The Americans won 126 medals, more than they had in Tokyo (113). They finished with one more gold medal than they had at the Olympics three years earlier (40-39). They won gold in thirteen sports (a record shared with the Chinese), and one in 29. In other words, they were elite in almost every sport, but they proved particularly strong in three: Twenty-two of the forty gold medals were collected in the two main sports, track and field and swimming. Athletes won 34 of the 126 medals, and swimmers won 28. The third most successful sport for them, with nine medals, including three golds, was gymnastics.
The Chinese won two more gold medals than in Tokyo, and also took two more. It can be established even without the slightest political connotations: they grew up next to the Americans in terms of efficiency, if XX. Let us return to a certain period in the 20th century, when they took over the role of the Soviet Union, as the main competitor of the United States on the Olympic medal table. The Chinese “took over” some sports, taking all the gold medals in jumping and table tennis, where more than half of their gold medals were won, as well as in shooting and weightlifting. Interestingly, most of the medals were collected not in these sports, but in gymnastics and swimming (12-12). Their swimmer, Cheng Jü-fej, became the most successful medalist of the Paris Games with six medals, although “only” one of them was gold. The Chinese competitors won gold in 13 sports and a medal in 21.
In the medal table, which is based mainly on gold medals, Japan retained third place in Tokyo, which is a great success for them. True, the results he achieved there as a director (27 golds, 58 total medals) cannot be repeated, but that was expected. The 20 golds and 45 medals are remarkable achievements. Their wrestlers (8 golds, 11 medals) were hugely successful, as were their fencers (5 medals!), and if the Tokyo team failed to put on a near-perfect performance, so did the jugglers, who won eight medals (3-2-3).
Australia moved up from sixth to fourth. With one gold medal, they have won seven medals in more than three years. Naturally, swimmers led the way with 19 medals (7-9-3), followed by cyclists (8, 3-2-3) and boaters (5, 3-1-1). Of the latter, the Fox sisters won all three gold medals in the wild waters.
There will obviously be many analyses, especially in France, about the role of the host country. The first week was the strongest. On August 2, they had already won 11 golds, which eventually became 16. (In 2021, Japan, then the host, won 27 golds, and now the French have only 16. But the formula is different, if we look at the total medals, the Japanese won 58, the French 64. In comparison, there is an exceptionally large number of silvers among their golds, 26.) The French favorite, Leon Marchand, proved to be the first gold collector at the Paris Olympics, finishing with four golds and one bronze. The “Blues” won most of their medals in judo, 11. In this way, this was the second consecutive Olympic Games in which judo was the most successful sport for the host country.
The Dutch performance was astonishing: five more golds than in Tokyo (15 down from 10), although they won two fewer than Japan. In 2000, in Sydney, they won 12 golds (12-9-4), until 2021 was the only Olympics where they won at least ten golds. Since then, they have reached this milestone for the second time. Now rowers, cyclists and triathletes have put 21 medals in the knuckle, 34.
The British performance is interesting: they have dropped from fourth to seventh in the medal table, winning 14 gold medals out of 22 in Tokyo. But the medal tally is very similar, 64 in 2021 and 65 now! By the way, they had already won ten gold medals out of fourteen by midnight on August 3. Cyclists (11), track athletes (10) and rowers (8) have won a total of 29 medals.
Nine of the top ten places in the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics were still in the top ten, by definition the Russian team didn’t make it there, because it wasn’t allowed to start. The only newcomer to the top ten is the Republic of Korea, which collected 20 medals (6-4-10) in Japan, and now has 32 (13-9-10). Their archers were off the pace (5-1-1), but they were also strong in shooting (3-3-0). They won gold in five sports, in addition to the two mentioned in fencing and taekwondo (2-2) and badminton (1).
The Italians finished Tokyo 10-10-20, and are now ninth in the medal table with 12-13-15. Both are worth forty medals. Interestingly, they won gold in ten sports, but only in two, swimming and sailing. In terms of medals, swimming is also outstanding (6), followed closely by fencing and gymnastics (5-5).
The Germans collected 12 gold, 13 silver and 8 bronze, more gold and fewer medals than in 10-11-16 in Tokyo. A third of their gold medals, four, were won in horse riding, and only the kayakers won more than one and two golds.
The second ten starts with the New Zealanders and Canadians. New Zealand’s success – as in Tokyo – is not limited to the kayakers. Although it is a fact that under Lisa Carrington they won four golds out of ten. But five medals were collected by rowers and four by cyclists. In Japan their record was 7-6-7, now it is 10-7-3, both twenty medals.
Canada’s delegation fared slightly better than it did in 2021. Then it closed with a 7-7-10 record, and now with a 9-7-11 record. Like the United States, the best results (3-3 golds) were achieved in swimming and track and field, with Summer McIntosh taking all three in the pool. At the Stade de France, Canada won two golds in the hammer throw, and won the men’s 4×100 relay.
Only one country has collected more gold medals than the Hungarians: Uzbekistan. The Central Asian nation’s participation is, in some ways, the biggest surprise of the entire Olympics. There were also successful athletes in Tokyo, winning gold medals in taekwondo, weightlifting and boxing, and bronze medals in juggling and wrestling. In other words: they won medals in five different combat sports, but then with five male competitors.
They won eight golds, two silvers and three bronzes in Paris, dominating men’s boxing as they have in the past, since the mid-1970s. They won five of the seven weight classes. But they won gold each in juggling, taekwondo and wrestling. Tokyo gold medalists Bahodir Zalulov and taekwondo athlete Ulugbek Rasitov defended their Olympic titles. They now have an Olympic gold medalist and a silver medalist juggler, Dzhora Keldigorova and Svetlana Osipova.
Among Hungary's neighbors, Austria took five medals (2-0-3) and, for the first time since 2004, at least two first places. Slovakia's 28-strong team won just one bronze medal in the kayak slalom. Ukraine's 12 coins (3-5-4) are a completely different “formula” from the Tokyo scale: 19 coins (1-6-12). Of Romania's nine medals, 3 were gold, 4 were silver and 2 were bronze, its best performance since 2008 and particularly impressive compared to those in Tokyo (1-3-0). Rowers won five of the nine medals.
Serbia won the men's tennis singles with Novak Djokovic, the men's water polo team became Olympic champions for the third time in a row, and the mixed-sport shooting team of Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mekic won gold. The Serbs collected a total of five medals, with their only silver going to Aleksandra Perisic, who was defeated by Marton Viviana.
The Croatians finished 2-2-3, taking first place in juggling and rowing. It was their weakest showing since Beijing in terms of medals, including gold. The Slovenians' 2-1-0 result meant two golds, won by a juggler and a sport climber.
At the Paris Olympics, 329 medals were awarded. 63 countries (delegations) won gold medals and 91 countries (delegations) won medals. The same numbers in Tokyo in 2021 were 65 and 93. In 2016 and in Rio de Janeiro, they were 59 and 86.
