In a recent article in
The Daily Telegraph , two-time Olympic medalist Nick Gillingham offered this insight:-
Seems like a reasonable enough statement, right? I mean both of those points seem pretty logical. I had a problem with it though, he used the word 'statistically'... well, that was like a red rag to a bull. I had to know whether 'statistically' this was true or not. Turns out it's not.
I started by looking at the Beijing winners and medalists and their world ranking in that event in 2007. Knowing this wouldn't satisfy my thirst for stats I did the same for Athens... and then for Sydney too.
(Check out
Part II for the condensed findings.)
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2008/2007 Men .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2008 Result 50m Free Cielo Leveaux Bernard .
2007 Ranking 50m Free 4th 67th 1st .
2008 Result 100m Free Bernard Sullivan Lezak/Cielo .
2007 Ranking 100m Free 2nd 6th 8th/8th .
2008 Result 200m Free Phelps Park Vanderkaay .
2007 Ranking 200m Free 1st 4th 2nd .
2008 Result 400m Free Park Zhang Jensen .
2007 Ranking 400m Free 1st 7th 2nd .
2008 Result 1500m Free Mellouli Hackett Cochrane .
2007 Ranking 1500m Free N/A 3rd 9th .
2008 Result 100m Back Peirsol Grevers Vyatchanin/Stoeckel .
2007 Ranking 100m Back 1st 46th 6th/43rd .
2008 Result 200m Back Lochte Peirsol Vyatchanin .
2007 Ranking 200m Back 1st 3rd 6th .
2008 Result 100m Breast Kitajima Dale Oen Duboscq .
2007 Ranking 100m Breast 2nd 4th 15th .
2008 Result 200m Breast Kitajima Rickard Duboscq
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2007 Ranking 200m Breast 1st 6th 50th .
2008 Result 100m Fly Phelps Cavic Lauterstein .
2007 Ranking 100m Fly 1st 3rd 21st .
2008 Result 200m Fly Phelps Cseh Matsuda .
2007 Ranking 200m Fly 1st 20th 9th .
2008 Result 200m IM Phelps Cseh Lochte .
2007 Ranking 200m IM 1st 3rd 2nd .
2008 Result 400m IM Phelps Cseh Lochte .
2007 Ranking 400m IM 1st 5th 2nd .
2008 Result 4 x 100 Free USA France Australia .
2007 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 1st 4th 3rd .
2008 Result 4 x 200 Free USA Russia Australia .
2007 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 1st 7th 2nd .
2008 Result 4 x 100 Medley USA Australia Japan .
2007 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 2nd 3rd 1st .
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2008/2007 Women .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2008 Result 50m Free Steffen Torres Campbell
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2007 Ranking 50m Free 6th 4th 3rd .
2008 Result 100m Free Steffen Trickett Coughlin .
2007 Ranking 100m Free 3rd 1st 2nd .
2008 Result 200m Free Pellegrini Isakovic Jiayang .
2007 Ranking 200m Free 4th 11th 13th .
2008 Result 400m Free Adlington Hoff Jackson .
2007 Ranking 400m Free 17th 4th 10th .
2008 Result 800m Free Adlington Filippi Friis .
2007 Ranking 800m Free 6th 65th 23rd .
2008 Result 100m Back Coughlin Coventry Hoelzer .
2007 Ranking 100m Back 1st 2nd 7th .
2008 Result 200m Back Coventry Hoelzer Nakamura .
2007 Ranking 200m Back 1st 2nd 3rd .
2008 Result 100m Breast Jones Soni Jukic .
2007 Ranking 100m Breast 1st 3rd 19th .
2008 Result 200m Breast Soni Jones Nordenstam .
2007 Ranking 200m Breast 2nd 1st 82nd .
2008 Result 100m Fly Trickett Magnuson Schipper .
2007 Ranking 100m Fly 1st 12th 2nd .
2008 Result 200m Fly Zige Liuyang Schipper
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2007 Ranking 200m Fly 22nd 5th 2nd .
2008 Result 200m IM Rice Coventry Coughlin .
2007 Ranking 200m IM 3rd 2nd N/A .
2008 Result 400m IM Rice Coventry Hoff .
2007 Ranking 400m IM 4th 2nd 1st .
2008 Result 4 x 100 Free NED USA AUS .
2007 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 3rd 2nd 1st .
