Olympics pick 'em results
For those of you who are dying with anticipation, I selected USA, China, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, and France as my "alliance."
I received points for the following events:
5 points (because USA took gold and silver):
Athletics - Men's Decathlon (USA)
3 points:
Swimming - Men's 400m Individual Medley (USA)
Gymnastics - Artistic - Women's Team (USA)
Rowing - Men's Eight (GER)
Swimming - Men's 100m Butterfly (USA)
Cycling - Track - Women's Team Pursuit (GBR)
Athletics - Women's 3000m Steeplechase (RUS)
Equestrian - Team Dressage (GBR)
Table Tennis - Men's Team (CHN)
Athletics - Men's Pole Vault (GER)
2 points:
Athletics - Women's 100m (USA)
Cycling - Track - Men's Omnium (FRA)
Synchronized Swimming - Women's Team (CHN)
1 point:
Swimming - Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (RUS)
Judo - Men's +100kg (GER)
Weightlifting - Men's +105kg (RUS)
And I got no points for these events:
Fencing - Women's Individual Foil (FRA)
Cycling - Road - Women's Road Race (GER)
Diving - Men's Synchronized 10m Platform (GER)
Shooting - Men's Skeet (RUS)
Swimming - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay (CHN)
Gymnastics - Artistic - Women's Individual All-Around (CHN)
Canoe Slalom - Women's Kayak (K1) (GBR)
Triathlon - Women's Triathlon (GBR)
Athletics - Men's 100m (FRA)
Athletics - Men's 400m Hurdles (GBR)
Beach Volleyball - Women's Beach Volleyball (CHN)
Football (soccer really) - Men's Football (soccer) (FRA)
Athletics - Men's Marathon (FRA)
Wrestling - Men's 96kg Freestyle (RUS)
This gave me a total of 41 points. The winner got 56 points (although he beat the next person by six points, so I wasn't really that far behind), and the brick winner got 34 points.
I calculated that USA got me 16 points, Germany got me 7 points, Great Britain was worth 6 points, China and Russia each netted me 5 points, and I only got 2 points for France. But France actually did pretty well in these events - I just hadn't picked the right ones. So, being a nerdy engineer, I was curious how much better I could have done. That is, assuming you knew beforehand exactly who was going to medal in these somewhat randomly selected 30 events, what would have been the best six countries to have picked, and how many points could you have gotten?
There were 33 countries that received medals in these 30 events. The six countries that would have netted the most points were the USA, Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Jamaica - but, of course, the competition wasn't that easy, because the sum above double-counts sometimes. (As an example, Great Britain got a gold medal and the USA got a silver medal in men's +100kg judo, so my simple calculation above included both values - but we were forced to choose one country per event, so I would have only been able to get the points from one country. See why it's so hard?)
I ended up using a pretty similar algorithm to how I chose originally (although I had used medal predictions the first time around, rather than actual medal winners) - I picked the country who had the most gold medals, selected events, and zeroed out points for the other countries as I assigned events to a country. My calculations show that the best alliance would actually have been USA, France, Great Britain, Russia, Jamaica, and Italy, with a total of 67 points. So it would seem that the winner did a pretty good job of selecting, especially since some of the winners were upsets (at least according to my quick research).
Summary: I was in the middle of the pack and didn't win either the golden airplane model or the brick. If I had a crystal ball, I could have beaten the winner - but I'm not sure if I could have otherwise, especially not without putting a lot more time into it.
I received points for the following events:
5 points (because USA took gold and silver):
Athletics - Men's Decathlon (USA)
3 points:
Swimming - Men's 400m Individual Medley (USA)
Gymnastics - Artistic - Women's Team (USA)
Rowing - Men's Eight (GER)
Swimming - Men's 100m Butterfly (USA)
Cycling - Track - Women's Team Pursuit (GBR)
Athletics - Women's 3000m Steeplechase (RUS)
Equestrian - Team Dressage (GBR)
Table Tennis - Men's Team (CHN)
Athletics - Men's Pole Vault (GER)
2 points:
Athletics - Women's 100m (USA)
Cycling - Track - Men's Omnium (FRA)
Synchronized Swimming - Women's Team (CHN)
1 point:
Swimming - Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay (RUS)
Judo - Men's +100kg (GER)
Weightlifting - Men's +105kg (RUS)
And I got no points for these events:
Fencing - Women's Individual Foil (FRA)
Cycling - Road - Women's Road Race (GER)
Diving - Men's Synchronized 10m Platform (GER)
Shooting - Men's Skeet (RUS)
Swimming - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay (CHN)
Gymnastics - Artistic - Women's Individual All-Around (CHN)
Canoe Slalom - Women's Kayak (K1) (GBR)
Triathlon - Women's Triathlon (GBR)
Athletics - Men's 100m (FRA)
Athletics - Men's 400m Hurdles (GBR)
Beach Volleyball - Women's Beach Volleyball (CHN)
Football (soccer really) - Men's Football (soccer) (FRA)
Athletics - Men's Marathon (FRA)
Wrestling - Men's 96kg Freestyle (RUS)
This gave me a total of 41 points. The winner got 56 points (although he beat the next person by six points, so I wasn't really that far behind), and the brick winner got 34 points.
I calculated that USA got me 16 points, Germany got me 7 points, Great Britain was worth 6 points, China and Russia each netted me 5 points, and I only got 2 points for France. But France actually did pretty well in these events - I just hadn't picked the right ones. So, being a nerdy engineer, I was curious how much better I could have done. That is, assuming you knew beforehand exactly who was going to medal in these somewhat randomly selected 30 events, what would have been the best six countries to have picked, and how many points could you have gotten?
There were 33 countries that received medals in these 30 events. The six countries that would have netted the most points were the USA, Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Jamaica - but, of course, the competition wasn't that easy, because the sum above double-counts sometimes. (As an example, Great Britain got a gold medal and the USA got a silver medal in men's +100kg judo, so my simple calculation above included both values - but we were forced to choose one country per event, so I would have only been able to get the points from one country. See why it's so hard?)
I ended up using a pretty similar algorithm to how I chose originally (although I had used medal predictions the first time around, rather than actual medal winners) - I picked the country who had the most gold medals, selected events, and zeroed out points for the other countries as I assigned events to a country. My calculations show that the best alliance would actually have been USA, France, Great Britain, Russia, Jamaica, and Italy, with a total of 67 points. So it would seem that the winner did a pretty good job of selecting, especially since some of the winners were upsets (at least according to my quick research).
Summary: I was in the middle of the pack and didn't win either the golden airplane model or the brick. If I had a crystal ball, I could have beaten the winner - but I'm not sure if I could have otherwise, especially not without putting a lot more time into it.