The charts that follow summarize the number of athletes each country placed
in the world top-100 rankings for 2001 (plus ties) and the highest-ranked
of these for each event. Since one or two placings may represent only
exceptional individuals, rather than national program strength, I've
truncated the lists to countries with three placings or more. The data base
drawn upon is the world list from Mirko Jalava's web site
<http://www.tilastopaja.com/>.
MEN'S 800m 2001 WOMEN'S 800m 2001
Country Top 100 Highest Country Top 101 Highest
Kenya 26 1 Russia 20 4
United States 11 18 Ukraine 8 22
Russia 6 1 China 7 35
South Africa 6 8 United States 6 15
Germany 6 30 Germany 5 11
Spain 5 50 Spain 5 21
Netherands 4 10 Jamaica 3 18
Morocco 4 35 Belarus 3 24
France 3 26
Canada 3 56
27 countries represented 40 countries represented
100th = 1:47.04 100th = 2:03.06
(An unusually wide distribution in the women's 800m, with many more
countries placing two or one athletes in the top 100 than in other events.
The widest distribution I've observed in any event thus far was that of the
1999 men's long jump, with 44 countries represented in the top 100.)
MEN'S 1500m 2001 WOMEN'S 1500m 2001
Country Top 100 Highest Country Top 100 Highest
Kenya 27 2 Russia 14 2
United States 11 23 China 12 40
France 10 11 United States 10 4
Spain 8 7 Romania 5 1
Morocco 7 1 Great Britain 5 14
Great Britain 6 34 Kenya 4 10
Algeria 4 4 Germany 4 18
Germany 4 70 Ukraine 4 25
Ireland 3 42 Ireland 4 33
Turkey 4 37
Ethiopia 3 27
Spain 3 32
Australia 3 60
22 countries represented 33 countries represented
100th = 3:39.06 100th = 4:12.23
(This time, an unusually narrow distribution in the men's event; but not so
narrow as that in the women's marathon, where there were only 18 countries
represented.)
