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China to top medals tally in Olympics, UK to shine: experts

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Jan 20 2013 | 4:33 AM IST

A team of experts from the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany not only analysed past performances, but also political, economic, demographic and cultural data to make the predictions.

China is expected to edge out US to end up at the top while Britain, the host country, is expected to take home a record breaking 57 medals and end up in the fourth position after Russia.

It's bad news for Germany, their tally is expected to drop by 12 per cent to just 36 medals.

They forecast that China, US and Russia will top the medal table with 102, 100, and 71 medals, respectively, the Daily Mail reported.

One of the other big winners is set to be Brazil, with 28 medals setting it in good stead for the games being held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Australia with 43 medals is predicted to bag the fifth spot, followed by France (39), Germany (36), South Korea (31), Cuba (29) and Brazil.

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To test their analysis, the team used their process to retrospectively predict success at previous games, and found it correlates up to 97.4 per cent with the actual medals table of participating countries of the Athens games in 2004 and up to 96.9 per cent of the Beijing games in 2008.

The team also found the 'home effect' is real.

"The respective host country has increased chances of success and athletes of the future host country profit from the early expansion of athletic support in their home country when preparing for their own role as host," the researchers said.

They also admit the weather could actually help Team Britain, admitting "climatic conditions of the home country also have an effect on the athletes' medals success."

Because of their poor training conditions, the experts believe athletes from countries with an extreme climate are disadvantaged compared to participants from moderate climate zones, especially with respect to outdoor sports.

Researchers also looked at the differences between rich and poor countries

Before the 2008 Games in Beijing, China dedicated more than USD 4.5 billion in supporting sports, in order to replace the US as a 'sports superpower'.

In recent years, the British government also considerably increased spending in anticipation of the 2012 Olympics by investing and supporting top athletes.

However, the experts say it is not money alone that influences which nation ultimately will top the medal tables.

  

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First Published: Jul 25 2012 | 6:07 PM IST

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