2008 Result 4 x 200 Free AUS CHN USA .
2007 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 4th 7th 1st .
2008 Result 4 x 100 Medley AUS USA CHN .
2007 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 1st 2nd 4th .
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2004/2003 Men .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2004 Result 50m Free Hall Jr Draganja Schoeman .
2003 Ranking 50m Free 14th 33rd 15th .
2004 Result 100m Free Hoogenband Schoeman Thorpe .
2003 Ranking 100m Free 1st 3rd 4th .
2004 Result 200m Free Thorpe Hoogenband Phelps
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2003 Ranking 200m Free 1st 4th 2nd .
2004 Result 400m Free Thorpe Hackett Keller .
2003 Ranking 400m Free 1st 2nd 6th .
2004 Result 1500m Free Hackett Jensen Davies .
2003 Ranking 1500m Free 1st 2nd 6th .
2004 Result 100m Back Peirsol Rogan Morita .
2003 Ranking 100m Back 1st 7th 8th .
2004 Result 200m Back Peirsol Rogan Florea .
2003 Ranking 200m Back 1st 17th 9th .
2004 Result 100m Breast Kitajima Hansen Duboscq .
2003 Ranking 100m Breast 1st 2nd 8th .
2004 Result 200m Breast Kitajima Gyurta Hansen .
2003 Ranking 200m Breast 1st 17th 5th .
2004 Result 100m Fly Phelps Crocker Serdinov .
2003 Ranking 100m Fly 2nd 1st 3rd .
2004 Result 200m Fly Phelps Yamamoto Parry .
2003 Ranking 200m Fly 1st 4th 6th .
2004 Result 200m IM Phelps Lochte Bovell .
2003 Ranking 200m IM 1st 8th 2nd .
2004 Result 400m IM Phelps Vendt Cseh
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2003 Ranking 400m IM 1st 12th 2nd .
2004 Result 4 x 100 Free RSA NED USA .
2003 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 9th 11th 2nd .
2004 Result 4 x 200 Free USA AUS ITA .
2003 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 2nd 1st 4th .
2004 Result 4 x 100 Medley USA GER JAP .
2003 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 1st 12th 3rd .
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2004/2003 Women .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2004 Result 50m Free de Bruijn Metella Lenton .
2003 Ranking 50m Free 1st 9th 2nd .
2004 Result 100m Free Henry de Bruijn Coughlin .
2003 Ranking 100m Free 3rd 46th 4th .
2004 Result 200m Free Potec Pellegrini Figues .
2003 Ranking 200m Free 10th N/A 8th .
2004 Result 400m Free Manaudou Jedrzejczak Sandeno .
2003 Ranking 400m Free 13th 35th 18th .
2004 Result 800m Free Shibata Manaudou Munz
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2003 Ranking 800m Free 44th 11th 2nd .
2004 Result 100m Back Coughlin Coventry Manaudou .
2003 Ranking 100m Back 3rd 53rd 13th .
2004 Result 200m Back Coventry Komarova Buschschulte/Nakamura .
2003 Ranking 200m Back 44th 3rd 10th/8th .
2004 Result 100m Breast Xuejuan Hanson Jones .
2003 Ranking 100m Breast 2nd 8th 1st .
2004 Result 200m Breast Beard Jones Poleska .
2003 Ranking 200m Breast 1st 2nd 5th .
2004 Result 100m Fly Thomas Jedrzejczak de Bruijn .
2003 Ranking 100m Fly 4th 3rd N/A .
2004 Result 200m Fly Jedrzejczak Thomas Nakanishi .
2003 Ranking 200m Fly 1st 6th 3rd .
2004 Result 200m IM Klochkova Beard Coventry .
2003 Ranking 200m IM 1st 10th 14th .
2004 Result 400m IM Klochkova Sandeno Bardach .
2003 Ranking 400m IM 1st 3rd 9th .
2004 Result 4 x 100 Free AUS USA NED .
2003 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 3rd 1st 4th .
2004 Result 4 x 200 Free USA CHN GER
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2003 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 1st 3rd 11th .
2004 Result 4 x 100 Medley AUS USA GER .
2003 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 3rd 2nd 4th .
