AcrobaticSports.com compiled a list of all the male athletes who have performed routines of 15.0 pts or more, and all female athletes who have performed routines of 13.0 pts or more at international or domestic competitions in 2005.  The results are eye-opening. 

The first attached schedule reports the number of male trampolinists per country having performed routines with a difficulty of 15.0 pts or more, 15.5 pts or more, 16.0 pts or more, 16.5 pts or more, and 17.0 pts or more at international or domestic competitions in 2005. The second attached schedule reports the number of female trampolinists per country having performed routines with a difficulty of 13.0 pts or more, 13.5 pts or more, 14.0 pts or more, and 14.5 pts or more at international or domestic competitions in 2005.  The difficulty reported on these schedules is based on each athlete's most difficult routine performed in competition in 2005. A trampolinist having performed a 17.0 pt routine would be reported in each of the boxes for his or her country.  The data is based on AcrobaticSports.com's best knowledge and may not be fully accurate. 

A detailed list of the individuals per country is also reported. 

An individual ranking also lists the highest difficulty performers regardless of their country of origin. 

87 men performed a 15.0 pt or more tariff in 2005.  22 of these were from China (25%).  China really started developing its trampoline program at the end of 1997 when it was announced that the sport would become part of the Olympic program.  The 2008 Olympics will take place in Beijing (China).  10 of the 87 trampolinists were from Russia, the historical stronghold and dominating country of the trampoline world.  Russia is followed by Japan (9), Germany (8), Great Britain (5), and then Canada, the Netherlands, and Belarus (4 each).  17 men performed routines of 16.0 pts or more.  2 performed routines of 17.0 pts or more.  The World Record is currently at 17.0 pts

China has come across as trying to bet on the difficulty in international competitions.  China won its first World Champion title in the team competition in October 2005 in Eindhoven (NED). However, the most striking result of the survey is the depth of the Chinese team with 22 athletes performing 15.0 pts or more and 11 athletes performing 15.5 pts or more.  In other words, there were more Chinese competing routines of 15.0 pts or more in 2005 than competitors from Russia, Germany, and France combined.  Another interesting finding of this survey is that the choice of going for the extreme difficulty is not totally representative of Chinese trampolining.  Some of Chinese best competitors (Que Zhicheng and Liu Qipeng) have regularly performed the most difficult routines at international events (respectively 16.7 pts and 16.5 pts).   However, these performances are not really representative of the tactical choices of the other Chinese trampolinists.  The bulk of the Chinese trampolinists compete routines between 15.0 pts and 15.8 pts.  Only two other athletes competed routines of 16.0 pts (little known Wu Yi and Tu Xiao).  Overall, it appears that the Chinese seem to focus much more on voluntary routines (the only ones competed at the Olympics) than on compulsories, which explains why their final places are not always on par with their performances in the voluntaries. 

Russia and Germany remain strongholds of the sport with respectively 10 and 8 athletes competing 15.0 pts or more.  7 Russians and 6 Germans competed routines of 15.5 pts or more.

Japan's breakthrough year is reflected in the survey with 9 athletes with 15.0 pts or more.  Interestingly, most of these athletes performed routines barely above 15.0 pts, betting on execution rather than difficulty.  The only exception is Takashi Sakamoto, one of the only two men at 17.0 pts this year, but who is not even among the top 8 best Japanese trampolinists.

Individually, 10 men performed routines of 16.2 pts or more.  The leader in 2005 is Jason Burnett (CAN) with 17.2 pts.  The world record is at 17.0 pts (co-held by Igor Gelimbatovsky and Daniel Neale) but was not officially broken as only scores at FIG sanctioned events can qualify as World Records.  Burnett performed a 18.5 pt routine in training last year.  Ranked second is difficulty specialist Takashi Sakamoto (Japan) with 17.0 pts.  Que Zhicheng and Liu Qipeng (China) come in 3rd and 4th places with respectively 16.7 pts and 16.5 pts, as they both start their routines with four triffises.  Que finished 4th at the World Championships this year and led his team to the World Champion title.  World Champion Alexander Rusakov (RUS) appears in 7th place with his traditional 16.2 pt routine.  World Silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) also appears in 7th place with a non-traditional 16.2 pt routine that he performed only at Japanese domestic competitions. 

The results of the survey are even more eye-opening in the women's as to the Chinese depth.  45 ladies performed routines of 13.0 pt or more in 2005.  18 (i.e., 40%) were from China (!).  In other terms, as many Chinese women have performed 13.0 pt routines in 2005 as women from Russia (3), Canada (4). Germany (2), the U.S. (3), Belarus (2), Ukraine (2) and Great Britain (2) combined.  5 Chinese women have performed 13.5 pt routines or more.  Russia is the only country with 3 women at 14.0 pts.  10 women in the world have performed routines of 14.0 pts or more in 2005.  2 did 14.5 pts or more.

Individually, it was not even close once again as World Champion Irina Karavaeva more or less maintains a 0.5 pt margin over her rivals.  She performed 14.9 pt routines in 2005, 0.4 pts short of her World Record (15.3 pts) that she contemplated beating at the Levallois World Cup.  The only other athlete at 14.5 pts is Huang Shanshan (CHN).  The top 10 of the difficulty in the women's is very close to the actual top 10 in the world with Karavaeva, Huang, Karen Cockburn (CAN), Claire Wright (GBR), Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), Elena Movchan (UKR), Natalia Chernova (RUS), Anna Dogonadze (GER), Zhong Xingping (CHN), and Natalia Kolesnikova (RUS).