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 50 KILOMETER WALK 2003 WOMEN'S 10 KILOMETER WALK 2003 Country Top 100 Highest Country Top 96* Highest China 22 9 China 27 1 Russia 10 2 Spain 11 10 Spain 10 7 Japan 9 27 Japan 6 16 Romania 6 14 Poland 5 1 Portugal 5 18 Ukraine 5 52 Italy 5 24 Germany 4 3 Ukraine 3 3 France 4 19 Lithuania 3 11 Italy 4 61 Slovakia 3 20 Australia 3 6 Belarus 3 42 Slovakia 3 35 Sweden 3 46 Greece 3 49 26 countries represented 25 countries represented 100th = 4:08:38 96th = 49:59 China's domination of the top placings in the 10K walk (8 of the top 10) equals that of Kenya in the marathon, although Kenya had nearly twice as many, total, in the top 100 of the marathon. * - With only 96 results listed, world-wide, one has to wonder whether this should be a World Championship and Olympic event. Peter Matthews' ATFS compilation of 2002 performances lists 121 at 46:59 or better; still a short list in comparison with other events. A quick check finds Jalava's heptathlon list to be the next shortest, with 298 athletes shown. Okay, I'll postpone any further rant on that (and next posting of other depth charts) until after a short camping trip in the glorious Pacific Northwest. Cheers!
