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Guidelines and Conventions

Guidelines and Conventions

The below guidelines and conventions are not set in stone; Olympic data is so diverse that there may be exceptional situations which are not covered, or which give undesirable results. Such (rare) cases can be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Summary

Participants

We divide athletes into two categories: those who competed in Olympic events – Olympians – and those who were entered but did not compete – non-starters.

Olympians

Our definition of an Olympian is fairly simple: the athlete must have actively competed in an Olympic event, no matter how brief.

In general, if an athlete or team appears at the start/on the field, we consider them to have competed. For example, Liu Xiang (2008 athletics) or Ole Chr. Iversen (1972 speed skating) both appeared at the start, but did not compete in the actual race (due to injury after false start and misinterpretation of the start, respectively). We consider both to have competed. By contrast, the 1980 figure skating pair Babilonia/Gardner withdrew from competition after the warm-up, but did not skate during the competition and are considered not competitors in that event.

For team events - but not team sports - we consider the entire team to have competed, even if not all of the team members had the chance to actually compete. For example, in a track relay event, if the first runner pulls out or drops the baton, we still consider his three team mates as competitors, even though they didn’t do any actual running. The rationale is again that they appeared at the start (note that in some sports, the athlete may not have physically been on the field, but we consider all team events equally).

For team sports, the athlete needs to have actually played - even if just for a second - to be considered a competitor. Players who were on the bench (substitutes/alternates) are not considered to have competed in that match, as they did not appear on the field. If no line-up information is available for a team we will assume all team members to have competed, unless other information can be used to derive a probable line-up. In particular: for handball, it is often only known which players were on the sheet, not which ones were on the field. With the presence of detailed statistics, however, we can derive which players actually took the field.

If athletes (or teams) are barred from competing or disqualified before they actually compete, we do not consider them to have competed. A common example of this is boxers who fail to make their weight and are not allowed to compete. Also, hammer thrower Mihaela Melinte, who was barred from competing due to doping offenses only after she had entered the stadium at the 2000 Games, is considered a non-starter.

Some notable special cases:

Non-starters

The reason we would like to include non-starters is that when we exclude them, this decision is not explicitly documented. If we list an athlete in the results as “DNS”, it’s clear what the decision was. Our definition of a non-starter is somebody who was scheduled to compete in an event, but did not actually compete, for example due to withdrawal, disqualification or otherwise. This does not generally include alternates or entrants, but there are some notable exceptions discussed later on.

As a rule of thumb, we consider non-starters to be people who “received a start number, but didn’t actually start”. In more recent years, this usually includes all people listed in the Official Entries (Start Lists) or Results, but who did not ever compete. “Getting a start number” may be more specific depending on the sport; it could mean being assigned an opponent, being on the match/team sheet, having drawn a lane, etc. Occasionally, start lists are published and then re-created after an athlete withdraws (e.g. Enrico Fabris in the 10,000 m speed skating of 2010). We still consider such athletes to be non-starters.

In some cases, it may be hard or impossible to distinguish between non-starters in the sense described above and other non-competitors. For example, in some older Official Reports, often all the entrants are listed, even if these exceed the maximum per NOC. But these are mixed with genuine non-starters. Other athletes may not actually have been in the Olympic city at the time of the competition. The same can happen with players on a team roster: not all of them may actually have been at the Games.

In cases we cannot easily distinguish, we will include all such athletes as non-starters. In case we know an athlete was not a proper non-starter - for whatever reason - we should add this information as a footnote. The rationale for including these is again documentary value: since these athletes appear undistinguished in Official Results and Reports, leaving them out would create confusion. Also, filtering out the non-pure cases would at best work only partially (e.g. for a few sports, years or countries).

