Great Britain holds on to third place in September, the USA dominate the Global Cup
Three quarters of the sporting year have glided by on a wave of Olympic enthusiasm, and it’s nearly showdown time for GSN’s Global Cup ranking.
The only independent and objective ranking of the performances of all nations in (nearly) all sports, now in its fifth year of existence, the Global Cup is, not surprisingly, led by the USA.
The mighty Americans enjoy a record 3051 points lead over Russia in second place, after an extraordinary performance at the London Olympics and an endless list of individual and team victories in virtually any sport under the sun (including the individual title at the 2012 Racquetball World Championships).
Overall victory, barring extraordinary events in the last quarter of the year, should be theirs for the fifth time running.
Close to Russia (828 points gap) we find Great Britain, for the second consecutive month in 3rd place, their best ever performance in the Global Cup. At the end of September 2011 Team GB was in 7th position overall, with a 3,8% share of all GSN points in the year up to then.
Thanks to a great performance in the London Olympics and beyond, it now has a 5,2% share of the points in 2012, with a points increase of 45,5%!
Compared to this, the USA have increased over last year by “only” 25,3%, whilst their share of the points has grown from 10,0% in September 2011 to 11,7% this year.
Russia sports virtually the same amount of points as in the corresponding period of last year (+ 1,0%) while China is a surprise in 4th place: despite a good showing – 3rd overall - at the Olympics it dropped many points in the rest of the year. It now loses 585 points vs last year, though the loss in share of points (5,3% in 2012) is minimal, and crucially it has lost the standing of third sports superpower to Great Britain.
Among the top ten countries, the highest leap is that of Brazil: from 14th at end of September 2011 to 8th in the current standings, thanks to an excellent Olympics performance plus brilliant results in Volley’s Super League and Grand Prix competitions.
Three nations stand out in the top twenty: Poland leaps up four positions into 16th, tiny New Zealand leaps four into 17th while Sweden drops from 12th to 18th position in the Global Cup ranking.
Finally, out of the top thirty one nation must be mentioned: Jamaica benefited from the Olympic year and rises to 25th, while it was out of the top thirty last year.
Still, there are three more busy sporting months to go in 2012, and the race is on, particularly for positions in the top nine behind the USA.
