Talk:2012 Summer Olympics

Number of athletes from each country

The Total Number of Athletes for each country on the London 2012 website is slightly different then the numbers posted under the "Participants" section. Is this because the section is only including "active" participants, or perhaps the numbers on the London 2012 website have been updated. Take the United States for example, it states 530 on Wikipedia and 539 on the London website; Mexico 102 on W, and 106 on London. This is for almost every country... so before I try to edit everything, am I missing something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Warsilver (talk • contribs) 01:45, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

I noticed this as well, but am not sure what to do about it. It seems like it would have to be determined how many athletes for each country actually participated and if all of them are correctly listed on their countries' articles. Tad Lincoln (talk) 03:23, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

One possible reason for that is that there are 23 football players per team on the London 2012 website, but actually only 18 of then took part of the games. The remaining 5 were reserve athletes to eventually take place of athlets injured just before the games. Those 5 didn't even traveled to London. The goalkeeper of tha brazilian team (Rafael) suffered an injured just before the games and the goalkeep on the list of 5 reserves was called to London to take his place. But even taking that into consideration, I still found some different numbers as well. 1 or 2 athlets. That's probably because some athletes was banned because of doping or cutted because of injures close to or during the games. For example, one of the members of the brazilian equestrian jump team didn't take part of the games due to a injure of his horse so tha brazilian team could not descard one of the results (the worst one). Sorry about my english. =P — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.161.156.120 (talk) 18:33, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Article imbalance

The article currently seems quite lopsided, giving lots of attention to the bid and preparation for the games and not so much to the event itself. So, for example, Ken Livingstone is mentioned twice in the article but Usain Bolt is not mentioned at all. I suppose this to be a consequence of the way that the article was developed - being started many years ago, filling up with details of the preparations and so leaving no space for the actual event itself. The article therefore needs rebalancing and I shall place an undue tag to encourage this. Warden (talk) 08:21, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't think it's too lopsided at all. I'll assume you were just using Bolt as an example (there's no particular reason he should be mentioned in this article) but there seems to be a good balance between the preperations for the Game which lasted over a decade and the Games themselves which lasted two weeks. Alongside this article we have hundreds of by sport, by event and by nation articles as well as the Chronological summary of the 2012 Summer Olympics and List of 2012 Summer Olympics medal winners that go into far more detail on the sports. Mentioning specific athletes in this main article, other than those who set world records who are already included, would introduce an element of subjectiveness that we should try to avoid - Basement12 (T.C) 11:11, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Agree with Basement. I too don't think it is undue at all. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 11:12, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

This article is just an overview and summary of the totality of this Olympiad, the Games are not over yet so there is still mateial coming in to be added to this article. There are other articles that cover in great detail everything from venues, sports, teams, events, individual participants, etc. Take a look at all the articles in Category:2012 Summer Olympics and its subcategories. BTW is there an easy way to find out the total number of articles in the whole category? Roger (talk) 11:32, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

57 pages according to WP:AWB if not recursive. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 11:35, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Wrong. That is just the 47 articles in the "root" category itself plus 10 subcategories. AWB does not count the entire category "tree". I'll consult the guru's at WP:VPT. Roger (talk) 11:54, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Good to know =). Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 11:57, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Applied recursively, AWB finds 9,276 articles in the sub-directories. The vast majority of them appear to be biographies, presumably of the competitors.  An optimist on the run! 20:45, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

Although I am a Londoner and proud of the Games, I am concerned at some Pro-UK bias here. The opening few paragraphs should sum up a worldview of the Games suitable for an international encyclopedia. Therefore I think it is not appropriate to have the statement:

"Great Britain achieved its highest tally of gold medals since 1908, finishing third in the medal table."

I feel that even though UK is the Host, this should not be part of the short list of features of this Olympics that is key and relevent to Wikipedia's world of readers. This statement belongs only in articles or sections about the UK (so-called "GB") Team etc. Indeed, if anything should be said about the gold medals list at all in this section- and in my view it shouldn't- it would simply be who won it. I propose to remove this unless someone can explain why this fact belongs here.

