The 2016 Olympic Games are a year away and already predictions are being made as to how various countries will perform.
Infostrada sports a data analytics company, has already predicted the usual post Olympic host hangover for Great Britain. One year before the 2012 London Olympics, Infostrada Sports predicted that the British team would win 53 medals. This was amended on the eve of the Games, with their Virtual Medal Table forecast predicted 67 British medals. In the end, Team GB finished third on the medal table in London with 65 medals (29 gold, 17 silver, 16 bronze). So they were not far off.
The good news for Australia who finished 10th on the medal tally in London with 35 medals (7 Gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze) is that a year out Infostrada Sports predicts an improvement with Australia to finish 6th on the table one place ahead of Great Britain.
They foresee Australia winning 12 Gold 20 silver and 10 bronze medals this time around.
There are many who are very sceptical about polls in newspapers and understandably so as often they are skewed to the paper’s political bias. Infostrada have no such reason to try and skew their results. They advise that “the Virtual Medal Table (VMT) is based on a • proprietary algorithm that includes all results. It is the only medal table based purely on objective data. The algorithm is constantly being refined and tested against previous events.”
They do not always go along with sentimental favourites or even the logical assumptions as to who will win gold. This was evidenced in Sochi.
At the Winter Olympics in 2014, Sven Kramer (Speed Skating 10km) and Shaun White (Snowboard Half-Pipe) were clear favourites for gold. The VMT correctly predicted Jorrit Bergsma and Iouri Podlatchikov as Olympic champions in these events.
The table will change in the coming twelve months but it will be pleasing to Australians that there will hopefully be more Gold than there was in London.
For the record at this stage USA are expected to top the medal table with 99 medals in total, China second with 72 medals and Russia in third with 75. This may appear odd, but the table is worked out on teams winning the most gold and China are predicted to win 31 gold as opposed to Russia winning 22 gold.
