Global Cup 2009, the Top 3: USA, Russia, Germany
An in-depth look at each of the 3 giants’ statistics yields some interesting insights on how their position of excellence has been achieved.
The USA: they scored GSN weighted points (see How it Works) in 50 sports, ahead of both Russia (45 sports) and Germany (43 sports). They were also ahead in counts (number of events in which they scored points): 381 vs 276 for Russia and 256 for Germany; thus, despite a slightly lower average of weighted points per count (19,2, down from 20,6 in 2008) than the other 2 nations, they totalled 7.313 weighted points, enough to clinch overall victory in the Global Cup 2009.
Russia: despite a higher average of weighted points per count than the USA (21,6, up from 18,6 in 2008), they could not score more than 5.960 weighted points to arrive second. Credit to them for improving on total points (they scored 5.563 in 2008), not easy in a non – Olympic year and for flying ahead of the USA in the Thompson Ranking: in 2009 Russia needed only 23.802 healthy citizens to score a weighted point, vs 41.724 for the USA!
Germany: this year’s achievers scored 4.487 weighted points, a 22,6% increase over the previous year! In comparison, the USA decreased the number of points they scored, and Russia posted only a 7,1% increase in 2009. Germany has improved all round: more counts (256 vs 233), more weighted points per count (17,5 vs 15,6) and the best Thompson Ranking result among the top 3 nations: this year it took only 18.318 enthusiastic Germans to score a weighted point. And next year?
