China’s gold medalist Xie Yu poses with team members after the men’s 10m air pistol final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. Chinese shooters have won four of China’s 13 gold medals.
Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
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Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
PARIS — Like Paris Olympics Midpoint reached, China leads gold medal table by a considerable margin with thirteen top places. France and Australia each had ten gold medals. The United States, in fourth place, had only nine medals.
That balance can change quickly when it comes to track and field events, where American athletes often dominate.
But it’s worth pausing to find out why the Chinese dominated the first week at the top.
First, China relied on just two sports, shooting and diving, to win eight gold medals.
At the French National Shooting Range in Châteauroux, Chinese athletes remained calm.
“I controlled myself well today,” Xie Yu said after winning the gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol final on Sunday.
“I woke up calm, not stressed at all. I was a little nervous but not scared.”
The Chinese are also almost untouchable in Paris when it comes to diving.
“They were almost perfect, it was incredible,” Great Britain’s Thomas Daley said on Monday after winning silver behind Chinese pair Lian Junjie and Yang Hao in the men’s 10-metre synchronised diving final.
“Sometimes during training we watch them dive and it gives us a little hope. But then they turn it back on.”
The Chinese are not strong in other disciplines. They are considered a rising force in international swimming, but a doping scandal attacked the Chinese swimming team last April.
Apparently shaken by the scandal, Chinese athletes won only one gold medal in swimming. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, they won three Olympic gold medals in swimming.
Another reason the United States is lagging in gold medals: U.S. swimmers are struggling.
Katie Ledecky has another historic Olympicswon his eighth gold medal, along with a silver and a bronze.
But other hopefuls, including Caeleb Dressel, Lilly King and Reagan Smith, have yet to reach the podium or have settled for silver or bronze.
In most summer Olympics, the US swimming team wins 10 gold medals. This year, so far, they have won only four medals.
One final note on China’s position in the medal standings.
The International Olympic Committee ranks countries by gold medals first. By that metric, China leads overall at this Paris Olympics.
But Team USA has long ranked countries by total medals — including gold, silver and bronze.
According to these statistics, the United States leads with more than 40 medals, while host country France is second with more than thirty medals.
