Going for gold a unit of work for 14 to 16-year-olds by Dr. Grant Kleeman Macquarie University, Sydney CONTENTS Overview of the unit and rationale Introduction Preparation and introductory activities Activity 1: Factors affecting sporting success in Olympic competition Activity Resource Sheet D1: Factors affecting sporting success in Olympic competition Activity Resource Sheet D2: The Summer Olympics—a truly global event • Table 1: Top five gold medal-winning nations 1988 to 2004 • Figure 2A: Number of countries participating in the Summer Olympic Games 1968 to 2004 • Figure 2B: Number of athletes participating in the Summer Olympic Games 1968 to 2004 • Figure 2C: Number of sporting events contested in the Summer Olympic Games 1968 to 2004 • Figure 3: Changing Summer Olympic Games gold medal distribution 1988 to 2004 Activity Resource Sheet D3: The relationship between gold medal tally and population size • Figure 4: Population and gold medal distribution by continent, Athens 2004 • Table 2: Top 10 gold medal-winning countries adjusted for population, Athens 2004 • Figure 5: Semi-logarithmic scatter graph showing the relationship between gold medal tally and population, Athens 2004 Activity Resource Sheet D4: The relationship between gold medal tally and relative wealth • Figure 6: The relationship between Gross Domestic Product PPP per capita and the number of gold medals won (by region), Athens 2004 Olympic Games • Table 3: Top 10 gold medal-winning countries adjusted for GNI PPP per capita, Athens 2004 • Figure 7: Semi-logarithmic scatter graph showing the relationship between gold medal tally and GDP PPP per capita, Athens 2004 Activity Resource Sheet D5: Student tasks Drawing the lessons together and ideas for follow-up and assessment Activity Resource Sheet D6: Supplementary data © Copyright Australian Geography Teachers’ Association Limited and The Geographical Association (UK) GOING FOR GOLD THE BEIJING GAMES Going for gold Dr. Grant Kleeman Macquarie University, Sydney Overview Introduction In this activity we focus on global inequalities in While the International Olympic Committee sporting achievement as measured by the medal (IOC) discourages the ranking of countries tally at successive Summer Olympic Games— according to the number of medals won at either Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and now, Beijing 2008. the Summer or Winter Olympic Games, many In doing so we have an opportunity to develop our media organisations seek to turn the games into understanding of global inequalities and practice a an international contest by publishing daily tallies range of geographical skills including: the of medals won. These data are now readily interpretation of column and line graphs, available on the internet. GEOGRAPHY SPORTS choropleth maps, proportional circle graphs, pie graphs and semi-logarithmic graphs. The competition between nations for Olympic glory reached a peak during the Cold War when Rationale the Olympic Games became a defacto Geographers have always been interested in the battleground for the competing ideologies of spatial patterns that occur across the earth’s capitalism and communism. During this era vast surface. Of particular interest are the enormous resources were poured into sporting programs by 1 variations in the quality of life experienced by some countries with the goal being greater THE BEIJING GAMES people living in different parts of the world. In international recognition and prestige through trying to understand and explain these differences, sporting success. Constructing such medal tallies is countries are often classified as either ‘developed’ not, however, as straightforward as it might seem. or ‘developing’. Geographers use a range of Simply adding up and publishing the number of ‘indicators’ to classify countries using these medals won by specific countries ignores the great categories. These indicators include Gross National variations in the populations from which winning Income (GNI) per capita, the United Nation’s athletes are drawn and wealth available to support Human Development Index (HDI), life expectancy, and promote sporting achievement. fertility rates, infant mortality, access to clean water and sanitation, and a range of health and In crude terms, the United States came out on top education-related indicators. These data, compiled at the 2004 Athens games, with 36 gold medals, by various international bodies, can be mapped to followed by China (32) and Russia (27) (see Table identify spatial patterns or graphed to determine 1). Obviously, countries with large populations relationships between individual indicators. tend to do well because the sheer weight of numbers inevitably produces athletes with The question at the core of this activity is the extent exceptional ability. There are, of course, always to which sporting success, as measured by the exceptions to this generalisation. Australia, with medal tally at an Olympic Games, is related to a only 21 million people, was ranked fourth with 17 nation’s population and/or level of development or gold medals while India with a population of a wealth. billion won just a single silver medal. The Bahamas—with fewer than 300,000 people—came Key questions include: out well ahead on a population per medal basis, • Which countries and regions of the world are followed by Norway, Australia, Hungary and Cuba the most successful in winning medals at the (see Table 2). The USA ranked 34th, Russia 23rd, Summer Olympic Games? the UK 29th, Canada 37th and China 51st. So • Do countries with larger populations win more population size alone is not a good predictor of medals? Olympic success. The relationship between gold • Do the world’s developed countries win more medal tallies and population size is examined in medals than developing countries? Table 2 and Figure 5. © Copyright Australian Geography Teachers’ Association Limited and The Geographical Association (UK) THE BEIJING GAMES GOING FOR GOLD What about wealth then? Modern sport requires a account cost of living differences between the lot of expensive infrastructure—stadiums, wealthy and the less well off but which does not swimming pools, velodromes, etc—in order for penalise large developing countries. It also national success to be achieved. accommodates the different performances between the wealthy countries. So while athletes from developing countries find success on the track, especially in middle and This approach reveals a number of interesting long-distance running dominated by countries results. China, rather than the USA, tops the such as Ethiopia and Kenya, there were few non- medal tally—the country’s immense population European athletes wining medals in the pool or in size more than compensating for its relatively low canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, rowing, income. Cuba’s modest population size (11.4 shooting and yachting events. million) and relatively low income highlights what an achievement its nine gold, seven silver and On the other hand, Asian competitors tend to eleven bronze medals - mostly won in Olympic dominate in some sports, especially badminton boxing - really is. The same goes for Ethiopia (2 and table tennis, and the various martial arts gold) and Kenya (1 gold). The gold medal haul of disciplines such as judo and archery. Even in this USA (36) and Australia (17) remains impressive instance it tends to be the industrialised Asian by any measure and demonstrates the extent to nations of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan that which a national obsession with sporting dominate. achievement can fuel Olympic success. While there does appear to be a link between Preparation and introductory activities 2 wealth and the distribution of medals there are, Before beginning this study students should be again, some notable exemptions. Switzerland, one familiar with a range of development related of the world’s wealthiest countries, could only concepts including development, spatial manage a single gold medal, while tiny inequality, infrastructure, purchasing power per Luxembourg, which enjoys the world’s highest per capita and demography, and possess a general capita national income, could not manage a awareness of the global pattern of social and SPORTS GEOGRAPHYSPORTS THE BEIJING GAMES medal of any type. Then there are those countries economic wellbeing. This awareness can be which excel in winter sports rather than those achieved by having students study atlas maps featured in the Summer Olympics. The showing a range of development related indicators relationship between gold medal tallies and including: GNI per capita, the UN’s Human national (and regional) wealth is examined in Development Index (an index combining Figures 6 and 7, and in Table 3. indicators of real purchasing power, education, and health), life expectancy, total fertility, infant One way of taking into account both population mortality, education, access to clean water and size and income is to divide the number of medals sanitation and human rights, including the status won by national income per head, when adjusted of women and minorities. for purchasing power parity (PPP). Students also need to consider the factors likely to So how can we tell who has done well, adjusted for affect sporting success in the Olympic Games. This size and income? Just dividing medals by total can be achieved by having the class complete the national income does not say much, because that following activity: does not account for population size. One answer is to use national income per head, adjusted