We explain the fall of the United States in the medal table

Tony Joseph 3 years ago 2 min read

Just eight days ago we talked to you in this article about how favorite the United States delegation was at Tokyo 2020. For its track record, the quality of its selection and the number of members (613). Then his final win in the medal tally paid off at 1.1.

Now, a week after the start of the finals, the United States is only third in the rankings behind Japan and intractable China. Although forecasts still place him as the main candidate for first place, the distances have been shortened and the nation’s athletes of the stars and stripes will have to give their best if they want to be crowned in the medal tally on 8 August.

Absence, silver and two Asian powers

The United States, which dominates the modern Olympic Games general record with 1,022 golds (the former Soviet Union comes in with just 395) and has won five of the last six editions, is paying for those absences. who were its top stars. Without going further, at Rio 2016, figures from Michael Phelps and Simone Biles took the cover with five and four golds respectively. Tokyo 2020 doesn’t have the sum of those nine gold metals. In addition, the third big star in the previous edition was Katie Ledecky, who also won four golds. In these games, the swimmer counts only one win.

In Brazil, Team USA (with 58 fewer athletes than at this time) crushed with 46 golds and a total of 121 metals. Great Britain, second, took 19 wins short and China, now the first, was 20 gold medals behind the then champions.

In just five years, things are radically different. Not only are the Chinese (who have brought 181 fewer athletes to Tokyo than the United States) ahead, but Japan has also overtaken them. The fact that the Olympics are taking place in Asia this year seems to be significant.

Another noteworthy note is the high number of silver medals that the preferred delegation is hanging. It means he has touched victory. They count 16 from China, 10 from China and only 4 from Japan. In fact, if we look at the total classification of medals, the Americans are in first place with 41. But we know that gold is what makes the difference in Olympic events. And today, a week later, Americans are five from China.

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