Pisces more likely to win swimming events, according to statistician

**Jenna** · 08-19-08, 02:56 PM

After comparing the birthdates of every Olympic winner since the modern Games began in 1896, British statistician Kenneth Mitchell discovered gold medals really are written in the stars.

He found athletes born in certain months were more likely to thrive in particular events.

Mitchell dubbed the phenomenon "The Pisces Effect" (pisces is Latin for fish) after finding that athletes born under the sign received around 30 percent more medals than any other star sign in events like swimming and water polo.

In the history of the Games, the big winners in the overall medals haul were born under the signs of Capricorn, Aquarius and Aries. They boasted a significantly higher number of golds.

Checking out the birthdates among the Beijing winners produces some intriguing results.

For fencers looking to deliver a sting in the tail and make it to the podium, Scorpio is the right sign. Two of the three Beijing medallists in the men's individual sabre event were Scorpio, he said.

For pole vaulters charging down the track, it is better to be born under Taurus, the sign of the bull.

Any Olympic hopefuls unsure which event to pick can now turn to www.olympicstarsign.com, check out their birthdate and find which sport would be the perfect astrological fit.

Even Mitchell was surprised by his own findings which he said were conclusive "and I really mean conclusive."

"I am talking of odds against chance of hundreds of thousands to one," he said, explaining the research he undertook after being made redundant from his IT job.

"And just for the record, I know a thing or two about statistics. I have a PhD from Glasgow University on statistical ecology and a further 33 years working on statistical data analysis," he explained on his website.
(Editing by Nick Macfie)

By Paul Majendie Tue Aug 19, 8:56 AM ET

Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080819/wr_nm/olympics_stars_dc_2

**irishmick** · 08-19-08, 04:32 PM

Interesting. Guess it sucks to be me though...Although, since I'm not an Olympic athlete I guess it doesn't really matter. heh

"There are no noteworthy significances for athletes born under the sign of Cancer so there are no charts for Cancer in this section

I did look for significances. For instance, I thought of a crab moving sideways, so I looked at medallists in the Gymnastics Side Horse Vault competition. And it’s true that Cancer athletes are good at it - but not spectacularly good. Aquarius scores higher.

Then I thought of the symbol for Cancer, which is a pair of claws. Could Cancer athletes be good in competitions involving two in a team?

So I trawled through all the competitions involving pairs, doubles, duets, etc. I thought I had found something significant, before I realised I had included the Rowing Coxed Pairs competitions which actually have 3 in a boat, and when they are excluded, the significance goes away.

Since I could not find any a priori link, I looked to see if there was any group of competitions that had higher than expected Cancer medallists. Then maybe I could see the association in hindsight.

Ski jumping looked promising for a significant probability but again it just failed the significance test. Anyway, I can see no association between crabs and either skis or jumping. It would make a funny cartoon though!

Then it struck me. Cancer was the control in this experiment!"

**Captain America** · 08-19-08, 04:49 PM

Is this part of your presidential campaign? I think you should stick to the real issues. What are you going to do about the illegal aliens in the country from Alphi Centari besides having lunch with them and talking about sleeper programs? The above story sounds fishy to me. We cannot Pisces birth our way out of our current gold medal shortage. We need alternative plans so we don't become dependant on silver and bronze medals.

**Jenna** · 08-19-08, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by Captain America

Is this part of your presidential campaign? I think you should stick to the real issues. What are you going to do about the illegal aliens in the country from Alphi Centari besides having lunch with them and talking about sleeper programs? The above story sounds fishy to me. We cannot Pisces birth our way out of our current gold medal shortage. We need alternative plans so we don't become dependant on silver and bronze medals.