Shocking Olympic Showdown: China and USA Tie for Golds in Paris 2024!

China is celebrating its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics, tying with the United States for the most gold medals at the Paris 2024 Games. Both nations secured 40 golds, marking the first tie for total golds at the Summer Games. However, the US claimed the overall top spot with 126 medals compared to China’s 91.
The competition was fierce as these sporting powerhouses clashed in yet another aspect of their geopolitical rivalry, in a Games at times overshadowed by doping controversies.
China’s emergence as a global sporting force over recent decades is seen as a reflection of its national strength. The 2008 Beijing Games marked the first time China surpassed the US in gold medal count. In Paris, China initially led the medal tally, dominating in shooting and diving. However, the US quickly caught up during the track and field events and ultimately surpassed China.
China joins the US and the former Soviet Union as the only countries to top the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics away from home soil. Chinese state media lauded the “record-breaking” haul from Paris.
“Chinese analysts said this proves that the success of Chinese modernization can bring not only economic growth, but also benefits to public health and the sports industry,” reported the state-run Global Times.
The Chinese team’s success was celebrated on social media, with a surge of national pride and criticism of what many perceived as unfair doping allegations against China’s swim team. On Weibo, the hashtag “China tied for first place on the gold medal leaderboard” garnered over 500 million views.
A popular comment with over 28,000 likes declared, “We won every gold medal square and fair!” Some users argued that China should have surpassed the US by including the medals won by Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its territory. Hong Kong, a former British colony, competes as Hong Kong, China.