By JEROME PUGMIRE
PARIS (AP) — The contest for most gold medals at the Paris Olympics ended in a 40-40 tie between China and the United States.
But the U.S. topped the medals table with a whopping 126 overall, compared to 91 for China. At the Tokyo Games, the U.S. also edged China in the medal count, finishing with 113 overall and 39 golds, compared to 89 medals with 38 gold for China.
Who was supposed to lead the medal count at the Paris Games?
According to Nielsen’s Gracenote virtual medal-table forecast, which collected results data from big competitions since the Tokyo Games, the top five for overall medals in Paris was going to be as follows: The U.S. (112 overall medals); China (86); Britain (63); France (60) and Australia (54).
The U.S. did top the medals table. However, the U.S. and China both upped their gold and overall medal counts.
Japan proved the virtual predictors wrong by sneaking into third place with 20 golds among its 45 medals.
France and Australia were in the top five as predicted, but the other way around.
Skateboard star Keegan Palmer helped Australia go fourth with 18 golds among 53 medals, while fifth-place France tallied 16 golds among its 64 medals.
Britain got more medals than in Tokyo — 65 to 64 — but had less golds and was seventh overall behind the Netherlands.
Here’s a closer look at the some of the nations:
Great haul of China, as team dominates diving
When Cao Yuan defended his title in the men’s 10-meter platform on Saturday, it gave his nation an unprecedented sweep of the diving gold medals.
China won all eight golds handed out at the Olympic Aquatics Centre.
China won five golds in each of shooting, table tennis and weightlifting, with China’s victory in the team event in table tennis giving the country its 300th gold in Olympic history.
Golds galore for USA on track, but no medal in women’s water polo
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke her own world record in the 400-meter hurdles as the U.S. won 14 golds in track and field.
Noah Lyles won a historically close men’s 100-meter race, and Gabrielle Thomas took the women’s 200. Quincy Hall won the men’s 400 at a Stade de France, which grew accustomed to hearing the American national anthem.
Gymnastics star Simone Biles added to her growing fame with four more medals, and the swimmers, led by another Olympic great in Katie Ledecky, grabbed eight golds.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams won their tournaments, both beating France in the finals. The U.S. women survived the biggest challenge of their unprecedented run to eight straight Olympic gold medals with a 67-66 win to close out competition at the Paris Games.
But the U.S. women’s water polo team went home empty handed after high expectations.
France exceed expectations
Led by the brilliant performances of Léon Marchand, who finished with five medals overall, Les Bleus won one more gold than Atlanta in 1996 and nearly doubled their 33 medals overall from the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Rugby star Antoine Dupont got the ball bouncing by leading France to gold in the rugby sevens, then Marchand took over.
Heavyweight judo star Teddy Riner added another gold as the French judo team walked away with a whopping 10 medals.
The men’s handball team disappointed, though, failing to get a medal when defending their title, although the women did get silver.
The track and field team only got one medal late on, however, with Cyrena Samba-Mayela getting silver in the women’s 110 hurdles on Saturday.
Who else made an impression?
Four of Germany’s 12 gold medals came in equestrian, with veteran dressage rider Isabell Werth extending her Olympic equestrian record to 14 medals.
Teen sensation Summer McIntosh got three swimming gold medals and a silver for Canada, which ended the Games with nine golds among its 27 medals.
One of Sweden’s four golds came from pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who stunned the 80,000 fans at Stade de France by breaking his own world record.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic won an emotional gold medal for Serbia, which again won the men’s water polo final and finished with three golds among its five medals.
Imane Khelif won one of Algeria’s two golds, emerging from a tumultuous run at the Games where she endured intense scrutiny over her sex.
Manu Bhaker earned two of India’s six medals. The 22-year-old became the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting, taking a bronze in 10-meter air pistol and adding another in the mixed team event.
