China had a one-gold medal lead on the U.S. going into the final day of the Paris Olympics.
Topline
China and the U.S. tied for the most gold medals at the Paris Olympics with the contest coming right down to one of the final events, the women’s basketball gold medal match, which was won in a nail-biter by the U.S.Key Facts
The U.S. tied with 40 gold medals but finished with far more total medals (126), including 34 in athletics (which includes track and field events) and 28 in swimming.
China ended the Paris Olympics with 40 gold medals and 91 total medals, 12 won in swimming, 11 in diving, 10 from shooting and nine from artistic gymnastics.
China’s most dominant sport in terms of gold medals was diving, in which it won eight gold medals, while the U.S. dominated in athletics, winning 14 golds.
Japan had the third highest count of gold medals with 20, followed by Australia with 18 and France with 16, as of 11 a.m. EDT. Does Most Of The World Rank Countries By Gold Medals Or Total Medals?
While U.S. media like NBC and The New York Times tend to rank countries by total medal count, the rest of the world largely ranks by total gold medals—and many criticize the U.
