The 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai
The year 2011 has offered a rich bounty for Aquatic sports, with the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai awarding big prizes in terms of medals and GSN points.
Overall victory in the Aquatics World Championships and the Global Cup 2011, with a record 17,2% of the points, goes to the United States, for whom Aquatics, and Swimming in particular, are one of the most significant point-earners among all sports. Swimming is currently the second sport in the USA own ranking, behind Athletics.
Hosts China came second behind the USA, with 11,2% of the points, and third was Australia with 9,5%. For the full table, see below.
For the record, the “Aquatics” grouping is the sum of Swimming (in pools), Open Water Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Diving.
The Aquatics World Championships, the results of which also award the Aquatics Global Cup this year, are worth 6.903 GSN points. It’s a considerable booty, split up between Diving (5,6% of points), Synchronised Swimming (4,0%), Open Water Swimming (6,8%), Water Polo (15,8%) and the big one, pool Swimming,
worth 4.680 GSN points alone in 2011, with a total of 37 countries scoring points, just one shy of the 2009 total when the Aquatics Worlds were last held, in Rome, Italy.
The category winners were:
- In Water Polo: Italy, beating the USA and Serbia, with China fourth.
- In Diving: China took top spot, well ahead of the USA and Russia
- In Synchronised Swimming: Russia, with seven golds from seven events (!!), ahead of China and Spain
- In Open Water Swimming: Russia again, in a tight race ahead of Italy and Germany
- In Swimming (pool): here the USA earned the decisive points for overall Aquatics victory: they improved their 2009 performance by sweeping the…pool with 20,6% of the points, as opposed to the 16,2% that allowed them victory in 2009. Second-placed Australia and third-placed China made it a tight race among themselves, with roughly 10% of the points each.
Swimming was indeed the best point-scoring category for most countries. Yet there have been countries that have not scored in Swimming and got their points elsewhere.
Mexico and Malaysia in the Diving ranking; Croatia and Montenegro in Water Polo; Bulgaria, Argentina, Belgium and Ireland in Open Water Swimming, and finally, North Korea in Synchronised Swimming. In the overall Aquatics ranking, the best of these countries were Croatia (20th), Montenegro (25th) and Mexico (29th).
For the top 20 Aquatics ranking, see below.
AQUATICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011, final table
|
Place
|
Country
|
Count
|
ResultPoints
|
ResultPoints %
|
Points
|
Points %
|
|
1
|
United States
|
69
|
399
|
15,3%
|
1.184
|
17,2%
|
|
2
|
China
|
53
|
366
|
14,0%
|
772
|
11,2%
|
|
3
|
Australia
|
46
|
221
|
8,5%
|
657
|
9,5%
|
|
4
|
Italy
|
28
|
142
|
5,4%
|
468
|
6,8%
|
|
5
|
Russia
|
35
|
209
|
8,0%
|
416
|
6,0%
|
|
6
|
France
|
30
|
123
|
4,7%
|
340
|
4,9%
|
|
7
|
Great Britain
|
33
|
124
|
4,7%
|
322
|
4,7%
|
|
8
|
Japan
|
25
|
109
|
4,2%
|
279
|
4,0%
|
|
9
|
Canada
|
31
|
119
|
4,5%
|
256
|
3,7%
|
|
10
|
Germany
|
23
|
112
|
4,3%
|
244
|
3,5%
|
|
11
|
Netherlands
|
15
|
66
|
2,5%
|
206
|
3,0%
|
|
12
|
Hungary
|
14
|
63
|
2,4%
|
203
|
2,9%
|
|
13
|
Brazil
|
10
|
60
|
2,3%
|
162
|
2,3%
|
|
14
|
Greece
|
7
|
42
|
1,6%
|
146
|
2,1%
|
|
15
|
Spain
|
18
|
75
|
2,9%
|
142
|
2,1%
|
|
16
|
Serbia
|
3
|
21
|
0,8%
|
135
|
2,0%
|
|
17
|
Denmark
|
8
|
41
|
1,6%
|
123
|
1,8%
|
|
18
|
Sweden
|
8
|
38
|
1,5%
|
112
|
1,6%
|
|
19
|
South Africa
|
8
|
32
|
1,2%
|
95
|
1,4%
|
|
20
|
Croatia
|
2
|
12
|
0,5%
|
84
|
1,2%
|
