Paris (CNN) — It’s the final day of the Summer Olympics and the USA and China have tied in the overall gold medal rankings from these 2024 Summer Olympics.
While Team USA is far ahead in the total medal rankings with 126 in Paris, it went into the last competition of the Games trailing China in the gold medal race by one. The Asian nation finished with 40 gold medals, and the US had 39 entering the final event – the women’s basketball gold medal game between Team USA and France.
Team USA would win that game in dramatic circumstances, leading to a tie in the gold medal standings.
“I saw the medal count beforehand. I thought that’s what we need, more pressure,” USA head coach Cheryl Reeve said after the game.
On the total medal standings, it’s not close. Team USA’s 126 gold, silver and bronze medals far exceeds China’s 91, the next closest nation.
Team USA had a chance to move past the Chinese in the gold standings on the final day. US teams and athletes competed for gold in women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s freestyle wrestling in the 76kg weight class, women’s weightlifting in the 81kg weight class and potentially women’s omnium in track cycling. American cyclist Jennifer Valente defended her title in the women’s omnium, ending the competition with 144 points, racking up the USA’s 39th gold medal.
China won gold on Sunday in the women’s weightlifting in the 81kg weight class when Li Wenwen defended her Olympic title from Tokyo, her country’s 40th gold medal of the Games.
The US volleyball team could not repeat its gold medal victory from Tokyo against Italy. The Italians had already guaranteed themselves their first ever medal in the sport.
In 2021, Team USA took the overall gold medal race by one, with 39 to China’s 38. It would have taken a strong day from American athletes to repeat the feat on Sunday.
However, Team USA as a whole has already easily surpassed those previous Summer Games’ total medal haul. The Americans won 113 medals in Tokyo.