Coming Back for the Olympics

Sorry about my absence. I have not blogged for several months now. I have some good reasons, but mostly, it is procrastination. Also, blogs, for me, take heaps of time and energy. Sometimes, I think there is no reward in this. I am not a gymnast. I merely sit on my computer chair and spout opinions that may have little basis. I fear that I have nothing to add to the multitude of excellent blogs out there

But my blog has been viewed over 6000 times, so that cannot be true.

So I think I will give this blog another whirl, especially since the Olympics are coming up.

Leading up to these Olympics, you will see more opinion pieces and commentary, but I am also keen on getting some data analysis going. You see, in the real world, I am a bit of a data geek. In the gymnastics world, data called scores are produced and I am keen to play with this data and see whether it teaches us anything.

When one does data analysis, a very important thing is asking the right questions. These are a few that I am interested in. Leave a comment if you think of any more:

• Do all around competitors get advantaged or disadvantaged when they excel at one piece over another? (I am especially interested in floor and uneven bars on the women's side)
• Are there "country biases" in scoring?
• How easy is it to predict winners by difficulty scores?

I am sure there are more though!

Overall, I am curious about what the next few months will bring.