Related Collections

You may also like

problem icon

Medal Muddle

Countries from across the world competed in a sports tournament. Can you devise an efficient strategy to work out the order in which they finished?

problem icon

Sport Collection

This is our collection of favourite mathematics and sport materials.

problem icon

Who's the Best?

Which countries have the most naturally athletic populations?

Olympic Records

Stage: 3 Challenge Level: Challenge Level:1

Here are ten graphs showing how Olympic records have changed over time in ten athletic events. You can click on the links to view each graph, or download this PDF with all the graphs.

Can you deduce which event each graph represents?

Here are some questions to consider, which may help you to make sense of the graphs:

  • Can you determine what the units might be on the vertical axis for each graph?
  • Why do some graphs show a decreasing trend and some an increasing trend?
  • Are there any unusual features on any of the graphs? Can you think of a plausible explanation for them?

Thanks to Alan Parr for suggesting this problem.

The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice. More information on many of our other activities can be found here.
Copyright © 1997 - 2012. University of Cambridge. All rights reserved.
NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.