olympics <- read.csv("Summer-Olympic-medals.csv")
olympics$Country[olympics$Country == "Soviet Union"] <- "Russia / Soviet Union"
olympics$Country[olympics$Country == "Russia"] <- "Russia / Soviet Union"
olympics$Country[olympics$Country == "East Germany"] <- "Germany"
olympics$Country[olympics$Country == "West Germany"] <- "Germany"
medal_count_by_year <- olympics %>%
  group_by(Country, Year) %>% 
  summarize(country_year_medal_count = n()) %>% 
  arrange(Year, desc(country_year_medal_count))
medal_count_by_year %>% 
  filter(Country %in% top_5_countries$Country) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = Year, y = country_year_medal_count, color = Country)) + 
    geom_point(size = 3) +
    geom_line(linetype = 2) +
    ggtitle("Top 5 Dominent Countries") +
    xlab("Year") + ylab("Total Medal Won") +
    scale_color_discrete(name = "Country (Total Medals)", labels = c("Australia (798)", "China (679)", "Germany (1662)", "Russia / Soviet Union (1659)", "United States (1992)"), guide = guide_legend(reverse = TRUE)) +
    scale_x_continuous(limits = c(1976,2008), 
                       breaks = c(1976,1980,1984,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2008))

Analysis

The Olympics are generally open to all recognized countries around the world, but it is a common occurrence to keep seeing the same countries ending up on the podium. Is this just a conscience or are there a few countries that are genuinely dominant? Data from the Summer Olypmics between 1976 and 2008 was examined to investigate. A simple calculation shows that the five countries with the most medals account for 43.997% of all medals awarded during this period. Given that most Summer Olympics have between 150 and 200 countries represented, this is a significant finding. The graph above also shows a slight upward trend in total medals since the 1988 games.

There are some geopolitical impacts presented in the visualization. Only three of the top five countries participated in the 1980 Moscow games due to a massive boycott related to the Soviet-Afghan war. Similarly, Russian/Soviet Union did not participate in the 1984 games due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even with these events impacting participation, it is clear that these countries are dominant in the Summer Olympics. While other countries certainly have their day on the podium, these countries have a strong track record of leading the pack. These are two more Olympics worth of data that would be interesting to add to this visualization. And in another week or two there will be a third available as the Tokyo Olympics wrap-up.

Data was obtained from Kaggle.