Please read the following table in Markdown format and then answer the question according to the table. Table cells in one row are seperated by '|', and different rows are seperated by '
'.

Table:
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | Kaija Mustonen | Finland | 2:22.4 | OR |
|  | Carry Geijssen | Netherlands | 2:22.7 |  |
|  | Stien Kaiser | Netherlands | 2:24.5 |  |
| 4 | Sigrid Sundby-Dybedahl | Norway | 2:25.2 |  |
| 5 | Lāsma Kauniste | Soviet Union | 2:25.4 |  |
| 6 | Kaija-Liisa Keskivitikka | Finland | 2:25.8 |  |
| 7 | Lyudmila Titova | Soviet Union | 2:26.8 |  |
| 8 | Ruth Schleiermacher | East Germany | 2:27.1 |  |
| 9 | Christina Lindblom-Scherling | Sweden | 2:27.5 |  |
| 9 | Hildegard Sellhuber | West Germany | 2:27.5 |  |
| 11 | Lidiya Skoblikova | Soviet Union | 2:27.6 |  |
| 12 | Ans Schut | Netherlands | 2:28.3 |  |
| 13 | Dianne Holum | United States | 2:28.5 |  |
| 14 | Martine Ivangine | France | 2:29.9 |  |
| 14 | Kari Kåring | Norway | 2:29.9 |  |
| 16 | Jeanne Ashworth | United States | 2:30.3 |  |
| 17 | Lisbeth Korsmo-Berg | Norway | 2:30.7 |  |
| 18 | Christina Karlsson | Sweden | 2:31.4 |  |
| 18 | Sachiko Saito | Japan | 2:31.4 |  |
| 20 | Ylva Hedlund | Sweden | 2:31.5 |  |
| 21 | Doreen McCannell | Canada | 2:32.2 |  |
| 22 | Arja Kantola | Finland | 2:33.2 |  |
| 23 | Kaname Ide | Japan | 2:34.2 |  |
| 24 | Marcia Parsons | Canada | 2:34.4 |  |
| 25 | Jeanne Omelenchuk | United States | 2:35.5 |  |
| 26 | Jitsuko Saito | Japan | 2:36.6 |  |
| 27 | Kim Gwi-Jin | South Korea | 2:36.7 |  |
| 28 | Marie-Louise Perrenoud | France | 2:39.2 |  |
| 29 | Patricia Demartini | France | 2:40.6 |  |
| 30 | Paula Dufter | West Germany | 2:45.2 |  |
Question:
what number of countries placed ahead of the united states?
Answer:
7