Medallists

Over time, the actual IOC policy for handing out medals has changed regularly, is sometimes unclear or unknown, and occasionally was even inconsistently applied. In 1896, the first two placed athletes received medals (silver and bronze), while in 1900, no medals were awarded at all in several events. Since 1908, gold-silver-bronze has been usually been awarded consistently, notably excepting team events. Depending on the year and event, sometimes medals were awarded to the team only, sometimes only to the team members competing in the final, sometimes only to the competing team members, and sometimes to all team members. In some years, only gold medals were awarded to the winning team; no other medals were handed out.

For statistical purposes, this inconsistency is not desirable; moreover, the information available is incomplete at best. Therefore, we use the following consistent definition of medallists: we consider all participants being placed first, second or third in the final standings to have received gold, silver or bronze medals respectively. This means that any non-starting team members are not considered medallists. When it is unclear who placed first, second or third, the Official Results or Report shall be used. A few special situations deserve be to mentioned here:

In order to also register actual medallists, we will eventually add a secondary medal field to Olympedia to record which athletes actually received medals. For team events, this may be none of the team members, and may include also non-starters.

Countries

Each athlete competes for a country in each event. Until more recently (1997), the IOC did not define country/nation in the same manner as the international community. Thus, some National Olympic Committees exist which represent only territories or dependencies (Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Guam, Netherlands Antilles, US and British Virgin Islands). However, for our purposes we will use the term “country” to refer to a geo-political entity corresponding to those recognized by the IOC. The country we list is generally the same as listed in the Official Report, with these exceptions:

Events

For Games since 1908, there is no question about which events are medal events and which are not; for the years before that, notably 1900 and 1904, we follow the rules outlined in Bill Mallon’s books on the early Olympics:

  1. The event should allow competitors from all countries to compete.
  2. The event should allow competitors to compete on an equal basis - no handicap events.
  3. The event should allow competitors regardless of age, religion, origin, or competency.
  4. The event should not be based on motorized transport.
  5. The event should not be for professional athletes (obviously no longer in effect since 1984).

These rules give our current set of events, although for several events it is debatable whether or not they meet one or more of these criteria. Some exceptions exist as well, notably the fencing for masters events (which were excluded from the professionalism rule by the IOC) and the odd 1896 swimming for sailors event.

All events not meeting these criteria will eventually be added as non-medal events, as well as demonstration events, exhibitions, and other ancillary competitions.

Athletes

Names

We have seven distinct kinds of names, and two related fields

FN

  1. Contains all names an athlete was registered with at birth.
    • ID 114549: Tyson Lashane / Gay
  2. If distinct from the FGN, the UGN is included in the FGN in quotes (straight double quotes, not single or fancy ones), as the last part of the FGN. Only one such name is included.
    • ID 78692: Fredrick Carleton “Carl” / Lewis
  3. If an athlete changed surname due to marriage between Olympics, we include both names in the FSN. We try to order and separate these names as done in the country of origin, or as done by the person in question.
    • ID 73711: Francina Elsje “Fanny” / Blankers-Koen [Netherlands: married name before maiden name, separated by a hyphen]
    • ID 81655: Catriona Ann / LeMay Doan [Canada: maiden name before married name, she personally does not use a hyphen]
  4. If an athlete changed surname due to marriage or because of a legal name change (e.g. marriage of the mother) before or after Olympic participation, we include these names in the FSN. Names used before the first Olympic participation are followed by a hyphen, names used after the last Olympic participation are preceded by a hyphen. Multiple married names should be separated by a comma. We also follow this rule if the athlete married between Olympics, but did not use the new name in competition.
    • ID 2740: Pamela Howard “Pam” / Shriver (-Lazenby)
    • ID 11350: Lis / Hartel (Holst-)
    • ID 101161: Olga Valeryevna / Pyleva (Samorosova-, -Medvetseva)
    • ID 18943 Vanessa / van Kooperen (-Schmoranzer-)
  5. Titles are not part of a full name. These should go into the title field.
  6. The full name should not contain any “translations” of names in alternative languages, minority languages, languages before or after immigration, religious conversion, or any other name changes that affects both given and used name parts. These either belong in the ON or, most likely, the XN. If such a change occurs between Olympics, we used the most recent name, unless there is a compelling reason to use an earlier name.
  7. If an athlete has a parent/child with the same name, we use the English Jr./Sr. (preceded by a comma), not the local equivalent.
    • ID 103162: László / Cseh, Jr.
  8. FNs are always in Latin script, using the preferred transliteration (if any) when dealing with a non-Latin original language. Accents are always preserved. When choosing between scripts or languages, we always use the current main language of a country. So Latvian athletes from the Soviet era are listed in the same manner as present-day Latvians. When in doubt, use the most commonly used form of the name. Exceptions to this rule apply, notable is the “Tchaikovsky Rule”, which states that we can use a (translisterated) name that does not follow this rule if it is so common that to list it otherwise would be strange.
    • ID 2535: Anna / Kournikova

