Allyson Felix is the most decorated U.S. track athlete in Olympics history. Or is she?
Posted August 7, 2021 1:10 p.m. EDT
Track star Allyson Felix cemented her legacy of Olympics excellence in the Tokyo Games, winning a bronze in the 400 meters and a gold in the 4x400 relay. To add to the impressiveness of that accomplishment, she earned those two medals less than three years after giving birth. That brought her overall medal count to 11 in the span of five Olympics, allowing her to take the title of “most decorated” U.S. track athlete away from Carl Lewis, who had 10 in his stellar career. So, where’s the controversy? She’s the best, right? It depends how you define the term “most decorated.”
Before we get to the particulars of the medals the two athletes won, let’s look at it this way: Let’s say that I put two stacks of cash in front of you, offering you whichever one you prefer. One stack contains 11 bills, the other has 10. Which one would you choose? Any rational person would ask for more information, such as “What’s the mix of denominations in those two stacks?” That rational person would then accept the stack with the highest overall value.
So, what’s the value of Felix’s 11 medals compared to Lewis’ 10? At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we’ve developed a system known as Medal Premium Calculations, or MPC. MPC allocates points based on the color of the medal – 5 for gold, 3 for silver, 2 for bronze. The system was inspired by the U.S. Olympic Committee's financial bonuses paid to American athletes – $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. Using this new system, an athlete would earn 5 quality points by winning a gold medal, while silver and bronze medals would earn 3 or 2 points, respectively.
We argue that this system is superior to the current systems used by media to evaluate Olympians' achievements. Some media outlets list Olympic results by the total number of medals won, assigning all of them equal value. But a gold does not equal a silver, which does not equal a bronze.
Other outlets list their rankings according to the number of gold medals taken home (unless there is a tie, in which case they then look at silver). This method is equally flawed because it gives no weight to silvers or bronzes in most circumstances.
So, let’s use MPC to measure Felix against Lewis. Felix has seven golds, three silvers and a bronze. Lewis has nine golds and a silver. According to the system used by the U.S. media, Felix prevails 11 to 10. All other media outlets in the world would put Lewis ahead because he earned gold more often. Again, for the reasons outlined above, we believe both systems fall short. MPC puts Lewis on top, 48 to 46 in premium points. So, his 10 medals have a cumulative value higher than Felix’s 11 medals do, and he retains the title of “most decorated” by this more valid measure. We argue that the system is more valid because in addition to addressing the obvious shortcomings of the two main methods used to calculate Olympic success, MPC also allows us to perform advanced statistical analyses because it uses ratio-level data instead of simple counts.
And lest we be accused of gender bias in our analysis, in the Winter Olympics, the script is flipped. Apolo Anton Ohno is recognized as the “most decorated” U.S. winter Olympian with eight medals – two gold, two silver and four bronze. But Bonnie Blair’s six (five golds and a bronze) outweigh Ohno’s eight by MPC count, 27 to 24, making her the most decorated U.S. winter athlete of all time.
Dr. C. A. Tuggle is the Stembler Distinguished Professor of Broadcast Journalism and Senior Associate Dean in the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
