Introduction to swimming data

Case Studies in Statistical Thinking

Justin Bois

Lecturer, Caltech

The 2015 FINA World Championships

¹ Photo by Chan-Fan, CC-BY-SA-4.0

Strokes at the World Championships

• Freestyle
• Breaststroke
• Butterfly
• Backstroke

Events at the World Championships

• Defined by gender, distance, stroke

• Example: men's 200 m freestyle

Rounds of events

• Heats: First round

• Semifinals: Penultimate round in some events

• Finals: The final round; the winner is champion

Data source

Data are freely available from OMEGA at omegatiming.com

Domain-specific knowledge is

• Imperative

• An absolute pleasure

Let's practice!

Case Studies in Statistical Thinking