The Atlanta Journal-Constitution just did a report on student athletes’ SAT scores. Through a public records request, they found average SAT scores for entering freshmen students, athletes, and football players, for public universities in different athletic conferences. Not surprisingly, athletes’ SAT scores tended to lag behind the average scores of university students. This was particularly true for football players, as their average SAT scores were some of the lowest. Obviously, football and scholastic aptitude infrequently go together.

But a SAT score is more than a proprietary college admissions number—it can also be used as a proxy for IQ, or general intelligence. Back in 2004, Meredith Frey and Douglas Detterman published a paper in the Psychological Science journal where they correlated SAT scores with the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM)–both of which are used to estimate IQ, and correlate strongly with other intelligence tests. Two equations were derived for predicting IQ from SAT scores. However, only one proved to be reliable for post-1994 SATs, as the test underwent significant changes and scores were recentered that year.

XIQ = (0.095 * SAT-Math) + (-0.003 * SAT-Verbal) + 50.241

Using this equation, the correlation between SAT and Raven’s APM scores was found to be .72 after adjusting for a restricted sample range (n=116, σ=119). To verify the stability of the equation, a jackknife procedure was undertaken where the equation is derived from on one-half the sample, tested on the second-half, then repeated vice-versa. Correlations from the two tests were .523 and .542, respectively (p < .01).

I took this equation and applied it to the SAT scores listed in the AJC report. Of course, only composite scores were reported. So, I found the average verbal and math scores for each testing year, and calculated each score’s percentage of the total. These percentages were used to find a rough estimate of students’ and athletes’ average sub-scores. Both male and female averages were utilized for the student population, whereas only average male subscores were included for atheletes and football players, as these two groups are predominately male.

The SAT scores and estimated IQs for students, athletes, and football players, from 54 public universities, in eight division conferences, can be found below:

This table and more details can be found in this spreadsheet:

  College-Athletes-SAT-and-IQ-Scores.xlsx (57.8 KiB, 981 hits)

In terms of conferences as a whole, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) ranked first in average IQ for students and athletes, while the Big Ten conference took first for football players, with an average of 94.7. The Big 12 conference had both the athletes and football players with the lowest average IQ, at 97.1 and 93.3 respectively. The Big East had the students with the lowest IQ, averaging 102.7. Conference-USA and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) are not included in that ranking as only one school was represented from each.

The schools with the largest gaps in SAT and IQ scores were Florida State and UCLA. Florida´s SAT and IQ gap was 346 and 16.1, respectively. UCLA was 345 and 16.5. AJC´s Mark Knobler noted that these gaps between football players and students are larger than in typical students between the University of Georgia and Harvard University. Oregon State had the smallest SAT and IQ gap—88 and 5.2 points, respectively.

Surprisingly though, basketball players were even worse off than those specializing in the pigskin.

Nationwide, football players average 220 points lower on the SAT than their classmates — and men’s basketball players average seven points less than football players.

Sports are big business for these universities. Coaches rotate on what seems like a quadrennial basis, often making more than the presidents of their universities. Their temporary, high paid tenures and golden parachutes are analogous to that of many high profile CEOs. As for players, admission requirements for typical students rarely have any relevancy for talented athletes, who may even receive all-expenses paid scholarships in addition to enrollment with GPA and SAT/ACT scores that are below minimum acceptance.

And, there are also other examples of sports dominating and superseding university policies.

I know that Mississippi State University, an SEC school, provides free daily tutoring, specifically, for all athletes—the civilian student body need not apply. And should an athlete’s GPA fall below minimum for any semester, that tutoring becomes mandatory. Again, this is not true for regular students. Another school, the University of Southern Mississippi, actually closes its library a couple hours before any football game—even if the game is during the week. At USM, at least, access to football is more important than access books.

And while I am not familiar with the intricacies of other university’s sports programs, I am sure similar priorities exist for most of them as well. It is sad that for these schools, putting and keeping an athlete on the field often takes precedence over keeping a student in the classroom.

I made the promise to myself that I would not watch the Olympics this year. Those Pollyannas that are willing to log days of flight time, lay out thousands of dollars, and voluntarily pack themselves into 91-thousand seat arenas, they likely buy into the same perceptions that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the media peddle every two years: "[to bring] people together in peace to respect universal moral principles" And, oh yeah. . . to allow the best athletes of the world a chance to compete against each other on a global stage.

