China is celebrating its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics after winning the same number of golds as the United States at the Paris 2024 Games.
Both countries finished with 40 golds, marking the first ever tie for total golds at the Summer Games – but the US claimed top spot overall with 126 medals to China’s 91.
The race was dramatically close as the two sporting superpowers went head-to-head in yet another aspect of their geopolitical rivalry in a Games that was at times overshadowed by a doping controversy.
China has become one of the world’s most competitive sporting nations in recent decades, seeing its Olympic performance as a symbol of national strength. In 2008, it topped the gold medal table at the Beijing Games, surpassing the US for the first time.
In Paris, the Chinese team appeared on course to top the medal table as it built up a sizable early lead over Team USA, thanks to its domination in shooting and diving. But as track and field events got underway, the US quickly caught up – then eventually overtook its rival.
China is only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to top the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics away from home soil – and Chinese state media hailed 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 can benefit the development of public health, as well as the environment for sports industries, to effectively energize ‘sports for all,’” the state-run Global Times said.
Chinese Modernization
Chinese social media also celebrated the team’s performance with a burst of national pride, with many users criticizing what they said was as an unfair attempt by US officials to smear China with persistent doping allegations against its swim team.
On microblogging site Weibo, the hashtag “China tied for first place on the gold medal leaderboard” became the top trending topic, racking up more than 500 million views.
“We won every gold medal square and fair!” said a top comment with over 28,000 likes.
Others argued China should have surpassed the US with a total of 44 golds by adding the medals from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, whose ruling Communist Party claims the democratically governed island as its own territory despite having never controlled it.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, competes as Hong Kong, China at the Olympics
CNN/Shakirat Sadiq
