2018 Winter Olympic medals normalized by team size

The bar-mekko chart below shows the number of Olympic medals won normalized by the team size. The width of each column represents the size of the team representing the country and height represents the medals they won per team member. As such, the area of the represents the number of medals won. 3 segments are used to separate out gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Visualizations of Olympic results typically show the total number of medals won by each country. However, each country sends different number of athletes based on a number of factors including qualifications. Showing the number of medals won normalized to team size would highlight the strengths of different teams.

The Netherlands won a shocking 0.61 medals per athlete they sent. Almost twice as much as the next closest country, Norway, which one the most medals. The Netherlands dominates speed skating which represents all the medals they won.

2018 Winter Olympic medals variable width bar chart

Bar-mekko chart showing 2018 Winter Olympic medals normalized by team size

This chart was built with PowerPoint 2016 for Mac and the Aploris add-in.

2 comments on “2018 Winter Olympic medals normalized by team size

  1. Boyd

    Can you please show how to do this variable width bar-mecko chart.
    I need to do a barmecko with height = $value, and Width = # instances;

    Therefore the total area = Total Value

    1. Aploris Post author

      Enter # instances in the line below the group headers (i.e. row 2 of the sheet) and the $value in the next line. Additionally, enable “Custom widths” from the chart’s context menu. Now the # instances figures will be used for the width proportions of the chart.


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