Analysis of Olympic Gold Medal Data

Introduction

In this project, I will be analyzing data on athletes who have recieved an Olympic medal. The data set includes athletes from various sports and spans across 120 years (1896-2016). The questions I will be attempting to answer in this project are:

1. How has the distribution of gold, silver, and bronze medals changed over the years?
1. Which countries have historically dominated the Olympics in terms of total medals won?
1. Which sports tend to have the most medals awarded?
1. Are there any trends in age distribution over time?
1. Are there any patterns in which countries perform well in specific sports?
1. Has there been an increase in female participation?
1. What are the winning trends of China over the years?
1. How does the performance of the host country compare to their performance in other editions?

A portion of the data set I will be using in this analysis is shown below.

##   ID                     Name Sex Age Height Weight           Team NOC
## 1  1                A Dijiang   M  24    180     80          China CHN
## 2  2                 A Lamusi   M  23    170     60          China CHN
## 3  3      Gunnar Nielsen Aaby   M  24     NA     NA        Denmark DEN
## 4  4     Edgar Lindenau Aabye   M  34     NA     NA Denmark/Sweden DEN
## 5  5 Christine Jacoba Aaftink   F  21    185     82    Netherlands NED
## 6  5 Christine Jacoba Aaftink   F  21    185     82    Netherlands NED
##         Games Year Season      City         Sport
## 1 1992 Summer 1992 Summer Barcelona    Basketball
## 2 2012 Summer 2012 Summer    London          Judo
## 3 1920 Summer 1920 Summer Antwerpen      Football
## 4 1900 Summer 1900 Summer     Paris    Tug-Of-War
## 5 1988 Winter 1988 Winter   Calgary Speed Skating
## 6 1988 Winter 1988 Winter   Calgary Speed Skating
##                                Event Medal
## 1        Basketball Men's Basketball  <NA>
## 2       Judo Men's Extra-Lightweight  <NA>
## 3            Football Men's Football  <NA>
## 4        Tug-Of-War Men's Tug-Of-War  Gold
## 5   Speed Skating Women's 500 metres  <NA>
## 6 Speed Skating Women's 1,000 metres  <NA>

Section 1: Distribution of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals Over the Years

This stacked bar chart displays the change in distribution of medals won over the years. As displayed in the graph, it appears that the number of medals has steadily increased, which could be explained by more participating athletes and more events being added to the games.

Section 2: Countries Who Historically Win the Most Medals

This bar plot displays the top 10 countries who historically win the most medals. By far, the USA has won the most medals.

Section 3: Sports That Win the Most Medals

This bar plot displays which sports win the most medals. Athletics, which is a variety of running, throwing, and walking events, seems to have won the most medals. Overall, athletics events make up about 14% of the medals won.

Section 4: Trends in Age Distribution Over Time

This line plot displays how the mean and median athlete age has changed over the years. From 1896 to approximately 1930, the mean and median age slowly increased until it reached its peak around 1930, when the mean age was 32.5 years and the median age was about 26. After 1930, the mean and median age slowly decreased until 1980, when the mean age was 24.5 and the median age was 24. The mean and median slowly rose again until the most recent year of data, 2016, when the mean was about 26, and the median age was about the same.

Section 5: Countries Who Perform Well in Specific Sports

This heatmap displays the countries who perform well in specific sports. Many of the sports have no clear country that dominates. However, in athletics and swimming, the USA appears to have the strongest performing athletes.

Section 6: Gender Distribution of Athletes Over the Years

This stacked area chart displays the gender distribution of Olympic athletes over the years. While there has been an increase in participation among both genders, it appears that an athlete is more likely to be female since around the year 1900.

Section 7: Winning Trends of China Over the Years

This line chart displays the trends in Olympic medals won by China over the years. Until aroun 1990, China most often won silver medals. After this point, their gold medal winnings dramatically increased, as well as their bronze medal winnings.

Section 8: Performance of the Host Country VS. Other Years

This stacked bar plot displays the performance of countries when they are hosting vs. not hosting. Between, 1896 and approx. 1920, countries tended to do better when they did not host, except for in 1904 when the host country did very well. Between 1920 and 1936, countries that were hosting tended to do better, except for in 1936. Bewteen 1948 and 1976, countries tended to do better in non-hosting years. Between 1976 and 2016, countries did better in host years, except for in 1988.