UNASSIGNED: Ranking of nations by medal tally is a popular feature of the Olympics, but such ranking is a poor measure of sporting prowess or engagement until the tallies are adjusted for major factors beyond the control of individual nations. Here we estimate and adjust for effects of total population, economy expressed as gross domestic product per capita, absolute latitude and Muslim population proportion on total medal counts in female, male, mixed and all events at the Pyeongchang winter and Tokyo summer Olympics and Paralympics.
UNASSIGNED: The statistical model was multiple linear over-dispersed Poisson regression. Population and economy were log-transformed; their linear effects were expressed in percent per percent units and evaluated in magnitude as the factor effects of two between-nation standard deviations (SD). The linear effect of absolute latitude was expressed and evaluated as the factor effect of 30° (approximately 2 SD). The linear effect of Muslim proportion was expressed as the factor effect of 100% vs. 0% Muslim. Nations were ranked on the basis of actual vs. predicted all-events medal counts.
UNASSIGNED: At the Pyeongchang Olympics, effects of population and economy were 0.7-0.8 %/% and 1.1-1.7 %/% (welldefined extremely large increases for 2 SD), factor effects of 30° of latitude were 11-17 (welldefined extremely large increases), and factor effects of 100% Muslim population were 0.08-0.69 (extremely large to moderate reductions, albeit indecisive). Effects at the Tokyo Olympics were similar in magnitude, including those of latitude, which were surprisingly still positive although diminished (large to very large increases). Effects at the Pyeongchang and Tokyo Paralympics were generally similar to those at the Olympics, but the effects of economy were diminished (large to very large increases). After adjustment of medal tallies for these effects, nations that reached the top-10 medalists in both winter games were Austria, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Slovakia and Ukraine, but only Azerbaijan reached the top-10 in both summer games.
UNASSIGNED: Adjusting medal counts for demographic and geographic factors provides a comparison of nations\' sporting prowess or engagement that is more in keeping with the Olympic ideal of fair play and more useful for nations\' Olympic-funding decisions.

This article reports on the evolution of breakdance. Given the inclusion of breakdancing in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, scholars have generated substantial international research related to breakdance teaching in recent years. However, few researchers have focused on the impact of formal formative assessment on breakdance teachers\' teaching and students\' learning. We wish to contribute to the quality of breakdance teaching and learning by identifying the positive impact of recent research on formative assessment on student learning and designing a formal formative assessment task related to breakdance. This article lays out a framework of formal formative assessment tasks and identifies the positive impact of formative assessment on dance education. Although our work is far from perfect, it does provide a general methodological framework for assessing breakdance students\' abilities in formal educational settings.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused more than 500 million infections and 6.2 million deaths globally, resulting in numerous sporting events being cancelled or postponed. Therefore, effective control strategies are urgently needed to prevent COVID-19 transmission at these local and global events. This article introduced the strategies utilized at the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics and proposed several measures for future reference.

One of the most inspirational moments of the Tokyo Olympics was the sharing of the gold medal in the men\'s high jump. Rule changes that allow more medal sharing when athletes and teams are effectively equal in ability would improve the entertainment value of the Olympics, reward more athletes for their years of dedication to sport, and augment the Olympic ideal of fair play. Medals in all events are decided by a time, distance or points score in a final. When scores differ by ~0.1 or less of the variability in the score between competitions, the athlete or team with the better score would obtain a better score on average in only 52% of subsequent competitions, representing medals determined effectively by a coin toss. We have therefore quantified the medal sharing at the Tokyo Olympics that would have occurred if medals had been shared with such score differences (converted to rounded times or distances separating athletes in a final) in events with known variability between competitions (canoeing, kayaking, rowing, swimming, track and field events). In these events, 10%, 14% and 14% respectively of gold, silver and bronze medals would have been shared. The men\'s high jump would have produced three golds. Most of the sharing (68%) would have occurred with male athletes, presumably because greater depth of competition with males results in smaller differences between athletes at the highest level. The variability of performance scores in other events between competitions would need researching to establish maximum score differences for medal sharing in these events. For all events, the rule changes should exclude counting back, penalty shoot-outs, tie-breakers and any other methods for avoiding ties in the final. The acceptability of these rule changes to athletes, coaches and spectators (for example, in terms of separation of the athletes at the finishing line) would also need to be investigated.

