Olympic gold medal race between USA and China comes down to the final day
Simone Biles wins gold in the vault at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Paris (CNN) — It’s the final day of the Summer Olympics and the USA needs to win one more gold medal to tie China in the overall gold medal rankings from these 2024 Summer Olympics.
While Team USA is far ahead in the total medal rankings with 123 in Paris, it’s trailing China in the gold medal race by one coming into Sunday. The Asian nation has finished with 40 gold medals, and the US has 39 entering the Games’ final event – the women’s basketball gold medal game between Team USA and France.
On the total medal standings, it’s not close. Team USA’s 123 gold, silver and bronze medals far exceeds China’s 90, the next closest nation.
Team USA has a chance to tie the Chinese in the gold standings on this 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 USA, meanwhile, is heavily favored to win the gold medal in women’s basketball. Team USA has not lost in the Olympics in women’s basketball since 1992 and has demolished the rest of the tournament so far.
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 will take 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.
The-CNN-Wire
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