2024 Paris Olympics: What do OR, WR, CR, and NR mean?

The 2024 Paris Olympics is happening in full swing. There were surprise victories (Julien Alfred's pulled off a stunning win to claim gold in Women's 100m) upsetting the pundits and heavily favored contestants but the sportsmanship is in full display. The Olympics is all about bringing nations and people together forgetting all other differences and enjoying the sports and the marvels the athletes achieve during the games. So as I was watching the games, I always wondered what these letters (OR, WR, CR, NR) meant next to each game score.

Types of Olympic Records

While there isn't a definitive, exhaustive list of "types" of Olympic records, we can categorize them based on different criteria:

Based on the Scope of the Record:

• World Record: The best performance ever recorded in a specific event, regardless of the competition.
• Olympic Record: The best performance ever recorded in a specific event at the Olympic Games.
• Continental Record: The best performance ever recorded in a specific event within a particular continent.
• National Record: The best performance ever recorded by an athlete representing a particular country in a specific event.

Based on the Event or Competition:

• Individual Records: Records set by a single athlete in an event.
• Team Records: Records set by a team in a team event (e.g., relay races).
• Combined Event Records: Records set in combined events (e.g., decathlon, heptathlon).

Based on the Gender of the Athlete:

• Men's Records
• Women's Records
• Mixed Records (where applicable)

Based on Age Categories:

• Junior Records
• Youth Records

It's important to note that not all sports or events maintain records for all these categories. For example, some sports may only track world and Olympic records, while others might have more detailed record-keeping systems.