Analysing Olympic Games through dominance networks

Laura Calzada-Infante and Sebastián Lozano

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2016, vol. 462, issue C, 1215-1230

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to assess the results/performance of countries in the Olympic Games, taking into account their size and resources. A complex network analysis approach is proposed. The first step is to build the dominance network, which is a weighted directed graph in which nodes represent the participating nations and the arc length between any two nations measures the weighted difference in the number of medals won by both countries. An arc from a country to another b exists only if the latter has won more medals than the former and, in addition, it is smaller in population and in terms of GDP. In other words, an arc between two nodes exists if the origin nation performs worse than the destination when, given the population and GDP of both countries, it should have performed better (or at least equally). This dominance network has transitive links and a layered structure and, apart from being visualized, it can be characterized using different complex network measures. The results of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are used to illustrate the proposed approach.

Keywords: Olympic Games; Performance assessment; Dominance network; Network analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:462:y:2016:i:c:p:1215-1230

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2016.07.001

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