How much of a shadow has the Russian doping scandal cast over these Games? (1:16) Could Beijing organizers actually welcome the Kamila Valieva issue because it takes attention off other controversial issues? (2:45) China had three stars this week: Xu, Su, and Gu. We start with how Xu Mengtao’s story arguably resonates the most — plus the touching moment she shared with an American rival (6:11). Meanwhile, Eileen Gu is still dominating headlines, but the narrative within China appears to be shifting (8:48). 17-year-old snowboarder Su Yiming has talent and style in spades and has come out of virtually nowhere to become one of the stars of these Games — but will he be allowed to retain his personality as his star continues to shine? (12:22) And the Chinese men’s hockey team’s odyssey ends on a high note of sorts. We ask what’s next for the team and the country (16:07).
Our guest this week is Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis at Nielsen Gracenote and the brains behind the world’s leading Olympic medal predictor model (18:21). He explains how the model works and what happens when there’s missing information (22:43). What trends does he see with regard to China in the Olympics? (25:00) And how did the model fare when it came to China’s breakout skeleton athletes? (28:16) Gleave also explains what other data he’s looking at (29:31), reveals which event is the easiest to predict (33:14), and discusses whether or not data models ever support the “hot hand theory” widely touted throughout the sports world (33:49).
