Discussion

Ahmed, Farida, Tala, and Yousef are debating how to measure Summer Olympics achievement by countries.

• Ahmed maintains that the best measure of overall Olympic achievement by a country is the most straightforward: a simple count of all medals won by that country.
• Farida observes that more populous countries have more potential Olympic athletes and argues that a fair measure of overall Olympic achievement must in some way include consideration of a country’s population.
• Tala argues that the only real Olympic achievement by an athlete is victory. Gold medals (for first place) should be counted; silver and bronze medals (for second and third place, respectively) should not.
• Yousef recommends counting each silver medal as half a gold medal, and each bronze medal as half a silver medal.

Rankings Table

The table ranks 6 countries by various measures of their achievement in the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a ranking of 1st indicating greatest achievement and 6th indicating least achievement. The rankings compare the 6 countries only to each other, not to other competing nations. The weighted medals per capita measure counts each gold medal as equal to 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. There are no other types of Olympic medal.

Graph

With respect to a particular measure of Olympic success by the countries listed in the Rankings Table, the graph shows total numbers of points won by Countries C, D, and H in each Summer Olympics from 2000 through 2012. Each country gets 4 points for each gold medal, 2 points for each silver medal, and 1 point for each bronze medal. Countries B, E, and G each consistently had lower point totals than Country D.