[DC 86]

I appreciate (sincerely) the statistical analysis although it doesn't fundamentally alter my view.

As I said in my earlier post, I thought Bowman was hyperbolic and that the US performance was more or less (though numerically slightly better) than its performance in the last six games. However, in both of your posts you characterize the results as merely "good" which is my main objection. Perhaps the US has performed so well historically that we are spoiled, but as your own data shows the US team performance this year is best characterized as "excellent" or "dominant" relative to its competitors. The US won 16 golds medals (next best country won 3) and 5/6 relays (silver in the other).

You are correct that "modern Olympics" generally refers to 1896 - present, but its disingenuous to believe that Bowman was using that definition. Swimming wasn't even part of the ancient games, so surely Bowman wasn't comparing to that era. I assumed he meant the 2-max period. As your data shows, if you apply any reasonable meet scoring system, 1984 was the highest scoring US team in this period and 2016 was the second highest. However, given the widespread eastern bloc boycott in 1984 an apples-to-apples comparison is not appropriate (this year former Soviet republics won 6 medals, Hungary won 7 medals, etc.)

[DC 86]

I appreciate (sincerely) the statistical analysis although it doesn't fundamentally alter my view.

As I said in my earlier post, I thought Bowman was hyperbolic and that the US performance was more or less (though numerically slightly better) than its performance in the last six games. However, in both of your posts you characterize the results as merely "good" which is my main objection. Perhaps the US has performed so well historically that we are spoiled, but as your own data shows the US team performance this year is best characterized as "excellent" or "dominant" relative to its competitors. The US won 16 golds medals (next best country won 3) and 5/6 relays (silver in the other).

You are correct that "modern Olympics" generally refers to 1896 - present, but its disingenuous to believe that Bowman was using that definition. Swimming wasn't even part of the ancient games, so surely Bowman wasn't comparing to that era. I assumed he meant the 2-max period. As your data shows, if you apply any reasonable meet scoring system, 1984 was the highest scoring US team in this period and 2016 was the second highest. However, given the widespread eastern bloc boycott in 1984 an apples-to-apples comparison is not appropriate (this year former Soviet republics won 6 medals, Hungary won 7 medals, etc.)