U.S. Dominates Olympic Games in Paris
WASHINGTON — The U.S. once again dominated the medal count for the Summer Olympic Games, with Team USA’s athletes taking home 126 medals despite a number of close calls and a controversial ruling that stripped a U.S. athlete of her bronze.
As the Closing Ceremony nears, the U.S.’s 126 medals are heads and shoulders above the next-most-decorated country: China, with 91 medals. Great Britain rounds out the “overall medal winning” podium with 65 medals.
Host country France clinched the fourth spot, with 64 total.
It’s not necessarily a surprise that the U.S. outperformed all other countries in Paris. It’s the eighth consecutive Summer Games where Team USA has won more medals than any other country.
The U.S. also sent the most athletes to Paris, with 637 Olympians competing, according to the Olympics website. France had 596 athletes and Australia had 477. China, by comparison, only sent 388 athletes to Paris.
How are Olympic “winners” determined?
While there are technically no winners at the Games, other than the athletes who win medals, the medal count is a sign of prestige and honor for competing countries. Some countries assess who won by looking at gold medals. Others count the total number of medals won.
Oftentimes it doesn’t matter which way you look at it, as the U.S. often wins out both categories.
Did the U.S. have the most gold medals in Paris?
For the first time in Olympic history, the gold count at the end of the Olympics was tied. The U.S. and China each ended the Paris Games with 40 gold medals, a sign of dominance from two of the countries who regularly stand at the top of the sports world.
A bronze heartbreak
The medal count has not come without some controversy though. In the women’s floor exercise final, American athlete Jordan Chiles beat out two Romanian athletes to attain bronze after appealing her score for the routine.
Romania’s Olympic delegation was outraged by the sudden score change and and sent an appeal to the governing court for sports. The court ruled against Chiles, knocking her score down and placing Romanian Ana Barbosu in third.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) voided the on-floor appeal by Chiles’ coach nearly a week after the competition had ended, saying the appeal came 4 seconds beyond the 1-minute time limit for scoring inquiries.
On Sunday, the International Gymnastics Federation said Chiles would need to return the bronze medal, although U.S. Olympic officials said they would launch their own appeal.
Narrowly missed gold
American Shelby McEwen and Hamish Kerr of New Zealand could have decided to tie in high jump and both get a gold medal on Saturday, but instead they went to a jump-off. McEwen wound up with silver.
The double gold, which happened at the 2021 Olympics — albeit with different athletes — would have pushed Team USA one medal over the Chinese team.
When was the last time the U.S. didn’t win the most gold medals at the Olympics?
The last Summer Olympics in which the United States did not top the gold-medal table was in 2008 in Beijing.
The United States’ medal dominance at the Summer Games hasn’t translated over to the Winter Olympics. In Beijing, the U.S. had the fifth-most medals overall and the third-most gold. During those Games, Norway had the most total and gold medals, followed by the Russian Olympic Committee.
The Vancouver 2010 Games were the last time the U.S. had the most medals at a Winter Olympics.