A global malmquist productivity index of athletics performance in olympic games

This paper introduces a novel approach to evaluate the efficiency and productivity change of nations competing in Athletics events across the last five Summer Olympic Games, from Beijing 2008 to Paris 2024. Each nation's success is measured using a points-based system that assigns decreasing scores to the top eight finishers in each event, while population and GDP per capita are considered non-discretionary inputs. The proposed methodology builds on a three-step Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework. First, an output-oriented intertemporal DEA model with variable returns to scale is used to estimate each nation's ideal performance benchmark. Second, the Weighted Tchebycheff method is applied, imposing that the total number of points awarded remains fixed in each Games, aligning the model with the constant-sum nature of Olympic competitions. Finally, a Global Malmquist Productivity Index (GMPI) is computed to capture productivity changes over time. The empirical results reveal a small group of relatively super-efficient countries, i.e. countries that outperform the others in relative terms, while the majority exhibit irregular efficiency and productivity change trajectories. The approach also shows a strong correlation between the points earned and computed efficiency scores. Additionally, a variant of the model under a non-convex technology was also developed, producing comparable results and confirming the robustness of the framework.