UN

  1. Contains the name an athlete uses in competition.
    • ID 114549: Tyson / Gay
  2. The UN should follow the FN rules when dealing with name changes, transliterations, accents, etc.
  3. The UGN never contains a name in quotes.
  4. Many Spanish or Portuguese language athletes (and a few others) use a “shirt name” when competing. While this is regularly based on either GN or SN, we treat it as USN. It is always repeated as part of the FGN but never included as a NN. Some athletes use their middle name or patronymic as USN, e.g. in Bulgaria. We list this as a normal USN, not as a “shirt name.”
    • ID 24214: / Ronaldo
    • ID 90987: / Ronaldinho
  5. We only use Jr./Sr. as a part of the UN when both Jr. and Sr. were Olympians, or when it is always used by this athlete. It is possible that the UN has Jr./Sr., while the FN does not - e.g. for Spanish names, where the matronymic almost always differs, while the UN might not.
    • ID 41251: Wolfram / Waibel, Jr.
  6. The UN should not contain any pseudonyms. These should always be listed as XN, and as PN when applicable.
  7. Titles should be part of the UN, but only when in use during the Olympics. The generally correct English form is used: GN, Title SN. We always use the English form of the title (count, not comte, graf or conde) if one is available. Note that the SN in this case is not necessarily included in the FN.
    • ID 18071: Alexandros, Count / Merkati
    • ID 95901: John, Earl / of Northesk
  8. Royalty is listed distinctly from nobility.
    • ID 11440: HRH Princess / Anne

ON

  1. Contains the FN of an athlete in the dominant original language of that country - it is basically a translation of the FN field.
    • ID 29216: Людмила Ивановна / Турищева
  2. Rules concerning the UGN and marriages follow the general FN rules.
    • ID 70782: Σπυρίδων “Σπύρος” / Λούης
    • ID 77229: Людмила Андреевна / Кондратьева (-Седйх)
  3. We only include the name in one original language, the dominant language of the country. For countries where the dominant original language has changed (e.g. states formerly part of the USSR), use the current dominant language.

NN

  1. Can contain one or more names, separated by commas.
  2. Can contain nick names, which are not placed in quotes.
    • ID 108546: King James, The Chosen One
  3. Can contain one or more pet names - names that might be used by friends and relatives, but not in results.
    • ID 87770: Hannes, Hanski
  4. An athlete’s UN is never included as a NN.
  5. Pseudonyms are never included as a NN.

XN

  1. Can contain one or more names, separated by commas.
  2. Contains alternative transliterations, e.g. such as appearing in the results.
    • ID 89506: Lee Kyu-Hyuk [Preferred transliteration is Lee Gyu-Hyeok]
  3. Contains alternative ONs, not in the dominant original language, such as Russian names for formerly Soviet countries.
    • ID 77624: Виктор Данилович Санеев
  4. Contains alternative (Latin-alphabet) names, not in the dominant country language, such as Hungarian in Romania or Catalan in Spain.
    • ID 226: Momčilo Tapavica [Serbian name, competed for Hungary]
  5. Contains transliterations of alternative ONs, e.g. Belarussian names.
    • ID 115844: Andrei Radzionau
  6. Contains name changes that affect both given and surname, no matter if they occurred before, during or after Olympic participation.
    • ID 51611: Petros János Weiszmüller [Hungarian form of birth name]
    • ID 8643: Muhammad Ali [Assumed this name after conversion to Islam]
    • ID 115479: Stephen Loruo Kamar [Kenyan, changed name when started running for Bahrain]
    • ID 10927: Mykhailo Slivinsky [Competed most recently as Michał Śliwiński for Poland]
  7. Contains pseudonyms.
    • ID 920613: Georges Hohrod & Martin Eschbach
  8. Contains “invented” patronymics or matronymics, e.g. for people migrating to Spanish language countries or for Baltic Soviets.

