Behind the Olympics medals: How women powered 3 of top 4 nations; Arshad Nadeem pushes athletics to be more global and more

It came down to the last few seconds of the Paris Olympics. A basketball match between USA and France, but a third party was part of the contest too: China. France, powered on by their raucous home fans, gave it a proper go till the very last piece of action. In the end, a matter of centimeters were the difference between a three-pointer that could have tied the game and a two-pointer that saw France finish with silver. It was just one gold medal for the USA women’s basketball team, but a significant one that ensured they finished as the No.1 country in the world at the Olympics yet again, equalling China’s 40 but prevailing on their count of more silvers and bronzes.

It summed up how crucial female athletes were for USA’s haul.

Women powering top nations

One of the key things that the Paris 2024 organisers have been highlighting even before the Games began, was that these were the first in history to have true gender parity. And it was the women who drove the medal tally for three of the sporting powerhouses. Sample this: 26 out of USA’s 40 gold medals came from women’s events, a whopping 65% and they’d occupy third spot in the medal’s table if counted as a separate entity.

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Out of 126 medals won by USA, 58.73% had female representation (including mixed and open events). That number stood at an even higher 62.64% for China’s overall tally, with Australia at 60.38%. That’s three of the top four nations, powered by women in majority.

Top nations Men’s events Women’s events Mixed Open Total Women + Mixed % Women involved in medals USA 52 67 5 2 126 74 58.73% China 34 50 6 1 91 57 62.64% Japan 23 18 3 1 45 21 46.67% Australia 20 30 2 1 53 32 60.38% France 38 23 1 2 64 24 37.50%

On the flip side, Georgia was the highest-ranked country at 24th (3 gold, 7 medals), with no female medallist. The medals came from usual macho sports: judo, weightlifting, wrestling and boxing. All men. Iran, a powerhouse in Wrestling, with 8 all-male medals, however, added 2 women’s taekwondo medals and ended up on 21st spot, 3 places above Georgia, though both had 3 gold.

The high-jumpers

Among countries that won medals in both Tokyo and Paris, the biggest jump was made by Bahrain who went from 77 to 33, riding on two gold medals (Women’s 3000m steeplechase and Men’s Freestyle 97kg). A solitary gold in Men -60 kg Judo saw Kazakhstan move up 40 places from 83rd in Tokyo.

While the jump wasn’t as significant, it is worth highlighting Ireland and Uzbekistan who broke into the top 20 of the medal rankings. Ireland jumped from 39th in 2021 (2 gold, 4 medals) to 19th (4 gold, 7 medals) just by adding Swimming – 1 gold and 2 bronzes and Rhys McClenaghan’s gold on pommel horse. Uzbekistan also saw a big leap from 32nd at Tokyo (3 gold) to 13th this time with 8 gold medals. They play around with just five focussed sports – boxing, judo, taekwondo, wrestling and weightlifting year after year. Boxing was a big gain with 5 gold and no finals lost.

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Rank Paris Rank Tokyo NOC Paris Difference 33 77 Bahrain -44 43 83 Kazakhstan -40 30 67 Azerbaijan -37 55 86 Botswana -31 23 46 Romania -23 22 44 Ukraine -22 19 39 Ireland -20 59 72 Argentina -20

Other big moves in the table saw Algeria and Chile winning a gold medal each after not winning any medal in Tokyo. Imane Khelif’s drama-filled boxing gold, and Kaylia Nemour’s Uneven Bars title in gymnastics powerboosted Algeria to 39th, while Chile’s gold in Skeet Women for Francisca Crovetto Chadid saw them climb as high as 55th.