IceDragon64 (talk) 22:15, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Media attention

What we do is being noticed - Mossop, Brian (2011-08-10). "How Wikipedia Won Olympic Gold | Playbook". Wired.com. Retrieved 2012-08-11. - can we do something with this? Roger (talk) 18:54, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

4x100 meter world record incorrect time

Please correct the WR time set by Jamaica. It is 36.84s — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.254.158.36 (talk) 23:26, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

It was corrected in [1] an hour before your post. Do you see a wrong time somewhere? PrimeHunter (talk) 23:42, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Totally broken medal table

It is so amazing that you provide more sorting options without any thinking. If you sort by "total" it gives that you don't see Japan while they have got 38 medals and with this they should be in the 6th position. Just check: 2012 Summer Olympics medal table. If you can't give a dynamic solution, that would list different set of 10 countries then my suggestion is simply disable the sort functions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.131.147.13 (talk) 18:33, 12 August 2012‎ (UTC)

Does every country have female athletes?

From the article: "...meaning the Games became the first at which every country and sport included female competitors.". This was passed around some in the press at the start of the games, but I don't believe it's actually correct. Barbados (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics ) has 6 male athletes and no female, and both of Nauru's athletes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics ) are male. Kevinatilusa (talk) 19:37, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

These games had the last previously all-male countries to send female competitor(s). The ones which don't have females in these games, have had females in the past. Now every NOC has had a female athlete at least once. That is what it is supposed to mean. 85.217.15.248 (talk) 21:18, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

That is true, and it is something that should probably be more clear, because right now it seems to be claiming that all delegation included women. Tad Lincoln (talk) 21:29, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

I tried to edit and clarify the meaning Kevinatilusa (talk) 02:55, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunatly there is a small snag to this reasoning. The sources I've seen all say that this is the first games where each country fielded a women's team. And per WP:V, the basis for inclusion is verifiability not truth, and everything must be attributable to a reliable source, otherwise it's technically WP:OR. Is there a source for this I'm not seeing?JOJ ^Hutton 04:08, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Kevinatilusa already cited two countries, or NOCs, whatever, that included no female athlete at 2012 games. Barbados and Nauru. Even though he used the wikipedia articles on those coutries, not the original source, it's quite easy visiting the London 2012 official website and verifying it. For the lazy ones: Barbados Nauru No female. Maybe other NOCs than those two dint' sent female athletes to the games, but my lazyness do not allow me to verify it NOC per NOC. =P — Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.161.156.120 (talk) 06:17, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

WP:OR states that you shouldn't take information from two or more sources to come to a conclusion not directly stated in those sources. That would be original research, and if we look the other way on this particular topic, it would be hypocritical and inconsistent. And of course we can not, under any circumstances use another Wikipedia article as verification for facts. Considering that a lot of sources are actually saying that this is the first Olympics that every single country fielded a women's team, we better come up with a verifiably reliable source. JOJ ^Hutton 15:41, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

The official Olympic site's list of Nauru athletes is not verifiably reliable enough? If you don't allow that, then there's a problem in that you're essentially asking to verify a negative -- if one source believes all countries sent female athletes, and ten others believe some countries sent women and others didn't, the former will report on it as news, the latter will say nothing because it's not as interesting. Kevinatilusa (talk) 17:46, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

My curiosity took over my laziness and I went for it. Besides Barbados and Nauru, Saint Kitts and Nevis also sent only their men sprint team. Tameka Williams, a female sprinter from Saint Kitts and Nevis, was expected to participate in the games but SKNOC alleged she assumed the use of drugs prior to the games and sent her back home. About the sources, the London 2012 website is not one source. It is THE source from where other sources as newspapers and magazines take most of the information about the games they publish. And there is listed ALL atheletes, as is stated there, that participated in the games from any coutry. And from those three countries/NOCs only men participated. I mean, come on... It realy amazes me how people cling to wathever half-arsed argument to keep some piece of information that is not true just because that piece of information pleses then somehow. If some news says that all 204 NOCs sent women to these especifc games thats is just wrong information. Maybe due to an overexcited reporter as three autocratic coutries that never allowed their women to take part of the games finally abided by the world pressure. The truth is that, with those three countries sending women for the first time, all the 204 NOCs have now sent women to the games at least one time. Nauru, for example, sent a woman to the 2000 and 2004 games, but sent no woman to the 2008 and 2012 games. I'll just create a new section asking that part to be edited back to the Kevinatilusa version since the user R013 reverted the changes Kevinatilusa did before. I'll add BBC list of athletes as well (witch they probably took from the London 2012 website...) as reference:

Barbados: London 2012 BBC

Nauru: London 2012 BBC

Saint Kitts and Nevis: London 2012 BBC The BBC list still includes Tameka Williams. They did't update the list after she was sent back home. I could only find a tweet from BBC here and news from Times of india here

Something interesting and unexpected. I found as well two countries that sent only women. Bhutan and Chad. One male sprinter from Chad was expected to compete in the games, but he was cut before it. I don't know the reason for the cut indeed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.56.51.68 (talk) 00:45, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

I found a reliable source in a few seconds with a Google search and have changed the article [2] to say: "Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, meaning every country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Barbados, Nauru and St Kitts and Nevis only had men in their teams but had entered women in previous Games. With women's boxing included, the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors."

