126: Team USA had its third-best Summer Olympics ever, winning 126 medals across 34 different sports. Historically, the US has done even better at home, netting 174 medals with a staggering 83 golds in the 1984 LA games and 231 medals at the 1904 games in St. Louis. With Sunday’s closing ceremony behind us, all eyes now turn to the next edition: Los Angeles 2028.
40: China came in second in overall medals with 91, but the real rivalry is all about the gold, baby. The United States and China walked away with 40 gold medals each — the first-ever golden tie for the sporting superpowers.
12: Russian athletes were not allowed to participate under their national flag due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so the usual medal powerhouse wound up with zilch — while Ukrainian athletes won 12 medals, including gold in the women’s high jump, men’s boxing, and women’s team saber. It was Ukraine’s second-lowest medal count since independence, and the country sent its fewest-ever competitors – 140 athletes – this year, a downturn attributed to the ongoing conflict.
8: None of the eight Palestinian athletes at the Games won a medal, but their mere presence was a major achievement given the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. The conflict has claimed the lives of national volleyball team members Ibrahim Qusaya and Hassan Zuaiter, national athletics coach Bilal Abu Samaan, and the Palestinian Olympic football coach Hani al-Masdar. Others have seen their Olympic dreams eviscerated by war, like weightlifting Junior World Champion Mohammed Khamis Haidar Hamada, who lost 20 kilograms and suffered a possibly career-ending knee injury while carrying water amid the fighting.
1: Boxer Cindy Ngambamade history by winning bronze in the women’s 75kg category, becoming the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team athlete to win a medal. Ngamba has lived and trained in the UK since age 11 but struggled with her immigration status and had to fight to avoid returning to her native Cameroon, where her homosexuality is criminalized.
0.1: The biggest controversy of the Paris Games came from the smallest of margins, after US gymnast Jordan Chiles saw her score in the floor exercise final improve by 0.1 following an appeal from her coaches — just beating Romanian athlete Ana Barbosu for the bronze. The Romanians weren’t happy and appealed the decision immediately, saying Chiles’ coaches had missed the 60-second window allowed for scoring inquiries. The case went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which decided Saturday that Chiles’ coaches had indeed missed the cutoff – by four seconds. Chiles’ score was reverted, and Barbosu was awarded the bronze instead. The US team plans to appeal the ruling.
32 million: NBC says the first 13 days of the Olympics drew 32 million viewers, a major coup for the broadcaster and a 76% increase over the Tokyo games. Can they beat their own record in LA? We’ll find out in four years.
