Modern Mysteries

Is there really a London Olympics 'curse' ?

By T.K. Randall
April 16, 2016 ·  12 comments

More than a dozen athletes have died since the last Olympic Games. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Ian Patterson The rumor, which has featured prominently in the French-speaking media in recent months, was catapulted in to the limelight following the deaths of swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine - both from France - in a helicopter accident over Argentina back in March.

It is believed that the "terrible curse of the London Olympic Games" was first mentioned back in November 2015 after Belarusian sprinter Yuliya Balykina was murdered.

It was also mentioned again just last month when Australian rowing silver-medallist Sarah Tait died of cervical cancer, thus bringing the total number of 2012 Olympic athlete deaths up to 18.

Other victims include Guatemalan weightlifter Christian Lopez who died of pneumonia, British sailor Andrew Simpson who died in a sailing accident, French triathlete Laurent Vidal who died of a heart attack and Egyptian wrestler Abdelrahman el-Trabily who died from a gunshot wound.But is there really a curse at work or is the French media simply looking too hard for a story ?

According to sports statistician Rob Mastrodomenico, based on crude mortality rates it is not unreasonable to expect 18 people to die in four years out of the 10,568 athletes who took part.

This is in fact even less than what would be statistically expected for such a large group of people because Olympic athletes are young, fit and healthy and therefore less likely to die.

In other words, the whole idea of an Olympic curse based on these figures is nonsense.

Source: BBC News | Comments (12)

Tags: London, Olympics, Curse