Rebecca Soni's world record

Rebecca Soni set a new world record for the same event twice during these Olympics. Since the final was the day after the semi-final, the records are listed separately. I think it might make more sense to consolidate them into one item, so it's clear that they are for the same event. What do other people think? Tad Lincoln (talk) 21:26, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

No, the record she set in the semi-final was the offial record until she broke it the next day. Roger (talk) 09:36, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

most successful athetes

Is there a list/a table of most successful athletes in these games? I could not find it, if there is. There is 2012 Summer Olympics medal table, which has countries/NOCs in it. The only part I could find about athletes was in "The Games" section: list of World records. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.217.15.248 (talk) 21:28, 12 August 2012‎ (UTC)

There can be many views on "most successful". Athletes with at least four medals can be seen by clicking the "Year" column in the first table at List of multiple Olympic medalists at a single Games. There are six listed in 2012 and all are swimmers – a sport where you can compete in a lot of events. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:25, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

I mean same kind than the 2012 Olympics medal table. So, there is not an article for every games, only compilation of all games. I see. 85.217.15.248 (talk) 20:27, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Edit request: London, England

Could someone please change the error in the opening paragraph? The games took place in London, United Kingdom - not London, England.

Many thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thatrainbowconnection (talk • contribs) 00:26, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't see that as an error. As far as I'm aware we don't have a policy as whether to refer to the country of the UK. In mot cases though the indivdual country is referred to rather than the UK. For instance, 'London, England', 'Aberdeen, Scotland', 'Newport, Wales' rather than using the UK. For what reason, I'm not sure but that seems to be the way. Often counties are used rather than countries as well, for instance the page Halifax, England simply redirects to Halifax, West Yorkshire. It is more specific I suppose. Mtaylor848 (talk) 15:30, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

London is in England and indeed it has always been common to refer to "London, England" to distinguish that London from other Londons in the world. However, I understand that since the Games are held in the UK, not just England, there may be a case for saying London, UK.

IceDragon64 (talk) 21:55, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Rebecca Soni world record

She also set a world record in the qualification! (oops, sorry, this *is* mentioned, and besides someone else said this too) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.182.35.35 (talk) 00:48, 13 August 2012‎ (UTC)

Reviews from around the world

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Reviews from around the world are really good,hailing it as the best Olympics ever,a spectacle,praising London for a job well done. Also a poll was taken asking people "Was London 2012 the greatest Olympics ever staged?" with 92.07% of almost 10,000 people voting "Yes it was the best ever"

The Australian, Peter Wilson: British take gold as best Olympics Games hosts

The Age, Australia, Greg Baum: It's been a right bang-up job

Washington Post, USA, Mike Wise: London 2012 taught us about legacy, humor and courage

New York Times, USA, David Segal: Britain Takes a Final Bow

The Globe and Mail, Canada, Doug Saunders: Olympic elation envelops host nation

National Post, Canada, Bruce Arthur: Britain pulls off an Olympics to remember

New Zealand Herald, David Leggat: Three cheers for a job well done

China Daily: Grand finale brings Games to an end

Link to reviews: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/9471860/London-2012-wins-gold-medal-for-best-Olympics-ever.html

Also The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro has congratulated Boris Johnson and London for putting on "the greatest Games ever".

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h67nRP7owpLVKzzGNcdYxgB30M3Q?docId=N0388481344608695581A

I think a 'Review' section should be added with all this in it.

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.29.179.174 (talk) 14:29, 13 August 2012‎ (UTC)

'Many commentators considered these to be the greatest games ever'

It says this in the opening statement. It gives no indication who these commentators are. This could probably be said for all games. If an unusually high number of notable commentators have expressed this then it should be worked in the article. However there is no mention of how many have said this and who they are. A small number of un-notable commentators may have said this but the same could be said for any games. On what basis did they say thi? There are two sources provided, one being the Telegraph, which is a little dubious and a very 'pro-British' paper.

