On Sunday we reached the shut of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the US of America have been the winners of the video games. A duel with China for a lot of the video games over gold medals resulted in a tie, with each nations ending with 40 — though the USA simply took dwelling the tiebreaker with 44 silver and 42 bronze to China’s 27 and 24 respectively.
Whereas the medal rely tells the story of the US’ sporting dominance on the world stage, the subplot to that is that girls have been the one largest purpose Group USA ended up profitable the video games. Once we dive into the medal splits it turns into clear that the US would have been at a mammoth drawback with out the contributions of its sporting ladies.
United States medal splits on the 2024 Paris Olympics
| United States | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Complete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Complete |
| Males | 13 | 16 | 23 | 52 |
| Girls | 26 | 23 | 18 | 67 |
| Combined | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Open | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Not solely did ladies contribute to 27 of Group USA’s 40 gold medals, however they have been pivotal in profitable 76 of the nation’s 126 medals, together with each “open” medals in equestrian and creative swimming, which don’t break up rivals by gender.
Within the head-to-head battle with China it’s clear ladies have been the distinction. China out-medaled USA 17-to-13 in golds amongst males, whereas ladies closed the hole by profitable seven extra golds than the Chinese language ladies.
The largest disparity in medals for Group USA got here in swimming, and creative gymnastics, the place ladies competed in an equal variety of occasions as males, however to a lot stronger last outcomes.
- Males’s swimming: 2 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze (9 complete)
- Girls’s swimming: 5 gold, 9 silver, 4 bronze (18 complete)
- Males’s creative gymnastics: 2 bronze (2 complete)
- Girls’s creative gymnastics: 3 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze (7 complete)
It is a testomony to how dominant United States ladies have been in world sport. Not simply on an Olympic degree, however globally. USA led all nations within the 2023 Gymnastics World Championships, and the 2024 World Monitor and Subject Championship on the again of girls, in addition to profitable the Girls’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019.
The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles will symbolize a serious shift within the ladies’s aspect of Group USA. It’s unclear whether or not Simone Biles or Katie Ledecky will compete, however even when they do, each could be veterans of the group. Nonetheless, with a powerful pipeline of younger athletes there’s no signal of Group USA’s dominance coming to an finish — even with out two main icons reaching retirement.
