PwC Headquarters in London |
London: According to a new analysis by research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), home advantage could once again play a part in how the Olympic medals are shared in August; but the superpowers of the US, China and Russia are again set to battle it out at the top of the Olympic Games medals table in London in August.
For the fourth time PwC has published an analysis of how medal performance at the Olympic Games can be linked to such factors as past Olympic performance, economics and state support for sport.
PwC's paper updates these estimates to allow for actual results in Beijing 2008. A number of economic and political factors were found to be statistically significant in explaining the number of medals won by each country at previous Olympic Games before allowing for past performance.
They are population, average income levels (measured by GDP per capita at PPP exchange rates), former Soviet/communist bloc background, as well as being the Olympics host nation.
"In general, the number of medals won increases with the population and economic wealth of the country, but less than proportionately," said the report's author, PwC's UK Chief Economist, John Hawksworth. "David can sometimes beat Goliath in the Olympic arena, although superpowers like the US, China and Russia continue to dominate the top of the medals table."