The Zipf’s Distribution of the Number of Medals in 2016 Olympic Game in Rio DeJaneiro
Y. Yamada, H. H. A. Rêgo, H. E. Stanley, K Yamamoto, S. Miyazima

Abstract
In a socio-economical point of view, one can have a common belief that richer countries tend to win more medals in worldwide competitions. The Olympic game is a sport competition that where some country win more prizes overall, challenging the logic of the distribution of medal. In the present study we analyze the distribution of medals by country in 2016 Olympic game held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Despite in a first look one can apparently find it random, after a careful analysis we find that the number of medals achieved by each country indicates Zipf’s law distribution. The reason for Zipf’s law in the distribution of medals is discussed from the point of view of a relation between the number of participants and GDP.

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