Athletics, truly global

Undisputedly the big-ticket sport of the Olympic Games, track and field medals went farther around the world than ever before. A total of 27 different countries won gold medals, the highest-ever spread in history. This included a first-ever gold for Dominica, Saint Lucia, and Botswana, and of course, Pakistan as Arshad Nadeem threw a stunning Olympic Record to pip Neeraj Chopra for men’s javelin gold. Thea LaFond (women’s triple jump), Julien Alfred (women’s 100m) and Letsile Tebogo (men’s 200m) won gold medals that will forever be remembered for the breakthrough it provided to their countries.

Swimming goes a bit deeper

USA and Australia once again dominated the pools, as the top two countries in terms of gold medals. But their total was cut down, essentially because of the rise of one man who became the smash hit of the Olympic Games: Leon Marchand. While USA (11) and

Australia (9) accounted for 20 gold medals out of 37 in Tokyo, that number came down to 15 in Paris (USA 8, AUS 7). France went from no gold in Tokyo to 4 in Paris, all won by Marchand. Canada’s Summer McIntosh also played a part, winning three gold medals herself.

France went from no gold in Tokyo to 4 in Paris, all won by Leon Marchand. (Source: James Hill/The New York Times) France went from no gold in Tokyo to 4 in Paris, all won by Leon Marchand. (Source: James Hill/The New York Times)

Clean sweeps

In disciplines where at least three gold medals were available, there were only three clean sweeps at the Games. The masters of recurve archery, Korea hit the bull’s eye as they won five out of five at the sensational Esplanade des Invalides. In women’s recurve team event, Korea haven’t yet lost a single match in the history of the Games. China completed clean sweeps in diving (8 out of 8 golds) and table tennis (5 out of 5 golds).

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Interestingly, in all three events, the respective country missed a clean sweep in Tokyo by one. Turkey’s Mete Gazoz had prevented it in archery, Japan did so in TT mixed doubles and Great Britain’s Tom Daley and Matty Lee in diving.

Hosting impact

Hosts France not only put up a fantastic show for the most part in staging a memorable Games, but they also finished with the country’s biggest medal haul since 1900. Considering the 1900 Paris Games were largely dominated by French athletes even in terms of competition, and France won 103 out of the 284 total medals, it’s fair to set that aside as an outlier. In that case, Paris 2024 represents France’s best overall haul (64) bettering Beijing 2008 (43), as well as best gold medal tally (16) going one better than Atalanta 1996 (15). France almost doubled its medal tally going from 33 at Tokyo (8th place) to 64 (5th place). Their Golds went from 10 to 16, silvers from 12 to 26.

This continues the trend of hosting nations delivering significant performances. At Tokyo 2020, despite the lack of fans in stadia, Japan registered their best gold medal tally (27), their best overall tally (58), and finished third behind only USA and China. At Rio 2016, Brazil won 7 gold medals, their joint-best, as they equalled that in Tokyo as well. At London 2012, GB had won 29 gold medals, their best haul since London 1908. GB is a strange case though, dropping from 4th to 7th in the last two editions, golds going down from 22 to 14, though their overall count has gone up from 64 to 65. At Beijing 2008, China famously finished ahead of the USA.

The Netherlands shine, but for how long?

The Netherlands only went up one spot from 7th to 6th, though their gold count went from 10 to 15. Their silvers dropped from 12 to 7. They converted 2 silver, 2 bronzes to 4 gold in Rowing alone. However, their cycling count was halved from 12 to 6. Sifan Hassan was arguably the standout superstar of the Games, just for the inhuman feat of becoming the first person since Czech running star Emil Zatopek in 1952 to medal in the marathon, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres in one Olympics. The Dutch also swept the field hockey event, as for the first time in Olympic Games history, both the men’s and women’s gold was won by the same nation.

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Sifan Hassan, of the Netherlands, competes in the women’s 10000-meter run final at the World Athletics Championships. (AP) Sifan Hassan, of the Netherlands, competes in the women’s 10000-meter run final at the World Athletics Championships. (AP)

But, Dutchman and former India hockey head coach Sjoerd Marijne raised a point: “Amazing what the Netherlands have achieved as a small country being the number 6 on the medal scale but unfortunately this will be the last time for us. Government has decided to cut funding. Now they are on the front row but this will change fast,” he wrote on X.

