The charts summarize the number of athletes each country placed in the
world top-100 outdoor rankings for 2003 (plus ties) and the highest-ranked
of these. Since one or two placings may represent only exceptional
individuals, rather than national program strength, I've listed only
countries with three or more athletes in the top 100. The data base drawn
upon is the world deep list from Mirko Jalava's web site
<http://www.tilastopaja.com/>.
MEN'S 400 METER HURDLES 2003 WOMEN'S 400 METER HURDLES 2003
Country Top 100 Highest Country Top 100 Highest
United States 28 4 United States 19 3
Jamaica 7 2 Russia 9 1
South Africa 7 10 China 5 15
Japan 7 28 Jamaica 5 16
Russia 6 26 Brazil 5 35
Great Britain 4 7 Ukraine 4 9
France 4 18 Poland 4 17
China 4 70 Germany 4 18
Spain 3 47 Great Britain 3 6
Brazil 3 48 Italy 3 23
Japan 3 31
France 3 67
32 countries represented 37 countries represented
100th = 50.22 100th = 57.61
In the women's event, another unusual distribution, with 15 countries
represented in the first 20 places--RUS, AUS, USA, BAR, ROM, GBR, RSA, UKR,
PUR, CUB, CHN, JAM, POL, GER, KAZ.
