Data Crunch #7.1

Note: I added a Part II to this article link here

Simone Biles is a really good gymnast. That’s not exactly a new revelation, but I wanted to come up with a different way of portraying her medal count that gives a new perspective of just how great she really is. So much attention is paid to Simone’s overall (total) medal count, it diverts attention away from just how dominant she is on an event-by-event basis. As Simone is constantly being compared to the all-time greats of previous generations, it doesn’t highlight just how badly she has trounced the non-greats of the current generation.

When Simone’s medal count is broken down on an event-by-event basis, that’s where it becomes apparent just how far ahead she really is. It must be stressed that Simone competes in the era of specialization. Simone isn’t just outperforming her all-around rivals across all four events. But specialists who spend the majority of their training time specifically on one apparatus with one specific gold medal in mind. It’s supposed to be incredibly difficult, if not impossible to dominate a wide range of events in this fashion. Yet Simone finds a way.

The way the data works:

–Only World Championships and Olympic medals are counted.

–Only medals from 2010-2019 are counted.

–Medals are weighted. Gold = full size, Silver = 2/3 size, Bronze = 1/3 size.

I made six graphics. The first five graphics cover all five individual events. The final graphic combines all five events.