MEDALLIST AGES

 Since this section is about the ages when athletes were awarded their medals and athletes can be awarded medals at more than one Olympic Games, I cannot use the same chart presentation as in previous sections. So, for this analysis, the charts show the average ages of all athletes belonging to the same sign when receiving medals. This means that a Libran athlete like Sebastian Coe who won two medals in the 1980 Olympic Games and a further two medals in the 1984 Games, would contribute two age records for 1980 and two for 1984 to the average age recorded under Libra.

 The other feature that the charts below show is a gauge of the probability that an average age of a sign is different from the combined average age of all other signs. This is because average age on its own is not always a good comparison measure on its own. There are two reasons for this.

 One reason is that there may not be many values recorded for a sign so that the average age has not really “settled down” yet, i.e., adding just one more value could dramatically change the value of the average age.

 The other reason has to do with the range of values. For example, if almost all the ages in a set are close together, you can put a much higher probability on a small difference from that average, than you can in another set where the ages are well spread out from each other.

 Here is the chart of average ages of all medallists in all Olympic Games.

Average Ages that Athletes Received Medals

 You can see from this chart that Cancer athletes, on average, were awarded their medals at a significantly earlier age than the average age of all non-Cancer medallists.

As the chart shows by its colour, the probability of this happening by chance is between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1,000.

 This is in keeping with what I have read about the Cancer personality. Cancerians are supposed to achieve what they want early in life but then “retreat into their shell” rather than advancing further.

 The early average age of Taureans fits with their Gymnastic aptitude. The average age of Gymnastics medallists is 23.8, which is a very young compared with medallists in most other sports. For Aries, the high average age seems to be related to sports like Fencing and Shooting where the average age of medallists is higher than most other sports. Aquarians, on the other hand, just seem to be peak at a later age than other signs. They are significantly older than other signs for getting both their first and last medals in Olympic Games.

 There often appears to be a seasonal rather than a monthly influence on ages of medallists. Here are some examples.

Average ages of Medallists in Archery

Average ages of Medallists in Wrestling

Average ages of Medallists in Judo 

Average ages of Medallists in Fencing

 This section finishes with a look at series of years again but at two series rather than four series of years.

 One series consists of those athletes born when the Zodiac year begins with an even number, 1900 for example, and the other series for those born in odd years. Since the Zodiac year begins on the 21 March, this still means that some Capricorn and all Aquarius and Pisces athletes born in an odd calendar year are actually included in the even Zodiac year series and vice versa for those born in an even calendar year.

 The chart below shows the average ages for receiving medals for those athletes born in even Zodiac years. 

 Average Ages Athletes Received Medals for those born in Even Zodiac Years

 What is immediately striking about this chart is the very early average age that Pisces athletes get their medals compared with the average age of other signs. This is all the more so because the average age of all Pisces athletes is not significantly different from chance. Logically then, the Pisces athletes born in odd years must be significantly greater than expected to allow this to be so.

 The following chart shows that this is indeed the case.

Average Ages of Receiving Medals for Athletes born in Odd Years

 For some reason, Pisces athletes born in an even year series are awarded their medals a full 1.2 years earlier on average than those born in odd years. Considering the high number of medals awarded to Pisces athletes (over 2,700) that is very significant indeed. This is strange because I can find no logical reason for it.

 It is fitting that this analysis ends with this chart as my analysis started with Pisces, letting me coin the phrase “The Pisces Effect”. I little knew at that stage that it would take me to here. Pisces is certainly the fish with a glittering tale.