Trivia Question: has this ever happened before?
- Thread starter Amei
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The probability of this happening is small, but not outrageously so. In a particular discipline (men's or ladies') the probabilty that at least two of three medalists share the same birthday is 1 - (365x364x363)/(365^3) = .0082 (about one chance in 161 trials). So this should happen once every 161 Olympic cycles or so (next time up, the 2666 Olympics).
[This doesn't take into account the possibility that someone was born in a leap year on February 29 or that a twin brother/sister team might be competing in pairs or dance, and also assumes that humans in the aggregate are equally fertile on any given day of the year. If there were 23 medalists, instead of only 3, the probability is about 50% that at least two share a birthday -- this is known as the Birthday Paradox (misnamed -- it is not a paradox, just somewhat surprising to most people).
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[This doesn't take into account the possibility that someone was born in a leap year on February 29 or that a twin brother/sister team might be competing in pairs or dance, and also assumes that humans in the aggregate are equally fertile on any given day of the year. If there were 23 medalists, instead of only 3, the probability is about 50% that at least two share a birthday -- this is known as the Birthday Paradox (misnamed -- it is not a paradox, just somewhat surprising to most people).
]
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One possibility for the future—if Green & Parsons should ever get to the Olympics and medal, they would qualify. They compete in the same event, as partners, and they happen to share a birthday (a few years apart.) Fun fact!
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October 3rd is Jin Boyang's birthday as well as Sergei Voronov. Popular day.
Following up on your math, I believe the probability in pairs or dance is .0404 (essentially, six medalists) and the probability of happening in one of the 4 disciplines in a given Olympics is .0942.
@Mathman, check my math!
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If Elizaveta Tuktamysheva had qualified for the Olympics and gotten a medal, then Shoma Uno would have also medaled with someone who shares his birthday (though not in the same discipline)! They were both born on December 17th and this fact truly amazes me because they're both really awesome, imo. 
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Yes! But even without Liza, Shoma currently also shares his birthday with reigning Olympic medalists in a different discipline- Evgenia Tarasova (individual Pairs event) and Riku Miura (Team Event).If Elizaveta Tuktamysheva had qualified for the Olympics and gotten a medal, then Shoma Uno would have also medaled with someone who shares his birthday (though not in the same discipline)! They were both born on December 17th and this fact truly amazes me because they're both really awesome, imo.
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Not in the same discipline, but Jeremy Abbott and Cathy Reed share a birthday, June 5th, and both competed in the 2014 Olympics (almost shared a podium in team event - bronze for Jeremy for the US, 5th for the Reeds for Japan) and both completed in NHK 2013 and probably also other Grand Prix events. Thanks Google!
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that's the assumption that is slightly incorrect. Another factor is that statistically, the month of birth is in itself a factor in predicting a success in sports that have cut-off dates for advancement through tiers, as they favor kids born in specific months. There was a fascinating show on the science of success recently and statistics associated with success in art and sports (they had a far bigger discussion on arts though)... anyway, I think the probability of medalists born on the same day is higher
Link to the show:
So the odds for the team event are edging close to 50/50 (18 to 30 skaters on the podium, depending on substitutions).
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ok ... nothing fancy here but i remembered when i was in high school, one kid shared my name !!!! and my birthday but different year.... and we were both in the swim team but he was younger than me... in one very tough competition for my team as i was in the development team at that point and the competition was inter-regional rather than local, my name was mentioned as winner of a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke... i didn't move... i didn't have a great race i thought... and i didn't think i was a winner.... but that the other kid won... and then my coach pushed me towards the podium so i could claim my medal... ..
as i said.. just a funny story.
as i said.. just a funny story.
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What about Phil and Steve Mahre? Twins who won gold and silver in slalom skiing in 1984.
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as i said.. just a funny story.
At one time this very forum had three moderators (out of five at that time, IIRC) with the same birthday.
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i thought it was illegal to create multiple accounts
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