The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, concluded on August 11 after more than two weeks of exciting competition across 329 events in 32 sports and 48 disciplines. Paris, which previously hosted the Olympics in 1900 and 1924, became only the second city to host the Summer Olympics three times, joining London, which hosted in 1908, 1948, and 2012. A total of 10,714 of the world’s best athletes from 204 nations participated in the 33rd edition of the Summer Games.
For the 19th time, the United States finished at the top of the medal table with a total of 126 medals, including 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze. Here’s a closer look at the US’ performance as well as the four other countries that finished in the top five for most gold medals.
USA (126)
The US won the most medals for the fourth consecutive Summer Olympics and seventh time in the last eight Olympics, with the only exception being in 2008, when China topped the medal table as the host nation of the Beijing Games. The US improved upon its Tokyo 2020 performance, where it won 113 medals, including 39 gold, and is the all-time Summer Olympics leader with 2,761 total medals since the 1896 Games. Russia, including the Soviet Union, is second with 1,627 medals.
Basketball is one of the biggest team events at the Summer Olympics. As expected, the US, with a talented roster consisting of LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, won the gold medal after beating host France 98-87 in the final. American Noah Lyles won another marquee event, the 100m race, establishing himself as the fastest man on the planet with a finish time of 9.784 seconds. He beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by just five-thousandths of a second, while fellow American Fred Kerley won the bronze medal.
Thirteen American athletes won at least two gold medals, while 44 won multiple medals. The country medaled in 34 of the 48 sports disciplines.
China (91)
China won the second-most medals at the Paris 2024 Games with 91. It tied the US for the most gold medals (40) and earned 27 silver and 24 bronze medals. This marked the second consecutive Summer Olympics that it finished runner-up to the US and the seventh that it was among the top three countries in total medals. China won 89 medals (38 gold, 32 silver, and 19 bronze) in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
China won 12 medals each in swimming and gymnastics. It won its most gold medals (eight) in diving, sweeping all eight of the diving events, and also won 10 medals in shooting. Chinese diver Cao Yuan became the first male diver since Greg Louganis at the 1988 Games to defend his gold medal in the 10-meter platform event, holding off Rikuto Tamai of Japan. Yuan also tied Louganis for the most gold medals (four) by a male diver in the Olympics, having also won the springboard in 2016 and 10-meter synchro in 2012.
Japan (45)
Japan, which sent 403 athletes to the Paris Games, finished third in the medal table for the second consecutive Summer Olympics with 45 medals (20 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze). Australia, France, and Great Britain won more medals than the Asian nation, but Japan ranked third in gold medals. Japan experienced the bulk of its success in combat sports, winning 19 medals, including 11 gold, in wrestling and judo. It also won three gold medals in gymnastics, two each in skateboarding and fencing, and one in breaking, which made its Olympic debut in Paris.
Shinnosuke Oka was the most successful athlete for Japan at the Paris Games. The gymnast won three gold medals, including in the artistic individual all-around and horizontal bar, and bronze in the parallel bars. Japan won 27 gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Australia (53)
Australia, which won a record 53 total medals in Paris, finished fourth with 18 gold medals, including seven in swimming. Cameron McEvoy (swimming 50m freestyle), Matthew Wearn (sailing), Keegan Palmer (skateboarding), and Matthew Ebden and John Peers (doubles tennis) were among the gold medal winners for Australia.
Australia won 21 of its 53 medals in the pool, including a silver medal in diving and water polo. It also won eight medals in cycling, seven in athletics, and five in canoeing.
France (64)
France had a successful Games as host of the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning 64 medals, including 16 gold. It finished among the top five countries in total medals for the first time since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. In team sports, France won gold in both the men’s rugby sevens tournament and men’s volleyball tournament. Swimmer Leon Marchand was its most successful athlete, winning four gold and one bronze medal. Judoka Teddy Riner won two gold medals.
France won 10 medals in judo, nine in cycling, and seven each in swimming and fencing.