Looking for real world data to explore?
Can’t wait for the 2021 Olympic Games to kick off?
We have just what you need, including another chance to win a free all-access membership to Maven!
This time we’ll be using an existing dataset from the Data Playground covering 120 years of Olympic history, from Athens 1896 to Rio 2016.
This dataset is the perfect opportunity to flex your data visualization skills, whether that be on Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or other data viz platforms!
To go along with this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, we’re launching the Maven Olympics Challenge and giving away free all-access memberships to the winners.
We’ll share more about the challenge details below, but first let’s talk about the data…
About the dataset
This dataset contains 2 tables, in CSV format:
The Athlete Events table contains over 270,000 Olympic performances across history
Each record represents an individual athlete competing in an individual event
Records contain details about the athlete (ID, sex, name, age, height, weight, country) and the event (games, year, city, sport, event, medal)
The Country Definitions table serves as a lookup table with “NOC” as the primary key
Each record represents one country according to the National Olympic Committee
How to play the Maven Olympics Challenge
For this challenge, your task is to put your design skills to work and share a single page visual or infographic capturing the history of the Olympic games.
Here’s how to submit your entry:
Share a LinkedIn post mentioning @Maven Analytics and the hashtag #mavenolympicschallenge, with your single page visualization based on the challenge objective above
NEW: Complete the official challenge submission form to make sure you are entered for a chance to win
Make sure to follow Maven Analytics on LinkedIn for updates on the challenge and invite your connections to play along!
How to win
In true Olympic fashion, we'll be picking multiple winners: an overall challenge winner and one additional winner from each of the three countries with the most challenge submissions, for a total of FOUR winners!
These "gold medalists" will be selected by the Maven team via live voting.
What you can win
As part of the Maven Olympics Challenge, we'll be giving away annual all-access Maven memberships completely free of charge. The winners will get access to all of our Excel, Power BI, Tableau, and SQL courses, as well as our ongoing Machine Learning series, all with direct support and coaching from our expert instructors.
No purchase is necessary to participate. As always, this challenge is open to both current Maven subscribers and everyone else.
Check out the official rules below...
Official Terms (Maven Olympics Challenge)
Maven Analytics will give away Annual subscriptions for an Individual account. After the one year period, the subscriptions will expire.
No purchase is necessary to enter.
Data Analyst Bootcamp is not included in this prize. That is a separate offering, and not eligible
The challenge will close to new entries on Sunday, August 8th, 2021, at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. All entries must be submitted prior.
After the submission deadline, the entries will be tallied and finalists will be chosen from the countries with the most challenge submissions by the Maven team.
Maven Analytics will select 1 general winner and 1 winner from each of the countries with the most challenge submissions, and will announce the winners on Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 at 10:00am Eastern Standard Time. The official announcement will be posted on LinkedIn from the Maven Analytics LinkedIn account.
Don't want to participate in the Maven Olympics Challenge? No problem. You can still analyze the data on your own. All of the Data Playground datasets are completely free and are available for everyone to learn with. Feel free to dig in anytime.
Check out the Olympics dataset, and many more, at the Data Playground.
Happy analyzing!
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Enrique Ruiz
Sr. Learning Experience Designer
Enrique is a certified Microsoft Excel Expert and top-rated instructor with a background in business intelligence, data analysis and visualization. He has been producing advanced Excel and test prep courses since 2016, along with adaptations tailored to Spanish-speaking learners.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How can I future-proof my career in analytics?
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How long does it take to build job-ready data skills?
That depends on your starting point and goals, but many learners can build meaningful skills over a few months with consistent practice, even when studying part-time. The most important factor is applying what you learn through hands-on projects and real business problems.
