Athletics Worlds 2015: Kenya ascendant and other key facts

Julius Yego wins Javelin gold for Kenya

The recent Athletics World Championships in Beijing have been among the most closely fought in recent editions – with 67 different countries scoring GSN points, as opposed to 59 at Moscow 2013.

While Usain Bolt’s dramatic sprint victories were among the individual performances’ highlights, the continued ascendance of Kenya on the world’s athletics stage was the most remarkable fact in terms of national performance.
The East African country actually came top in the medals table ahead of the USA (see below) and, while they could only claim second place behind the USA in the GSN ranking, the manner of their performance clearly throws down the gauntlet for overall Athletics leadership.
 
Compared to Moscow 2013, Kenya were much closer to the US in terms of
- % share of the points: 12.7% (Kenya) vs 14.3% (USA) in Beijing, as opposed to     10.9% (Kenya) vs 18.3% (USA)
- number of point-scoring performances: 30 (Kenya) vs 47 (USA) in Beijing, as opposed to 26 (Kenya) to 58 (USA)
 
Kenya has won medals in non-running sports for the first time (Julius Yego’s gold in the Javelin) and have actually won the overall Men’s ranking, with 16.8% of the points, ahead of the USA with 14.4%.
If the Kenyan ladies (‘only’ fourth in the gender ranking, beaten by the USA, Jamaica and Ethiopia) will begin to show the same form as the men, Kenya will be hard to beat in the future.
 
Other key facts about the Athletics World Championships in Beijing:
- 3rd placed Jamaica recorded their best performance of their last three         editions, with a 10.6% points share
- In comparing the medals’ table and the GSN ranking, the only       difference among countries is the presence of China (GSN) vs Cuba (medals), while there are only minor changes in position, save for Kenya and Jamaica finishing ahead of the USA in medals, among the other countries
GSN RANKING
Place
Country
Points
Points %
1
United States
957
14.3%
2
Kenya
850
12.7%
3
Jamaica
704
10.6%
4
Great Britain
406
6.1%
5
Ethiopia
340
5.1%
6
China
331
5.0%
7
Germany
308
4.6%
8
Canada
235
3.5%
9
Russia
210
3.1%
10
Poland
185
2.8%
 
MEDALS TABLE
 
 
 
 
 
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE
TOTAL
Kenya
7
6
3
16
Jamaica
7
2
3
12
USA
6
6
6
18
Great Britain
4
1
2
7
Ethiopia
3
3
2
8
Poland
3
1
4
8
Canada
2
3
3
8
Germany
2
3
3
8
Russia
2
1
1
4
Cuba
2
1
0
3
 
- Two other countries were noticeable for their improvement: Great Britain in 4th had their best result of the last four editions, and so did China in 6th – with them in contention besides the USA, Russia and Germany, the fight for the three top spots at Rio 2016 promises to be tight
- 13 countries (in bold in the table below) have ranked consistently in the top 20 GSN places in the last four editions of the Athletics Worlds, Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago among them; the Ukraine and South Africa are the only other countries which appear in the top 20 in at least three out of the last four editions.

 

ATHLETICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - GSN RANKING

 

  2009 2011 2013 2015
1 United States United States United States United States
2 Jamaica Kenya Kenya Kenya
3 Kenya Russia Russia Jamaica
4 Russia Jamaica Jamaica Great Britain
5 Ethiopia Great Britain Ethiopia Ethiopia
6 Great Britain Ethiopia Great Britain China
7 Germany China Germany Germany
8 Poland France Ukraine Canada
9 China Germany France Russia
10 Trin. & Tobago South Africa China Poland
11 Australia Australia Czech Rep. France
12 Spain Poland Canada Netherlands
13 Bahrain Ukraine Poland Trin. & Tobago
14 France Cuba Australia Ukraine
15 Bahamas Morocco Japan South Africa
16 Cuba Trin. & Tobago Cuba Belarus
17 South Africa Belgium Ivory Coast Cuba
18 Japan Grenada Spain Bahamas
19 Italy Italy Nigeria Morocco
20 Ireland Czech Rep. Trin. & Tobago Australia