Ukraine’s resilience

Being at war seem to have not impacted Ukraine’s returns at the Olympics. Suffering an invasion of its territory by Russia for the last two-and-a-half years has not been ideal for them in terms of preparation and participation. But the hardships may have inspired them to make their presence felt. Ukraine won three gold medals in Paris, compared to just one in Tokyo. It was their biggest gold haul since London 2012. They were on the top spot of the podium in women’s high jump (an event in which they won bronze too), women’s 80kg boxing and women’s sabre team event in fencing.

Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine celebrates after winning gold. (Reuters) Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine celebrates after winning gold. (Reuters)

On the other side, only 15 Russian athletes participated along with 17 from Belarus. Only one gold medal was won by athletes from these countries – Ivan Litvinovich from Belarus winning the men’s trampoline event, a specially composed anthem for Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) being played for him. There were only five medals won by athletes from Russia and Belarus. The only Russians among them were Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider in the women’s doubles in tennis. These medals didn’t feature on the official medal table.

Brazilian flavour

Brazil’s 20th place with 20 medals comes from 4 medals for Artistic Gymnastics led by Rebecca Andrade’s Gold on Floor. It’s joint most medals with Judo, and a lasting legacy of hosting the Games in 2016. Brazil had no Gymnastics Olympics medals of note till 2012, when Arthur Zanetti took gold on Roman Rings, just years after Rio were declared as hosts. The count kept going up, and now thanks to Rebecca Andrade, the sport is a craze amongst women. From being nowhere, the focus on Gymnastics medals is now netting them max counts, as they properly push Americans for Team gold.

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Size doesn’t matter

Among the countries with a double-digit gold medal haul, New Zealand, with a population of just over 5.3 million, was the smallest. It finished 11th on the medal table with 10 gold and 20 overall, improving from 7 and 20 in Tokyo. Canoe Sprint and track cycling brought them multiple gold, in addition to men’s high jump, canoe slalom, golf, rowing and rugby sevens.

Of the top 10 finishers, South Korea sent just 144 competitors in 23 sports. And won a staggering 32 medals. That’s a medal: participation ratio of 1:5. All other Top 10s, sent over 300 athletes.

Austria finished 36th on the medal table with two gold medals. Nothing eye-catching there, one would think. Till one notices that both the gold medals the landlocked country clinched came in sailing, in men’s kite and mixed dinghy events.

One bronze worth its weight in gold

Cindy Winner Djankeu Ngamba’s bronze in women’s 75kg boxing was a significant achievement. By reaching the semifinals of her event, the Cameroon-born 25-year-old, now a resident of Bolton in Great Britain, became the first medallist to represent the Refugee Olympic Team. Paris was the third edition to feature such a team.

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India’s 71st place

There were 8 countries that slid down more than 20 places on the medal tally from Tokyo to Paris, with Qatar’s slide the most prominent from 41st to 84th. Jamaica, who won a solitary gold medal in athletics and that too from a field event (Men’s Discus Throw, Roje Stona) slipped down 23 spots.

Rank Paris Rank Tokyo NOC Paris Difference 84 41 Qatar 43 84 50 Slovakia 34 73 42 Kosovo 31 64 35 Turkey 29 42 17 Poland 25 48 24 Switzerland 24 44 21 Jamaica 23 71 48 India 23

And yes, India also features high on the list of countries who slid, going from 48th to 71st (based on the tally of 1 silver and 5 bronze).

How much does one gold medal matter? India is 8th on the medal table among countries who didn’t win a gold, behind Turkey, Mexico, Armenia, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea and Lithuania. India also ended 71st on the medal table, which is calculated on the basis of gold medals won. On the basis of overall medals, they would have finished 43rd.

If only a few of the six fourth-place finishes had been converted.

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