Program.

 

This Day at the Olympics

346 Olympians were born

69 Olympians died

87 Olympic events were held

 

USA Births and Death on this Day at the Olympics

Born

[table]

Date,Name,Sport,Years

21 Feb 1874,Oluf Landnes,GYM,1904

21 Feb 1882,Bill Tuttle,SWI/WAP,1904

21 Feb 1885,Julio Kilenyi,ART,1932

21 Feb 1886,Howard Smith,ART,1932

21 Feb 1894,Franz Federschmidt,ROW,1920

21 Feb 1896,Karl Knight,CAN,1924

21 Feb 1900,James Newell,ART,1932

21 Feb 1915,Basil Francis,SWI,1932

21 Feb 1927,Colin Stewart,ASK,1948

21 Feb 1928,Gino Pariani,FTB,1948

21 Feb 1934,Thomas Orley,FEN,1964

21 Feb 1956,Nancy Fiddler,CCS,1988-92

21 Feb 1963,Michael Gostigian,MOP,1988-96

21 Feb 1967,Leroy Burrell,ATH,1992

21 Feb 1973,Les Gutches,WRE,1996

21 Feb 1973,Brian Rolston,ICH,1994-06

21 Feb 1976,Donald Suxho,VOL,2004-12

21 Feb 1977,Tyler Jewell,SNB,2006-10

21 Feb 1990,Kathleen Hersey,SWI,2008-12

[/table]

 

Died

[table]

Date,Name,Sport,Years

21 Feb 1925,Raymond Havemeyer,GOL,1904

21 Feb 1964,John Brennan,ATH,1908

21 Feb 1965,Harry Daniels,WAP,1928

21 Feb 1969,Joe de Capriles,FEN,1936-52

21 Feb 1971,Clare Jacobs,ATH,1908

21 Feb 1976,Temple Ashbrook,SAI,1932

21 Feb 1996,Fred Kammer Jr.,ICH,1936

21 Feb 1996,Don Laz,ATH,1952

21 Feb 1997,Leo Sjogren,ATH,1952-56

[/table]

 

Previous USA Winter Olympic Medals on This Day

[table]

Medalist,Sport,X,Event,Medal,Date

Dick Button,FSK,M,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 1952

Jim Grogan,FSK,M,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1952

Charlie Tickner,FSK,M,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1980

Eric Heiden,SSK,M,1500 m,Gold,21 Feb 1980

Kristi Yamaguchi,FSK,F,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 1992

Nancy Kerrigan,FSK,F,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 1992

Bode Miller,ASK,M,GS,Silver,21 Feb 2002

Sarah Hughes,FSK,F,Singles,Gold,21 Feb 2002

Michelle Kwan,FSK,F,Singles,Bronze,21 Feb 2002

USA Team,ICH,F,Ice Hockey,Silver,21 Feb 2002

USA Team,BOB,F,Two,Silver,21 Feb 2006

Shani Davis,SSK,M,1500 m,Silver,21 Feb 2006

Chad Hedrick,SSK,M,1500 m,Bronze,21 Feb 2006

Bode Miller,ASK,M,Combined,Gold,21 Feb 2010

[/table]

 

Recent Medal Standings after Day #14

[table]

Day #14 – 20 Feb 2014,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

United States,8,6,11,25,1

Russia,7,9,7,23,2

Netherlands,6,7,9,22,3

Norway,10,4,7,21,4

Canada,7,9,4,20,5

Germany,8,4,4,16,6

France,4,4,7,15,7

Sweden,2,6,4,12,8

Switzerland,6,3,2,11,9

Austria,2,6,2,10,10

Czech Republic,2,4,2,8,11

Japan,1,4,3,8,12

Italy,-,2,6,8,13

Slovenia,2,1,4,7,14

Belarus,5,-,1,6,15

China,3,2,1,6,16

Korea (South),2,2,1,5,17

Poland,4,-,-,4,18

Finland,1,3,0,4,19

Great Britain,1,-,2,3,20

Australia,-,2,1,3,21

Latvia,-,1,2,3,22

Slovakia,1,-,-,1,23

Croatia,-,1,-,1,24

Kazakhstan,-,-,1,1,=25

Ukraine,-,-,1,1,=25

Totals (81 events),82,80,82,244

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 25 Feb 2010,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

