Great Britain
Greatest Sporting Nation takes an in-depth look at Great Britain as a country and as one of the world's leading sporting nations, and keeps you up-to-date with its performance in the Global Cup.
National Statistics (source: Wikipedia)
- Population: (2009 estimate) 61,612,300
- Area: 244,820 km2 (79th in the world)
- Population density: 246/km2 (48th in the world)
- GDP: (2008 estimate) USD 2,230 trillion (7th in the world)
- GDP per capita: USD 43,785 (20th in the world)
- GDP (growth rate): - 1,9% (Q1 2009)
- Form of government: parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy
- Chief languages: English is the dominant language, with Scots and four Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Cornish) being also spoken locally
- Religion: Christianity is the chief religion (the majority being Church of England, the second largest being the Roman Catholic Church), followed by Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism.
- Chief ethnic groups
GSN Vital Statistics/The Global Cup
- 2008 ranking: 5th
- 2008 weighted points: 3.138 (3,7% of total points scored)
- 2008 ranking men: 6th
- 2008 weighted points men: 1.876
- 2008 ranking ladies: 7th
- 2008 weighted points ladies: 1.183
- 2008 ranking mixed: 4th
- 2008 weighted points mixed: 79
- 2008 highest scoring sports (% of total Great Britain’s weighted points):
- Athletics (16,3%)
- Track Cycling (15,4%)
- Rugby Union (9,9%)
- Swimming (8,9%)
- Rowing (6,5%)
- Sailing (6,2%)
2008 GLOBAL CUP PERFORMANCE
Great Britain finished a very respectable 5th in the 2008 Global Cup , thanks to a strong performance both across genders and across a large variety of sports.
Excellence was reached in
- Sailing
- Track Cycling
- Rugby Union
- Snooker
where the Union Jack flew to celebrate overall victories.
Other results to note are:
- 2nd overall in Rowing, only 15 points behind the USA
- 2nd overall in Squash, and 1st place among the ladies
- 3rd overall in Swimming, a combination of 3rd place in the ladies and 8th in the men
- 3rd overall in Rugby League
- 4th overall in Equestrian sports
- 5th overall in Golf, with the British men notching up a 3rd place
2009 GLOBAL CUP PERFORMANCE
Great Britain is currently one place below its 2008 finish, standing in 6th place behind France.
So far this year British athletes excelled in two main sports: Water Sports in general and Swimming, Diving and Rowing in particular, all with gold medals under the belt, and Athletics, where at the IAAF World Athletics Championships they collected 2 golds, 2 silvers, 3 bronze medals and four other placements in the top 5.
