USA edge past China with gold in final event of Paris 2024 to top medal table
More can change: After more than two weeks of frantic competition in 32 sports involving more than 10,000 athletes, the U.S. once again topped the medal table at the Paris Olympics. To do so, however, they had to win the final event of the Games.
The U.S. entered Sunday with 38 gold medals, one shy of China’s 39, though it was the heavy favorite to win the women’s basketball event, an event the Americans have won at every Olympics since 1996. The U.S. also had a shot at gold in track cycling, wrestling and volleyball, while China could add to its total in weightlifting.
Li Wenwen did her part for China by winning gold in the women’s +81kg weightlifting event, while the U.S. women’s volleyball team and wrestler Kennedy Blades had to settle for silver. But the U.S. had a reigning Olympic champion, Jennifer Valente, in the omnium, and she came through to leave the U.S. one gold behind China with the final event of the Games, women’s basketball, still to come. Few in the U.S. camp would have been nervous about the outcome, however: the U.S. was riding a 60-match winning streak at the Olympics and seeking its seventh straight title. They then defeated France in the final seconds of a thrilling match to move the U.S. and China evenly matched at 40 gold medals each, with the Americans finishing first in total medals won, 126 to 91.
Japan was third with 20 gold medals, the same position as in Tokyo 2021. Australia, which had its best medal haul ever, finished fourth with 18 gold medals. Host nation France was fifth with 16 gold medals, their best finish since topping the rankings in 1900, when Paris also hosted the Games.
It was a mixed Games for Team GB, who finished seventh, their lowest finish since 2004. However, they may want to consult the medal table in the American media, where countries are usually ranked by total medals rather than gold. By that method, Britain’s total of 65 medals puts them third in the table. It is also one medal more than they won in Tokyo.
The US is expected to top the medal table in four years’ time, when Los Angeles hosts the Games. Countries traditionally perform strongly in the medal table when they are on home soil and the US, accustomed to dominating the Summer Games, will be particularly keen to make an impact. The Winter Games are a different story: the last time the US topped the table was in 1932. Norway, with a population of less than 6 million, has finished top of the Winter Games for the past two years.