Human development index and the Paralympics

The Paralympics and the Olympics had their closing ceremony today.  Many people have been inspired and entertained by the sporting phenomenon.  It is an even that both serves to motivate those that watch it and on occasion educate and inform as well.  Whether it was seeing the first ever female Olympians from the Kingdom of Saud (regardless of the backroom politics) or Paralympians overcoming adversity.

So this got me thinking.  One thing that can be said is that people with disabilities already face challenges in their lives that others do not have to contend with.  This, to me, makes their stories all the more amazing and incredible.  On this level it does not matter if they can or cannot achieve the same results as the athletes in the Olympics.  It is incredible and awe-inspiring to simply see the spirit with which these people are imbued.  The determination that they have to have to make it past their setbacks and earn the title of athlete.  

Sadly, little of this is free.  The treatment of many disabilities is a costly medical process.  To that end, it has been the case that countries with more advanced medical systems and those with more developed societies have tended to provide better care for those that are less fortunate.  This is where my thinking led me to.  I started wondering if there was any connection between the human development level of a country and the number of Paralympians it had representing it.  

I took data for the number of Paralympians and combined this with the 2011 Human Development Index figures.  I compared this to the top 80 countries in the Paralympics ranked by number of athletes.   This was to remove a large tail end of data, comprising of smaller countries that fielded solitary or only 2 athletes, that would skew the results.  Incidentally, Jamaica being number 84 on this list, was omitted even though it is the home of the Olympics' superstar; Usain Bolt.

And here it is.  Nothing spectacular to be honest, but there is a noticeable increase in the desired direction.  When HDI is taken into account there is a slight increase in the number of Paralympians.  This correlation is relatively weak at 0.31, however, it is made harder to compare the data like for like as the countries have vastly different population numbers.  This can skew the result where a country simply has a larger "resource" from where to find talented and motivated athletes, who simply happen to be disabled in this study.  Performing a natural log on the athlete numbers to partially mitigate the large extremes and outliers actually increases the correlation to 0.39.

Without moving too far in the direction of an after school special, I hope that some of this data is real; and that it shows that increasing HDI does lead to better care of and opportunities for people with disabilities.  

Usain Bolt - Greatest Olympian?

The guest commentary on the BBC of the men's 200m final was heavily filled with opinions that Usain is the greatest Olympic athlete.  His successful defense of the 100m and 200m titles is a first in the history of the Olympics and this is largely what has prompted these opinions.  I personally don't believe I have the credentials to say definitively if this is the case.  Michael Johnson was on the commentator panel and is very conclusive that Usain is in his opinion the greatest Olympic runner.  

Usain, feeling good.

A curious distinction?  Yes actually, Michael had made the interesting point earlier in the Olympics that the question of the greatest usually becomes instantly tainted by emotions and is rarely purely empirical.  The records that Usain holds are empirical facts as is his defense of his 100m and 200m titles - but there are other Olympians, like Michael Johnson himself, that hold similar records in defending other running titles (such as the 400m and 4x400m relay for Michael).  Similar debates rage on when comparing multiple medals won in a single Olympics versus a similar number over a span of Olympic games - which holds more worth?  No-one seems to agree. 

This is made even fuzzier when you ask Michael, who the greatest Olympian is; his answer, is Carl Lewis without hesitation.  Why?  Well, its personal opinion, empirical results and the non-tangible context of Carl Lewis' achievements; competing  against the racist-agenda Nazi hosts to the 1936 Olympics. 

My opinion is that Usain is absolutely great - eminently like-able, he is self-confident yet understated until he proves his point by results rather than words.  His relaxed and playful demeanor - a dramatic difference to the somber, laconic or boorish outbursts displayed by many other sprinters - adds to his personal appeal above his sporting ability.  By making others laugh with him and enjoy the spectacle is what separates him from other athletes.  But for me what I appreciate is his honesty, a point also highlighted by Michael Johnson, that continues to make him appear more human and fallible.  

By openly admitting his faults and and being realistic about his ambitions, he delivers what he promises: why would he not look to compete in the 400m?  Because he knows he does not have the determination to focus his training enough to succeed at the longer sprints.  Some might frown at this, but ultimately he delivers when it counts and does not waste energy on unattainable or even undesired targets.  

The Greek aphorism; "γνῶθι σεαυτόν", "know thyself" is as evident here as it was in The Matrix.  Is that the secret to his success?  Well it would not be that clear cut but it would follow the same line of logic as the pedagogy of Montessori schools - a favored model of mine, and the subject of another post. 

All we can say without controversy is that Usain is clearly the fastest man alive when it comes to the short sprints.  And a really nice guy.  What opinion we have of his greatness (and other athletes) seems to be more personal than practical then, but for me, the type of enjoyable spectacle that he conjures is what makes the Olympics more than just watching a clock count up to 19.32 seconds.

1+1≠2 The Men's 77kg Olympic Weightlifting 2012

So, a first post on the Blog also begins with a 1...

Ahem, anyway.  I was watching the men's 77kg weight category in the Snatch event, when the to-be Olympic Champion Lu Xiaojun, was denied his final lift at 177kg.  Lu had just broken the World Record with a lift of 175kg - the record was previously set by him in 2009 at 174kg - when he planned to break it again.  What made this astonishing?  He was already leading in the Snatch and this was the last lift of the event for all the competitors.  It was a pure test of how far he was able to go.

Why was he denied the lift?  The judges reasoned that he had taken longer than the allowed 1 minute to take his lift, which is the rule when following the previous lifter.  The only problem was that the previous lifter was Lu himself.    The lifter that was supposed to precede him pulled out due to injury, and this left Lu with a back to back lift routine - in cases where a lifter follows himself in a consecutive lift, he is allowed 2 minutes to rest between lifts.

Why is this sad?  Well, it is amazing that a panel of judges that are watching a weight lifting competition, failed to notice that a lift did not occur...  And that they could not work out how to increase a 1 minute rest period to a 2 minute rest period, by adding 1 minute.  Not to mention that we missed on the chance to see another World Record breaking performance!

There was a protest from Lu's team, the judges deliberated, then they realised that no-one had lifted since Lu's second lift, they deliberated some more, and they let the clock run down some more and then finally made a decision.  Just call the Snatch event finished and turn on the countdown clock to the next event.  Great stuff. 

Everyone was confused - Lu was still waiting at the platform to take his lift.  Eventually we were told what allegedly happened; since the lifter between Lu's lifts intended to take the lift, that it was equivalent to actually taking the time to perform a lift.  So, I guess a lifter's intentions can dilate time in the Olympics.

The moral here is that common sense failed.  Everyone was upset and the judges had to make up the rules to save face.  Owning your errors is embarrassing, but Godly - ask Noah.  Why not let Lu lift?  Maybe it would be unfair, maybe not - he won the competition in the end anyway.  I am worried that the judges had such a tough time figuring out what to do - it really took about 6 elderly officials longer than 2 minutes to figure out that 1+1=2.

Were the O-levels really that hard?  Different topic...  Congrats to Lu Xiaojin who smashed the World Record for the total lift too, with 379kg!