SN

  1. The SN is used for sorting a UN correctly. It is needed because not all surnames start with the sortable part, e.g. Dutch names and Arabic names. Might also be useful for Danish, Norwegian and other names.
    • ID 114549: Gay, Tyson
    • ID 49500: Hoogenband, Pieter van den
    • ID 76488: Ali, Saleh El-

PN

  1. If an athlete changes UN between participations, we list the UN per participation. Note that all PN can be different from the UN.
    • ID 73711: Fanny Koen [1936]
    • ID 73711: Fanny Blankers-Koen [1948]
  2. PNs can also be pseudonyms.

Name Order

  1. The name order field indicates if the GN - SN order is “Occidental” (0) or “Oriental” (1). For Oriental names, the SN is listed before the GN, for Occidental names it is the other way round. We generally follow the custom in the country of the athlete, with two notable exceptions. Hungary and Japan both follow Oriental NO, but less strictly, and in results they are always listed in Occidental NO.
  2. Some East Asian athletes (notably from Singapore and Hong Kong) have both an Asian GN and a Western GN. If they use the Western GN predominantly, we use it as the sole UN, and we also apply Occidental NO. If it is not the sole used name, we list the Western GN as a NN and the NO is not affected.
    • ID 50078 Wei Ling “Joscelin” / Yeo

Titles

  1. This field includes the full noble titles of an athlete, obtained both before and after Olympic participation, in the original language.
  2. We never include military, academic or medical titles, except when no GN is known.

Places

For places of birth and death, we always refer to a place name by its current name and country. If a city was previously part of another country, or had another name, this may be noted in the place name’s notes field. In case a place has ceased to exist (e.g. it has been become part of a larger place) it is still possible to refer to that place name. In the notes field of the city, add a note of the place’s current fate.

Place names should always be in the spelling of the country (though always in the Latin alphabet). If there are multiple names because of multiple languages, pick the country’s national language (i.e. Spanish, not Catalan) or the language of the place in question (i.e. Antwerpen not Anvers). For the name of the administrative division, the same rules apply. If we only know the name of a region or area that is not an administrative divisions (e.g. Flanders), use that as the place name, not as the administrative division.

If a place name is known more commonly to English language users by a different name, put that name in the exonym field (e.g. Athens, Brussels, Moscow). Don’t use non-English language exonyms here. Put those in the notes field if relevant.

Affiliations

We have no strict rules for affiliations - affiliations can be clubs, universities/colleges, towns or areas. The general idea is to list the affiliation(s) of an athlete at the time of his participation. In case an athlete represented multiple clubs, or switched clubs around the time of the Olympics, it is acceptable to list all involved clubs.

Ethnic nation

The idea behind “ethnic nation” is to list a secondary nation for athletes where another country is interesting from a modern day view point. As an example, this originates from books by Bill Mallon and David Wallechinsky, who list some athletes as GER/GDR or URS/UKR. Use of the field is limited to these cases:

  1. The athlete was from a country that is now independent, but then represented a different entity (e.g. URS/UKR, TCH/SVK, YUG/MNE, FRA/ALG, GBR/IRL, JPN/KOR)
  2. The team taking part in the Olympics did not reflect the actual nationalities of its members (e.g. GER 1952-1964, AUZ, GRE 1896-1906, IOA, IOP)