Just weeks away from the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the United States, followed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, has declared a diplomatic boycott of the Games. A diplomatic boycott stipulates that while government officials of these countries will not attend the event, the athletes\' scheduled attendance will largely remain intact. An unintended consequence of the boycotts is that they force the attending athletes to cope with the stress and distress associated with the 2022 Winter Olympics in an unfamiliar environment on their own. It is important to underscore that many of the challenges the athletes could face amid the Games are either deep-rooted or unprecedented, ranging from stressors fuelled by the nonstop media reports, the competitions, to the Omicron scares. These insights combined, in turn, underscore the imperative for effective and preemptive mental health support for Olympic athletes. To shed light on the issue, this paper highlights the reasons why timely solutions are needed to adequately safeguard Olympic athletes\' mental health and overall wellbeing, and underlines promising technology-based solutions that can be cost-effectively designed and developed for the athletes.

The Beijing, 2022 Olympics will be the second Games held amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the unique circumstances the 2022 Games face-the Omicron spread, high virus transmissibility in winters, and uncertainties about vaccine efficacy and future variants of concern, safety measures amid the Beijing, 2022 Games will be one of the most intricate among large international events held during the pandemic. To ensure athletes\' health, safety, and ability to participate in the Games, the organizers have introduced the Olympic COVID-free \"bubble\" protection ecosystem, in which COVID-free athletes could stay and be protected from potential infections that could upend their Games plans, if not their career as well. However, while staying in the \"bubble\" is key for athletes\' health and success, there is a lack of insights on factors that might prevent athletes from continuing their scheduled Olympic journey as scheduled. To shed light on the issue, based on Beijing, 2022 Olympic Playbooks and most up-to-date guidance issued, this article and its accompanying infographic were developed to illustrate factors that could influence athletes\' ability to join and stay in the \"bubble\", participate in the Games, and further build their career. Furthermore, we also adapted and integrated easy-to-adopt mental health de-stress techniques recommended by the World Health Organization to help athletes better thrive amid the Beijing, 2022 Winter Olympics, in or outside of the \"bubble\".

The IOC recently published its framework on fairness, inclusion and non-discrimination based on gender identity and sex variations. This framework is drafted mainly from a human rights perspective, with less consideration for medical/scientific issues. The framework places the onus for gender eligibility and classification entirely on the International Federations (IFs), even though most will not have the capacity to implement the framework. The position of no presumption of advantage is contrary to the 2015 IOC consensus. Implementation of the 2021 framework will be a major challenge for IFs that have already recognised the inclusion of trans and women athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) using a scientific/medical solution. The potential consequences for sports that need to prioritise fairness or safety could be one of two extremes (1) exclusion of all transgender or DSD athletes on the grounds of advantage or (2) self-identification that essentially equates to no eligibility rules. Exclusion of all transgender or DSD athletes is contrary to the Olympic charter and unlawful in many countries. While having no gender eligibility rules, sport loses its meaning and near-universal support. Athletes should not be under pressure to undergo medical procedures or treatment to meet eligibility criteria. However, if an athlete is fully informed and consents, then it is their free choice to undergo carefully considered or necessary interventions for gender classification for sport to compete fairly and safely in their chosen gender. Free choice is a fundamental human right, but so is the right to fair and safe competition.

