INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

Based on the medal ranking, the Netherlands again are the second
best performing country and a similar upward trend can be perceived.
In Sydney, the Dutch athletes won six times more gold medals (12)
than in 1992 (2). The total number of medals won in 2000 was 25.
For Sweden, the picture is quite different for the two methods.
Based on the first eight places, the performances in Atlanta and
Sydney are the same. However, in 2000 the Swedish athletes won
more medals (12) than in 1996 (8) but obtained a smaller number of
top eight places. Sweden won 12 medals in Barcelona in 7 different
sports, 8 medals in Atlanta and 12 medals in Sydney in 8 different
sports.
The Swiss results show an increase in the index value as well as in
the total number of medals won. While the increase in index value is
equal over the three Olympic Games, the increase in total number of
medals won is more important between 1992 and 1996 (+ 6 medals)
than between 1996 and 2000 (+ 2 medals).
The total number of medals won by Denmark is steady between
1992 and 2000, namely 6 medals at each edition. However, the
distribution between gold, silver and bronze is different. For Denmark
there is also a difference between the evolution in index value and the
evolution in number of medals.
Concerning the total number of medals won, Belgium delivered
the worst performances of the six countries taking into account in this
comparison. Only three medals in Barcelona, six medals in Atlanta
and five medals in Sydney. The increase in the total number of medals
won is a little more important than the increase in index value. The
reason for this is that in Barcelona the Belgian athletes obtained 14
places in the top eight and only nine other top eight places in Atlanta.
Therefore, the index value of Barcelona is closer to the value of
Atlanta than compared with the total number of medals won.
After this global discussion of the performances of these six
countries, it is interesting to know how these countries performed in
the different sports separately. It’s not possible to discuss each sport in
this paper. Therefore, only the method will be discussed.
- 291 -