The charts summarize the number of athletes each country placed in the world top-100 outdoor rankings for 2004 (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 (plus ties). The data base drawn upon is the world deep list from Mirko Jalava's web site <http://www.tilastopaja.net>.
MEN'S DECATHLON 2004
Country Top 100 Highest
United States 27 2
Germany 11 15
Russia 7 11
France 6 12
Estonia 4 7
Spain 4 36
Czech Republic 3 1
Finland 3 33
Cuba 3 58
32 countries represented
100th = 7560
WOMEN'S HEPTATHLON 2004
Country Top 101 Highest
United States 15 9
Germany 13 10
Russia 9 2
China 7 39
Ukraine 4 5
France 4 11
Netherlands 4 14
Poland 4 28
Great Britain 3 4
India 3 13
Belarus 3 31
Finland 3 32
32 countries represented
100th = 5631
Sweden's Carolina Klüft, #1 on the heptathlon list (6952 points), was also her country's only athlete to make the top 100 in the event. I'm thankful that--this being the last summary I'll prepare for this year--it's the last time I'll have to be embarrassed by having earlier called that a "very unusual situation." It happened six times in the 2004 stats. Cheers, Roger
