The United States and China tied for the most gold medals in the Paris Games, with 40 apiece
Team USA is leaving the 2024 Paris Olympics with a ton of extra hardware.
Just as they did in the 2020 Tokyo Games, American athletes took home more medals than any other country, finishing the Games on Sunday, Aug. 11 with 126 medals.
Of those medals, 40 are gold, which ties Team USA with China for most gold medals. China trailed the U.S. with 91 medals total, and Great Britain came in third with 65 medals. Though they were in third in the medal count for nearly the entirety of the Games, home country France fell behind in the home stretch, narrowly coming in fourth place with 64 medals.
Team USA entered the final day of competition one gold medal behind China, but ultimately pulled even thanks to the first-place finishes of track cycling’s Jennifer Valente and the women’s basketball team.
The athletes — who also brought home 44 silver medals and 42 bronze — beat their Tokyo total of 113 total medals, and earned the most for the country since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, when Team USA won 174 medals, per NBC New York.
The U.S. women were dominant — thanks to incredible performances by Simone Biles, the women’s soccer team, Sha’Carri Richardson and more, they accounted for 65% of the country’s medals.
Of America’s more than three dozen gold medals, the most were won by the athletics team, who came in first place a whopping 14 times. Those gold medal winners include Noah Lyles, Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Swimming also performed well, bringing home eight gold medals thanks to stars like Katie Ledecky, who served as Team USA flagbearer alongside rower Nick Mead in the closing ceremony.
The Games saw some triumphs, like the successful comeback of Biles in gymnastics, Ledecky’s record-breaking swims and the first gold in men’s rowing in over 60 years. But the Games were not without controversy too, including the decision to strip gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal in floor.
Next up, Team USA will be on home soil as they host their competitors in Los Angeles in 2028.
Source people.com