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1999/2000 Men .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2000 Result 50m Free Ervin/Hall Jr ------------------- Hoogenband .
1999 Ranking 50m Free N/A/6th ------------------- 2nd .
2000 Result 100m Free V.d.Hoogenband Popov Hall Jr .
1999 Ranking 100m Free 1st 3rd N/A .
2000 Result 200m Free V.d.Hoogenband Thorpe Rosolino .
1999 Ranking 200m Free 2nd 1st 7th .
2000 Result 400m Free Thorpe Rosolino Keller .
1999 Ranking 400m Free 1st 8th 44th .
2000 Result 1500m Free Hackett Perkins Thompson .
1999 Ranking 1500m Free 1st 4th 3rd .
2000 Result 100m Back Krayzelburg Welsh Theloke .
1999 Ranking 100m Back 1st 3rd 4th .
2000 Result 200m Back Krayzelburg Peirsol Welsh
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1999 Ranking 200m Back 1st 10th 32nd .
2000 Result 100m Breast Fiorvanti Moses Sludnov .
1999 Ranking 100m Breast 2rd 1st 3rd .
2000 Result 200m Breast Fiorvanti Parkin Rummolo .
1999 Ranking 200m Breast 14th 10th 19th .
2000 Result 100m Fly Frolander Klim Huegill .
1999 Ranking 100m Fly 3rd 1st 2nd .
2000 Result 200m Fly Malchow Sylantyev Norris .
1999 Ranking 200m Fly 1st 4th 21st .
2000 Result 200m IM Rosolino Dolan Wilkens .
1999 Ranking 200m IM 3rd 140th 1st .
2000 Result 400m IM Dolan Vendt Myden .
1999 Ranking 400m IM 109th 14th 1st .
2000 Result 4 x 100 Free AUS USA BRA .
1999 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 1st 3rd 4th .
2000 Result 4 x 200 Free AUS USA NED .
1999 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 1st 2nd 19th .
2000 Result 4 x 100 Medley USA AUS GER .
1999 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 1st 16th 3rd .
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1999/2000 Women .
Gold Silver Bronze .
2000 Result 50m Free de Bruijn Alshammar Torres .
1999 Ranking 50m Free 1st 4th 3rd .
2000 Result 100m Free de Bruijn Alshammar Torres/Thompson .
1999 Ranking 100m Free 2nd 11th 7th/1st .
2000 Result 200m Free O'Neill Moravcova Poll .
1999 Ranking 200m Free 1st 5th 13th .
2000 Result 400m Free Bennett Munz Poll .
1999 Ranking 400m Free 2nd 6th 11th .
2000 Result 800m Free Bennett Klochkova Sandeno .
1999 Ranking 800m Free 1st 53rd 6th .
2000 Result 100m Back Mocanu Nakamura Zhivanevskaya .
1999 Ranking 100m Back 27th 2nd 6th .
2000 Result 200m Back Mocanu Maracineanu Nakao .
1999 Ranking 200m Back 34th 3rd 1st .
2000 Result 100m Breast Quann Jones Heyns .
1999 Ranking 100m Breast 2nd N/A 1st .
2000 Result 200m Breast Kovacs Kowal Beard
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1999 Ranking 200m Breast 5th 2nd 25th .
2000 Result 100m Fly de Bruijn Moravcova Torres .
1999 Ranking 100m Fly 2nd N/A N/A .
2000 Result 200m Fly Hyman O'Neill Thomas .
1999 Ranking 200m Fly 6th 1st 8th .
2000 Result 200m IM Klochkova Caslaru Teuscher .
1999 Ranking 200m IM 2nd 7th 3rd .
2000 Result 400m IM Klochkova Tajima Caslaru .
1999 Ranking 400m IM 1st 3rd 4th .
2000 Result 4 x 100 Free USA NED SWE .
1999 Ranking 4 x 100 Free 2nd 7th 4th .
2000 Result 4 x 200 Free USA AUS GER .
1999 Ranking 4 x 200 Free 1st 2nd 3rd .
2000 Result 4 x 100 Medley USA AUS JAP .
1999 Ranking 4 x 100 Medley 1st 2nd 3rd
What an interesting and stunning work!
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