The article makes a flawed argument. I think that the top US coders have better opportunities than TopCoder, so we won't see them there. Personal history follows.

I come from an eastern European country, and I participated in the IOI (high-school equivalent of TopCoder). If I were still living there, I would have gone to Top Coder, because the prize looks good for someone in eastern Europe.

Now that I'm in the US, the prize money isn't worth the time I would need to train. I have better opportunities to make money and add to my resume. I miss competitions, but I really like what I'm working on.

I'm not saying that the US school system doesn't suck. I'm just saying that TopCoder performance isn't a valid argument for that.