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And just like that it’s over (well, almost). The greatest show on earth extinguishes its flame for another four years. I’m sure I’m like many of you reading this blog who gradually get more involved in the events as the games progress. From seeing the opening ceremony with a degree of ambivalence to finally being so invested that dog walks, meals out, and other important trips are put on hold until [insert whatever event is currently on the TV] is concluded.
Naturally, I’m always placing a keen eye on the progress of the British competitors. I’m guessing there will be satisfaction over what’s been achieved in Paris but perhaps with a glance at a few golds that got away. Without diminishing the efforts and accomplishments of those winning silvers and bronzes there’s something magical about watching a competitor so dominant that you "just know" they will win. In previous years, I can credit Mo Farrah, Steve Redgrave and Chris Hoy (and probably more) with this feeling. In 2024, the “I just know you’re going to win award” has to go to Keely Hodgkinson. What an exceptionally dominant performance from her in the 800M.
Before I move onto to the round-up this week, let me briefly mention a new feature we have launched at team #sportsvizsunday. Every month we are going to discuss our favourite vizzes from the latest month and showcase them via video. Recently, we covered July and the video is available here. As always, let us know if you have any feedback.
We start with what is typically termed the blue-ribbon event, the men's 100M. This year's final certainly didn't disappoint and Ryan Soares did a fantastic job of previewing the epic race to come with this animation of all the semi-final competitors.
Turning to the race itself, Dan Wade brilliantly tracks the progression and the amazing achievement of winner Noah Lyles with this bump chart. In a race of only 10 seconds to be last almost halfway through but end up winning is incredible.
In this viz, Zak Saucede touches upon the fact that all athletes finished under 10 seconds, for the first time in history. With this clever heatmap, he also demonstrates excellently how Lyles came through the field. Nice job, Zak!
Another memorable race that's been fantastically visualised by Damola Ladipo was the 400m. Once again, a dramatic event with multiple changes of lead and while from a British point of view, it would have been amazing to see Hudson-Smith triumph, ultimately it was Quincy Hall who stormed through the field. I love the strong purple used in Hall's ribbon to bring to life his journey in the race.
Moving away from athletics now we turn our attention to gymnastics and the incredible career of Simone Biles. I love the medal design that Rob Taylor has created here with each of the segments representing a specific event and the rings the level of achievement achieved by Biles. To be successful in one event is impressive enough but across multiple disciplines and with a longevity not often seen in gymnastics, Biles' career surely is without compare. It's almost as impressive as this viz, Rob!
We turn back to Zak Saucede who poses an interesting question. Is the Heptathlon a specialist or generalist event? The level of detail Zak goes into in his analysis combining clear visuals with excellent use of explanatory text is impressive. I'm not an expert on the intricacies of Heptathlon scoring but it's clear that if there is one event a competitor is significantly stronger at then it does put them at a clear advantage. Much to delve into and discuss, well done, Zak.
It's great to see other community-led projects focussing on Olympics-themed data. #MakeoverMonday focussed on venues of the Olympics and I'd encourage checking out the MOM-specific tag to check out all the excellent entries. We did see a couple of explicitly #sportsvizsunday tagged entries starting with this stunner from Dennis Kao. The aesthetic beauty of this jumped out at me straight away. The main map is fantastic and it's interesting to see that not all events were in the immediate Paris vicinity. Of course, many were and this is where the zoomed inset maps prove their value. Amazing, Dennis.
In this submission by Shangruff Raina, we see a variety of different chart types with treemaps, icons, bars and donuts all being used to good effect and providing a nice level of detail on the event location distribution.
Workout Wednesday also provided an Olympic-themed (sized?!) challenge which challenged participants to create a series of stacked area charts showing the distribution of medals by age across each event. It looks as though Tanya Lomskaya did a great job in accepting, and completing, the challenge. Well done, Tanya!
Turning away from the Olympics for a second but remaining firmly in the space of community collaborations, Kirk Munroe combines his love of #IronQuest, #SportsVizSunday, maps and Formula 1 to showcase the incredible distance the F1 circus takes each season. I know steps have been made to make distances less with a better planned schedule but going from China to Miami to Italy seems to suggest there is still room for improvement. I enjoyed tracking each step, Kirk and seeing how the total built over time.
What is it they say in cricket? "Catches win matches". The ability to take 10 wickets is crucial in all forms of the game and Yash Sakhuja explores a number of comprehensive fielding metrics in the recent Australia vs. India match. Some top-level analysis here, Yash. Much to explore!
And while we love to see the #sportsvizsunday tag on a submitted viz we will also strive to find as much sporting-related content as possible each week. Notable mentions below of additional content that came across our collective desks:
It was incredible to see 41 year 41-year-old wrestler winning a 5th consecutive gold medal taking him into 1st place outright. It's important to note, and this created an interesting debate among us, that the event has to be the same so that while others may have won an equal number, or at least as many to get on this viz, the events across the years would have been different.
More 100m related content below.
Thanks to Dan for sharing this from Lev Akabas. Brilliantly showing with sparing colour to focus on the incredible achievements of Usain Bolt.
And if want an animated representation of the final from 2024, check this out from Marco Hernandez on LinkedIn.
I challenge you not to watch and -re-watch these next two visuals from Krisztina Szűcs brilliantly animating the twists and turns of the High Jump and Pole Vault events. These events are brilliant use cases for this type of story, with the various heights and multiple attempts at each height. The whittling down of the competitors as they gradually drop out of the competition builds to a dramatic skyscraper effect. Outstanding, Krisztina!
For fans of infographics, check out these two below by Mundo Deportivo on cycling and boxing.
Last up we have Ben Griffis exploring player positions in football. I love the level of detail that's able to be applied to the game now and highlights so many interesting details.
That’s it for this week. I imagine next week will continue with the Olympics theme but we may begin to see Football creeping back into the mix with the Premier League kick-off not too far away.
Thanks for reading,
Simon and the #sportsvizsunday team
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