Purpose: To examine the development of performance, physiological and technical capacities as well as the effect of sport background among runners, kayakers and rowers when transferred to cross-country (XC) skiing over a 6-month training period. Methods: Twenty-four endurance athletes (15 runners and 9 rowers/kayakers; 15 men and 9 women) were tested for performance, physiological and technical capacities during treadmill running and roller-ski skating, double-poling ergometry, as well as upper-body, one-repetition maximum-strength (1 RM) at baseline (pre) after three (mid) and 6-months (post) of XC ski-specific training. Results: Peak treadmill speed when roller-ski skating improved significantly (13%, P < 0.01) from pre-post, with a larger improvement in runners than in kayakers/rowers (16 vs. 9%, P < 0.05), whereas peak speed in running was unchanged. Average power output during 5-min and 30-s ergometer double-poling tests improved by 8% and 5% (both P < 0.01), with improvement found only in runners on the 30-s test (8 vs. -2% in kayakers/rowers, P < 0.01). Peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) in running and double-poling ergometry did not improve, whereas VO2peak in roller-ski skating improved by 5% in runners (P < 0.05). Submaximal gross efficiency increased by 0.6%-point and cycle length by 13%, whereas 1 RM in seated pull-down and triceps press increased by 12 and 11%, respectively (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: Six-months of XC ski-specific training induced large improvements in sport-specific performance which were associated with better skiing efficiency, longer cycle length, and greater 1RM upper-body strength in a group of endurance athletes transferring to XC skiing. Furthermore, larger sport-specific development was found in runners compared to kayakers/rowers.

There is increasing interest in quasi-experimental research to evaluate whether actions taken to improve air quality will benefit public health. We conducted a quasi-experimental study to evaluate inflammatory response to changes in air quality during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics in China. We repeatedly measured 8 biomarkers of systemic inflammation in 31 healthy adults and obtained hourly air pollutant concentrations from a nearby fixed-site monitoring station. We used linear mixed-effect models to examine the associations between air quality changes and blood biomarkers. Air pollutant concentrations decreased apparently during the Youth Olympics. Concomitantly, we observed significant decreases in levels of soluble cluster of differentiation 40 (CD40) ligand and interleukin 1β (geometric means ratios were 0.45 and 0.24, respectively) from the pre-Olympic period to the intra-Olympic period. Afterwards, levels of C-reactive protein and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 increased significantly (geometric means ratios were 2.22 and 1.29, respectively) in the post-Olympic period. Fine particulate matter and ozone were significantly associated with soluble CD40 ligand, P-selectin, interleukin 1β, intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1. Other pollutants showed positive but nonsignificant associations. Our study indicated that reduced air pollution, especially fine particulate matter and ozone, during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics was associated with alleviated systemic inflammation in healthy adults.

This study was carried out to characterize three aldehydes of health concern (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein) at a central Beijing site in the summer and early fall of 2008 (from June to October). Aldehydes in polluted atmospheres come from both primary and secondary sources, which limits the control strategies for these reactive compounds. Measurements were made before, during, and after the Beijing Olympics to examine whether the dramatic air pollution control measures implemented during the Olympics had an impact on concentrations of the three aldehydes and their underlying primary and secondary sources. Average concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein were 29.3±15.1 μg/m3, 27.1±15.7 μg/m3 and 2.3±1.0 μg/m3, respectively, for the entire period of measurements, all being at the high end of concentration ranges measured in cities around the world in photochemical smog seasons. Formaldehyde and acrolein increased during the pollution control period compared to the pre-Olympic Games, followed the changing pattern of temperature, and were significantly correlated with ozone and with a secondary formation factor identified by principal component analysis (PCA). In contrast, acetaldehyde had a reduction in mean concentration during the Olympic air pollution control period compared to the pre-Olympic period and was significantly correlated with several pollutants emitted from local emission sources (e.g., NO2, CO, and PM2.5). Acetaldehyde was also more strongly associated with primary emission sources including vegetative burning and oil combustion factors identified through the PCA. All three aldehydes were lower during the post-Olympic sampling period compared to the before and during Olympic periods, likely due to seasonal and regional effects. Our findings point to the complexity of source control strategies for secondary pollutants.