A detailed view of the Eiffel Tower displaying the Olympic Rings during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024 in Paris, France.
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The US and China each won 40 gold medals in the the first draw for the summer games in Olympic historywith the Americans pulling into a tie Sunday with a win in the final event, women’s basketball.
The US has equaled China in power shocking 67-66 victory over France in a shockingly close game for the women’s gold crown.
China entered Sunday with a 39-38 advantage over the USA, with the Americans looking to have a slight edge as the USA went for its eighth straight women’s basketball gold and second straight women’s volleyball title.
A flurry of results unfolded at noon to form the final score.
- China’s Li Wenwen won gold at heavyweight female weightlifter in what could have been a blow to American hopes of taking the overall gold.
- US hopes were further dampened when Local Chicago Kennedy Blaydes, who made a stunning run in the gold medal wrestling match, lost to 76kg opponent Yuka Kagami of Japan.
- In a stunning blow, Italy knocked the USA out of the gym with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-17 volleyball victory.
- Decorated cyclist Jennifer Valenteof San Diego, saved the US from defending her gold in the women’s omnium.
Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles of Team USA celebrates on the podium during the men’s 100 meters medal ceremony at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
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That led to the heavily favored U.S. women getting down to business, narrowly missing out on their eighth straight gold.
“I didn’t know until someone told me after the game, but I’m happy that we won for us and for USA Basketball and for the whole Team USA team to be tied,” the WNBA MVP told reporters. Breanna Stewart. the gold medal game.
U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve smiled wryly and said she knew what was at stake in the France game, but hinted she didn’t tell the players.
“I saw the medal count before, I saw it,” he said with a smile. “That’s what we need, more pressure.”
The last time the U.S. didn’t win the most golds in the summer was in Beijing in 2008, when the hosts outscored America in first base visits, 48-36.
Although there have been no gold medals in the history of the Summer Games, there have been three ties at the Winter Olympics.
The most recent tie was between Norway and Germany, each winning 14 golds at PyeongChang 2018.
The U.S. still comes away with the most medals overall, taking 126 from Paris this year.
The USA did not fail to win most medals since 1992when the “Unified Team”, athletes from the republics of the former Soviet Union, won 112 medals, including 45 gold. The Americans made 108 visits to the podium in Barcelona, with 37 of them coming on the first step.
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles of Team USA poses during the women’s artistic gymnastics final medal ceremony on August 1.
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The 40 golds out of 329 events manage to take top honors 12.1% of the time. This is slightly higher than Tokyo (11.4%), but lower than Rio (15%) and London (15.8%).
America’s effort in Paris can be better proven by American swimmers who won the most medals and golds but he left feeling that they had left material on deck.
Silver medalist Anastasiia Kirpichnikova of France, gold medalist Katie Ledecky of the United States and bronze medalist Isabel Gose of Germany stand on the podium for the women’s 1500m freestyle during the Olympic Games on July 31.
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While veteran Katie Ledecky was the USA’s star here, with two golds, a silver and a bronze, he stole the show The French Léon Marchandwho set four golds, one bronze and four Olympic records, and Canada’s prodigy Summer McIntosh, with three golds and one silver.
Despite their sporting rivalry, the US and China don’t match up in many events. One of the few places where they face each other equally is in the pool.
One of the most important moments of the 40-40 tie came a week ago on Sunday, when China won the 4×100 meter medley relay on the strength of 100 freestyle ace Pan Zhanle, who topped the silver Americans.
“It wasn’t a bad meeting at all,” said US swimmer Caeleb Dressel he said of his team.
“The goal when we get to the Olympics and the world championships is to win gold medals. There are other countries that are very dominant – Australia and the USA are the two most recognized. But from these Games, I saw a lot from Italy, China, France So the wealth has just spread, I don’t think we’re getting any worse off.
USA’s Lee Kiefer, center, USA’s Lauren Scruggs, left, and Canada’s Eleanor Harvey celebrate on the podium during the women’s foil medal ceremony on July 28.
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A number of countries that don’t usually come within touching distance of the podium have produced several medalists over the past two weeks.
Before landing in Paris, Israel owned just 13 Summer Olympics medals — collecting seven here.
Ecuador won five medals, more than doubling his summer total.
Kyrgyzstan made six runs to the podium, which is impressive considering the Central Asian nation came to Paris with only seven Olympic medals in history.
Before Paris 2024, Moldova had won six in national history. The tiny former Soviet Republic made four runs to the podium in Paris.
— NBC News’ David K. Li reported from Paris and Sean Nevin from London.
