The United States Wins The Closest Olympic Medal Race In History On The Final Day

In an almost carbon copy repeat of the 2020 Olympics, the United States came from behind to beat China in the Summer Olympic Games medal table on the final day of competition. The comeback required American cyclist Jennifer Valente to win gold in the omnium event and for the US Women’s basketball team win their gold medal game.

The US and China entered the final day of the Olympics with China at 39 gold medals and the US at 38. China had one more possible gold medal event; the women’s 81kg weightlifting competition, which they won. The US had four possible gold medal events; women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s omnium (cycling) and women’s 76kg freestyle wrestling.

The US volleyball team lost, as did 76kg wrestler Kennedy Blades. But in an unbelievably clutch win, Jennifer Valente, who won the women’s omnium event in the 2020 Olympics, repeated her feat and won the gold medal. That left China with 40 gold medals and the US with 39 gold medals. And as a result of the US’ large lead in silver and bronze medals, the US only needed to tie China’s gold medal mark to win the medal table.

And so we were left with a simple scenario; if the US women’s basketball team beat host France, the US would win the medal table. If they lost, China would win. Going into the game, the US had won 7 straight gold medals in women’s basketball, and were on a 61 game Olympic winning streak.

But it soon became clear that this would be their hardest test yet. The game went back and forth for its entirety. The US women made a good amount of mistakes and questionable decisions. In the end, they beat France 67-66. In fact, with the score 67-64 in the US’ favor, a French player hit a buzzer beater, but did so inside the 3point line. The game, and consequently, the gold medal race, could not have been closer.

In fact, this is the first time in Summer Olympic Games history that the race for top spot in golds finished tied. Statistically, no gold medal race has been closer. While there was another gold medal race, in the first Olympics in 1896, where 1 gold medal separated the winning US with second place Greece, even in that, the US had won 1 more gold medal than Greece.

It is a known fact that the US is the most successful sporting nation in the world. Not just in Olympic competition, but in major competitions throughout sports, the US has shown that overall they are the most successful nation. Of course there are many sports that the US does not excel in, but no nation can excel in all sports. When you look at the all time results of the major competitions in all sports, the US is all time the most successful or top 5 in by far the most amount of sports.

This is the second straight Olympic Games where the gold medal count came down to the last day, and the finest of margins. The US won the 2012 and especially the 2016 Olympic gold medal country fairly comfortably. Not so for 2020 and 2024.

We thought that 2020 was the closest it could get. It finished with the US at 39 gold medals and China at 38. The US also had many more overall medals than China in 2020, so even if China had won one more gold medal, the US would have won. In 2024, one more gold medal for China or one less gold medal for the US would have led to China winning the medal table. It was one of the most clutch finishes in a major sporting competition in history.

The US had multiple gold medals that they won by the narrowest of margins, including the men’s 100 meter final, which American Noah Lyles won by five thousandths of a second. Yes, you read that right. It was closer than one hundredth of a second. The margin was one two hundredth of a second. That separated the US and China in the Olympic medal table. To be fair, China also had many extremely close gold medal wins, and the US had many extremely close events where they missed gold by the tiniest of margins and had to settle for silver.

Add that to the fact that China won 13 of their 40 gold medals in Diving and Table Tennis alone, and it would have been a travesty if China had won the medal count. It was an incredibly clutch finish by the US to end these Olympics. But the US hosts the 2028 Olympics, meaning they definitely should win the medal table.

The US has won the most overall medals in the last 8 Olympic Games. But China won more gold medals in 2008, which was hosted in Beijing. As the medal standings are measured by gold medals, this means that the US has won 7 of the last 8 Olympic medal tables. Assuming the US wins the medal table in their home games in 2028, the US will have won the most overall medals in 9 straight Olympics, and most golds in 8 of the last 9 Olympics.

A 2028 win would also represent the US’ 5th straight gold medal table win, matching a record they set from 1912-1932. An incredible run of American sporting dominance, that looks set to continue and be extended. Hopefully the 2028 medal table is not as close as the 2020 and 2024 tables were!