United States,8,12,12,32,1

Germany,8,11,7,26,2

Norway,7,6,6,19,3

Canada,8,6,3,17,4

Russia,3,4,6,13,5

Austria,4,3,5,12,6

Korea,6,4,1,11,7

France,2,3,5,10,8

China,4,2,3,9,9

Switzerland,6,-,2,8,10

Sweden,4,2,2,8,11

Netherlands,3,1,2,6,12

Czech Republic,2,-,3,5,13

Poland,-,3,1,4,14

Japan,-,2,2,4,15

Italy,-,1,3,4,16

Australia,2,1,-,3,17

Belarus,1,1,1,3,=18

Slovakia,1,1,1,3,=18

Slovenia,-,2,1,3,20

Finland,-,1,2,3,21

Latvia,-,2,-,2,22

Croatia,-,1,1,2,23

Great Britain,1,-,-,1,24

Estonia,-,1,-,1,=25

Kazakhstan,-,1,-,1,=25

Totals (70 events),70,71,69,210

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 23 Feb 2006,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,9,10,5,24,1

United States,7,8,5,20,2

Austria,8,6,5,19,3

Russia,8,3,8,19,4

Canada,5,8,6,19,5

Norway,2,8,8,18,6

Switzerland,5,4,4,13,7

Sweden,5,2,4,11,8

Italy,4,-,6,10,9

France,3,2,4,9,10

China,2,3,4,9,11

Korea,4,3,1,8,12

Netherlands,2,2,3,7,13

Finland,-,3,3,6,14

Estonia,3,-,-,3,15

Croatia,1,2,-,3,16

Australia,1,-,1,2,17

Czech Republic,-,2,-,2,18

Ukraine,-,-,2,2,19

Japan,1,-,-,1,20

Belarus,-,1,-,1,=21

Bulgaria,-,1,-,1,=21

Great Britain,-,1,-,1,=21

Slovakia,-,1,-,1,=21

Latvia,-,-,1,1,25

Totals (70 events),70,70,70,210

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 21 Feb 2002,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,10,15,8,33,1

United States,10,11,9,30,2

Norway,12,5,4,21,3

Austria,3,4,8,15,4

Russia,4,4,3,11,5

Italy,3,2,5,10,6

Canada,3,1,6,10,7

France,3,4,2,9,8

Switzerland,3,2,4,9,9

Finland,3,2,1,6,10

Sweden,-,1,5,6,11

Netherlands,2,3,-,5,12

China,1,2,2,5,13

Croatia,2,1,-,3,=14

Korea,2,1,-,3,=14

Czech Republic,1,2,-,3,16

Bulgaria,-,1,2,3,17

Australia,2,-,-,2,18

Estonia,1,-,1,2,=19

Great Britain,1,-,1,2,=19

Japan,-,1,1,2,=21

Poland,-,1,1,2,=21

Belarus,-,-,1,1,=23

Slovenia,-,-,1,1,=23

Totals (64 events),66,63,65,194

[/table]

[table]

Day #14 – 20 Feb 1998,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Total,Rank (US)

Germany,10,9,8,27,1

Norway,8,8,5,21,2

Russia,9,5,2,16,3

Austria,3,5,7,15,4

United States,6,3,4,13,5

Canada,4,5,4,13,6

Netherlands,5,4,2,11,7

Finland,2,4,5,11,8

Italy,2,6,2,10,9

Japan,4,1,3,8,10

France,2,1,4,7,11

Switzerland,2,1,3,6,12

China,-,4,1,5,13

Korea,2,-,1,3,14

Czech Republic,-,1,1,2,=15

Sweden,-,1,1,2,=15

Belarus,-,-,2,2,=17

Kazakhstan,-,-,2,2,=17

Bulgaria,1,-,-,1,19

Denmark,-,1,-,1,=20

Ukraine,-,1,-,1,=20

Australia,-,-,1,1,=22

Belgium,-,-,1,1,=22

Totals (59 events),60,60,59,179

[/table]

 

At the end of day 13 Russia’s lead is 20 points but it’s now the USA who are in second place after a good day for America saw them pass Norway. Canada take 4th back from Germany and France move up to 7th. Denmark enters the list.

The scoring table is as follows;
1st 8 points
2nd 7
3rd 6
4th 5
5th 4
6th 3
7th 2
8th 1
If countries are level on points their single best result is the tiebreak.

[table]
Rank, Nation,Points,Tie breaker
1, RUS, 284,
2, USA, 264,
3, NOR, 251,
4, CAN, 223,
5, GER, 216,
6, NED, 198,
7, FRA, 151,
8, SUI, 139,
9, AUT, 132,
10, SWE, 118, 1st
11, ITA, 118, 2nd
12, JPN, 115,
13, CHN, 110,
14, CZE, 91,
15, SLO, 87,
16, FIN, 59,
17, POL, 53, 4x2nd
18, KOR, 53, 2x2nd
19, BLR, 47,
20, AUS, 37,
21, GBR, 33,
22, LAT, 28,
23, KAZ, 20,
24, SVK, 18, 1st
25, UKR, 18, 3rd
26, NZL, 14,
27, BEL, 12,
28, CRO, 7, 2nd
29, ESP, 7, 4th
30, HUN, 5,
31, BUL, 4,
32, DEN, 3,
[/table]