The data provided in Olympics at Sports-Reference.com is the result of over
120 years of research by a combined group of Olympic historians and
statisticians. The group, termed the OlyMADMen, reflecting their maniacal
devotion to the project, began in the late 90s between Bill Mallon (USA),
Arild Gjerde (Norway), Magne Teigen (Norway), David Foster (Great
Britain), and Jeroen Heijmans (Netherlands). Much of the early data came
from the publications of Mallon, a Past-President and Co-Founder of the
International Society of Olympic Historians
(ISOH), especially two of his books,
The Golden Book of the Olympic
Games
, and
Total Olympics
. Also useful was his series of
books on the earliest Olympic Games (1896-1920). This was supplemented by
a database of all Olympians developed by Gjerde and Teigen. For almost 5
years now, the group has worked together on a private website, checking
and adding data almost daily. Sources have included virtually every well
known book on the Olympic Games, including all the Official Reports and
Official Results, data in books and websites on National Olympic
participation, and in books and websites on various Olympic sports. The
entire database entails over 50 millions records of data, represents an
estimated 100,000 man-hours of work.
Bill Mallon
Bill Mallon, M.D., a former professional golfer, is an orthopaedic surgeon
whose life-long interest in the Olympic Games became a second career while
he was in medical school at
Duke
University
. He is the author of a series of books on the earliest
Olympic Games (1896-1920), and is a founding member and Past-President of
the International Society of Olympic Historians and former editor of the
ISOH journal, Journal of Olympic History. With Erich Kamper, he
co-authored
The Golden Book of the Olympic Games
, which morphed
into the later book,
Total Olympics
, and with Ian Buchanan he
wrote
Quest for Gold: The Encyclopaedia of American Olympians and
Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement
(3 editions). For his
contributions to the Olympic Movement, he was awarded the Olympic Order in
Silver in 2001.
Arild Gjerde
After finishing his studies at the
University in Oslo
with degrees in
Social Anthropology, Political Science and History, Arild Gjerde has
worked eight years in the book-publishing business and five years
researching the Sami people in Northern Norway. In 1987, he joined the
Norwegian Skating Association. He was General Secretary from 1987 to 1999,
and among other appointments has for ten years been chairman for the
European Speed Skating Conference, and for five years a member of the ISU
World Cup Speed Skating Commission. He has been the author of the
Norwegian skating yearbook Skøyteboka, and his main interests besides
Olympic history are Athletics (Track and Field), Skiing, Skating and
Biathlon.
Jeroen Heijmans
After obtaining a university degree in computer science, Jeroen Heijmans
has worked as a developer of web and mobile applications. He regularly
writes about Olympic history on the Dutch sport blog
Sportgeschiedenis.nl
and tries to
maintain a website with speed skating statistics.