As a child of the 1980s, the Olympics began as an indomitable contest of "good vs. evil" that quickly morphed into a disgusting display of capitalistic consumerism after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today, the Olympics still sport the traditional veneer of yesteryears. But at the core, the event is about six dollar cokes, two weeks of million dollar corporate advertisements, and athletes, which unfortunately, are just this month’s reality television stars for "Fast-Food America."

With that said, I have nevertheless been forced into experiencing some of the Michael Phelps’ mania. Without a doubt, the guy is the Lance Armstrong of the swimming pool. He has won more gold medals than any previous Olympian; as well as winning the most consecutive gold medals within a single Olympic Games. He currently stands in second place behind gymnast Larissa Latynina for the most medals of all time.

All of this "most medals" talk got me to thinking. How many medals are available to a male Olympian in Swimming each Games? And how many are available to contesting athletes in other sports, or to those competing in the Winter Games?

As you might have already guessed, swimming is probably the best sport to be good at if one wants a chance at climbing to the top of the multiple-medalist list.

Below are tables listing the total available medals for the different events of both the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games:

Total Olympic Medals by Season, Sport, and Sex

2008 Summer Olympics

2006 Winter Olympics

As can be seen, the highest medal counts for men are found in Athletics (24) and Swimming (17). But unlike Swimming, many events in Athletics are not related to each other. All events in Swimming are, in fact, swimming.

Athletics combines events such as throwing, jumping, walking, and running. Those athletes that excel at marathons will not present any contention in sprints, just as those specializing in throwing objects will come up short in pole vaulting.

For example, at the time this was written, Carl Lewis holds the record as having the fifth most gold (9) and total medals (10) of all time. The only events which he competed in were short distance running (100m, 200m, 4×100m Relay) and long jumps.

When considering only short distance running events, five individual and team non-hurdle medal events exist; seven, including hurdles; and eight, if we include the long jump:

1. 100 Meter
2. 200 Meter
3. 400 Meter
4. 4 x 100 Meter
5. 4 x 400 Meter
6. 110 Meter Hurdles
7. 400 Meter Hurdles
8. Long Jump

Compare that to the list of events that are related to those Michael Phelps took part in during the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games (not listed are the 50m, 1,500m freestyle, and the 10km marathon):

* Denotes swimming events Phelps participated in during 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics.

Phelps competed in eight (or 54%) of the fourteen related swimming events in 2004 and 2008. In comparison, Carl Lewis competed and medaled in four events at the 1984 Olympics. That is four (or 50%) out of the eight Athletic events deemed "related," previously.

Drop the two hurdle events or the long jump, and Lewis would have been four (or 66.7%) out of six or three (or 42.9%) out of seven, respectively. Either way, it is clear that the sport of swimming has at least three quarters more related medal events than does Athletics in the current Olympic lineup. (14 events compared to Athletic’s 8).

Moving down the list, Wrestling and Boxing would appear to take the number three and four spots for most medals available to a male Olympian in a single Games. However, because both these sports have a plethora of weight classes, Wrestling actually only has two medal events available for a particular weight class, while Boxing (and Weightlifting) only has one.

Consequently, the event that appears to offer the third most medals to men is actually a tie between the Shooting and Canoe/Kayak Flatwater events, with a total of nine medals up for grabs. However, since it seems reasonably possible for someone to win every event in both sports, they actually tie as the number two spot for total possible medals practically obtainable.

The Winter Olympics are even more dismal for an athlete wishing to wear the crown of "most medals won" since the two top events there – Cross-Country Skiing and Speed Skating – only offer six medals each; a fraction of what is available in Swimming, Shooting, Canoeing, or Athletics.

It is obvious that while Michael Phelps may be an amazing athlete, he has a major, almost unfair, advantage in achieving record breaking aggregate medal counts. If Venus or Serena Williams wanted to tie Phelps’ current medal count, for example, one of the Williams sisters would need to win every Olympic Tennis event from now to the 2036 Summer Games, and then pick up bronze medals in 2040 Games. But, by that time, Venus and Serena will be 58 and 60 years old, respectively. That should make for an interesting show.

So, if you got a kid with a body built like a giant monkey, and want to get him into the Olympics, might I suggest starting him on swimming lessons immediately? Because that is probably the only chance he will have at ever beating Phelps’ gold medal count.