The UK universities Olympic medal table When Usain Bolt, not a naturally modest man, thanks you for your help after clinching his umpteenth gold medal, you have probably done something right. Brunel and Birmingham universities won his praise for their help in preparing and hosting the Jamaican team.
Other universities can claim to have done rather well. I quite liked this exchange on Twitter between William Hague, foreign secretary, and Patrick McGhee, vice-chancellor of the University of East London (which is hosting the US Olympic team).
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— Prof Patrick McGhee (@VC_UEL) August 11, 2012@williamjhague I met Michelle Obama, Pres of Singapore, the US Dream Team, India High Commissioner, Carl Lewis and kids from Newham. I win.
But on to the medals! Here, courtesy of Podium, the body representing universities and colleges at the London Olympics, is the roster showing which institutions have done best at the sports. If you look on their site, you can see the full list.
For institutions, this table does actually matter: as I wrote last week, universities are an increasingly important spine of Team GB’s infrastructure.
UPDATE – 22:30, 14 August: The Podium list is correct, but it only includes conventional universities and colleges. However, the Open University won two golds and three bronzes. I’ve not included it in the table – some OU athletes are already booked as the undergraduate alumni of other universities, and this could get messy. But, bear in mind, if the OU were entered in it and credited with all of them, it would be in sixth place.
| Institution | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Edinburgh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| University of Nottingham | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| University of Oxford | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| University of Cambridge | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| University of Reading | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| St Mary's University College | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| University of St Andrews | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| University of Bristol | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| University of Bath | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Peter Symonds College | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Hopwood Hall College | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Northumbria University | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Staffordshire University | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| University of the West of England | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| University of Leeds | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| King's College London | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Barton Peveril Sixth Form College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bournemouth University | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bradford College | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Durham University | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kingston University | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Leeds Metropolitan University | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| University of Sheffield | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| University College London | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
What to make of this table? Here are also some important things to note – and I hope they’ll help illuminate some of the nonsense about sport and education in England that has been swirling around lately:
- When sample numbers are so small, a few top performers make all the difference: St Mary’s University College is in there because of Mo Farah’s two golds. Edinburgh’s performance has been propelled by Sir Chris Hoy. But what do those two men’s records really tell us about sport at those universities?
- Britain is particularly strong in a few disciplines, so the table favours universities strong in those few sports: Universities that have produced British rowers (Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge and Reading) lead the table. But those universities are not as good all-round as, say, Bath or Loughborough.
- Assigning credit is difficult: Loughborough University does not get credit for Loughborough College students. Gemma Gibbons won a silver in judo while at UEL, but was a world-beater before arriving. Nottingham has real strength in depth and expertise in canoeing and kayaking, but it also happens to be very near to the National Water Sports Centre.
These basic thoughts have a read-across into the “private schools supply our Olympians” stuff: the number of medal-winners is small, so beware of basing analyses of the whole state of British education and sport on them. Private school kids are more likely to row or take part in dressage. The same institutions can often claim credit for pupils brought in on sport scholarships at 16.
Anyway, well done British education.