If nobody objects or can improve this claim I shall remove it. Mtaylor848 (talk) 15:25, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Read just above you, Reviews from all over the world have hailed London 2012 as the best games ever. Worldwide polls were done asking if London 2012 were the best games ever and over 92% from around the world voted "yes". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.28.182.6 (talk) 16:06, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

 Not done Biased and false claim. I agree with User:Mtaylor848. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 16:36, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

How is it a biased and flase claim when 10,000 from around the world vote it as the best games ever and all the reviews in the links were from different countries across the world? And im Italian! lol You need to learn the meaning of the word 'biased'. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.28.192.114 (talk) 03:29, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Have you heard of the recency effect? People have a tendency to think the latest of everything is the best. Funnyhat (talk) 06:06, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

You yourself need to learn the meaning of the word "biased". 10,000 from more than 7 billion people is rather low, and most of them have a bias and a regency effect, as Funnyhat explained. Furthermore, the "reviewers" were not more than 100 years, as the first Olympic Games was in the last 19th century. They simply can not remember all the Olympics and then suddenly state that this was the best Olympics. Please use your logic and stop making such ridiculous statements. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 10:26, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

• Most commentators consider the 1994 Winter Olympics to be the best Games ever. Hektor (talk) 14:34, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Will all commentators on this debatable subject please ensure they use non-confrontational language. I see no reason why a statement need be referred to as "ridiculous", for example.

IceDragon64 (talk) 22:00, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Edit request: female athletes

Someone edit the part of the article about female athletes participation to match official source as discussed above in this topic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.56.51.68 (talk) 00:47, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Participant map

Why is there such precise distinction among tiny Olympic delegations (one color for countries with 1-3 participants, another for 4-9, and another for 10-29), but then very little among larger ones (one color for every country having between 100 and 299 participants)? It seems odd. Funnyhat (talk) 06:04, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

The number of countries with 1-3 or 4-9 athletes is similar to the number of countries with 100-299. JoshMartini007 (talk) 14:17, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Controversies

Why hasn't be removed Paraskevis Papachristou minor and irrelevant with the Olympics games controversie from the mane page? is it fair for the athlete? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.69.86.166 (talk) 08:17, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

You're right that doesn't belong in such a short summary of all the controversies, I've removed it - Basement12 (T.C) 09:40, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Artists

"London 2012 finale used video montage of Bowie classics, and prerecorded slots for other absentees Kate Bush and the Sex Pistols"

• David Bowie among UK stars who turned down Olympic closing show guardian.co.uk. Nemissimo (talk) 19:50, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Edit Request: Sports Section (the new table)

Personally I dislike as it looks ugly and takes away information as no diciplines are shown, but if we're going to keep it like that Aquatics (diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo) needs to be merged or else it will look like the Olympics has 29 sports instead of the 26. Wondering how we'll go about it. JoshMartini007 (talk) 17:18, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

I agree. It should be reverted to avoid incosistency and confusions. Regards.--Kürbis (✔) 17:31, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Sports Undertaken

And I quote, "26 sports and 39 disciplines" and then go on to list 29.... Did I miss something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by MRadclyffe (talk • contribs) 14:16, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

The list shows 25 sports and the 4 diciplines of aquatics (diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo). I've reverted to what it was before until a better solution is found (or we keep it the way it is). JoshMartini007 (talk) 14:55, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

About male discrimination

There were a country and the area where a man did not participate in.。As for the rhythmic gymnastics and the synchronized swimming, only a woman item is adopted, and the participation of the man is not achieved. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Teel-m (talk • contribs)

Incidentally, men's rhythmic gymnastics is a sport originated in Japan. World Congress was held in 2003. You tube of men's Rhythmic Gymnastics.[3]--Teel-m (talk) 17:08, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Medal Values

All monetary values should be in £GB, why are the medal values singled out in $US — Preceding unsigned comment added by Merlin-UK (talk • contribs) 18:47, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Because the U.S. dollar is currency used in the cited article. The article doesn't give the value in any other currency. --JamesAM (talk) 02:22, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

Men and women

All the Wikipedia articles on previous Summer Olympic games include the total number of athletes and also the number of men and the number of women. This page is missing this information.

According The Guardian's datablog (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/aug/07/olympics-2012-athletes-age-weight-height#data) the numbers at London 2012 were Men: 5756 Women: 4628 However this adds up to 10,384 which doesn't quite match the total figure quoted in the infobox.

Suggested change to infobox:

Athletes participating 10,384 (4,628 women, 5,756 men)"The Guardian". Retrieved 24 August 2012.

Can someone update this please? Payo (talk) 13:40, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

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