Question: At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 23-year-old Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, a world record for the number of gold medals won in a single Olympic games. One of his winning events was the 200-meter butterfly. For each of the following examples, identify the type of variable-nominal, ordinal, or scale.
a. Phelps of the United States came in first, László Cseh of Hungary came in second, and Takeshi Matsuda of Japan came in third.
b. Phelps finished in 1 minute and 52.03 seconds, a new world record. Cseh finished in 1:52.70, and Matsuda finished in 1:52.97.
c. One might examine whether swimmers were impaired during the race or not. Phelps was blinded when his goggles filled with water. Neither Cseh nor Matsuda suffered any impairment.