Understand the score
The table displays all the relevant data to understand how teams are performing. From left to right: the Rank with the position change compared to the official ranking. The NOC (National Olympic Committee) or the rightful country name. The gold, silver and bronze medals. The World Records and the Olympics Records. At the end, the total computed score.
Why?
The normal score is not fair enough. It implies that Gold medals are way better than the others. Which instills the idea that winning is the one and only valid result. However, that is a far cry from reality. Differences between firsts and seconds are usually measured in milliseconds, millimeters, tiny gaps in general.
The athletes in the Olympics are the best in the World. Getting the 8th position means being the 8th best sportsperson alive in such discipline — let that sink in. This ranking creates a fair score aftercombining all the medals and records. See the next section for details.
How?
The method could not be easier. Each medal has a value assigned: gold earns 3 points, silver 2 and bronze 1.
An Olympic Record (OR) gives 2 extra points and a World Record (WR) gives 3 — breaking a record means being the best in history! Remember that every time a WR is achieved it constitutes an OR and a Gold medal as well. Effectively assigning 8 points for each WR.
Finally, these values get combined to create the total score. For example:
4 bronze medals are better than 1 gold.
1 WR is better than 2 gold medals.