China is celebrating its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics after winning the same number of golds as the United States at the Paris 2024 Games.
Both countries finished with 40 golds, marking the first ever tie for total golds at the Summer Games – but the US claimed top spot overall with 126 medals to China’s 91.
The race was dramatically close as the two sporting superpowers went head-to-head in yet another aspect of their geopolitical rivalry in a Games that was at times overshadowed by a doping controversy.
China has become one of the world’s most competitive sporting nations in recent decades, seeing its Olympic performance as a symbol of national strength. In 2008, it topped the gold medal table at the Beijing Games, surpassing the US for the first time.
In Paris, the Chinese team appeared on course to top the medal table as it built up a sizable early lead over Team USA, thanks to its domination in shooting and diving. But as track and field events got underway, the US quickly caught up – then eventually overtook its rival.
China is only the third country after the US and the former Soviet Union to top the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics away from home soil – and Chinese state media hailed the “record-breaking” haul from Paris.
“Chinese analysts said this proves that the success of Chinese modernization can bring not only economic growth, but also can benefit the development of public health, as well as the environment for sports industries, to effectively energize ‘sports for all,’” the state-run Global Times said.
Chinese social media also celebrated the team’s performance with a burst of national pride, with many users criticizing what they said was as an unfair attempt by US officials to smear China with persistent doping allegations against its swim team.
On microblogging site Weibo, the hashtag “China tied for first place on the gold medal leaderboard” became the top trending topic, racking up more than 500 million views.
“We won every gold medal square and fair!” said a top comment with over 28,000 likes.
Others argued China should have surpassed the US with a total of 44 golds by adding the medals from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, whose ruling Communist Party claims the democratically governed island as its own territory despite having never controlled it.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, competes as Hong Kong, China at the Olympics.
Doping controversy
China’s swim team faced intense scrutiny in Paris following revelations that nearly half the group that Beijing sent to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had months earlier tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance.
The swimmers had been cleared by the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) shortly before the Tokyo Games, after it ruled that the positive tests for a banned heart medication were the result of contamination, likely from a hotel restaurant. The global sports doping watchdog World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted the assessment without an appeal.
The accusations, first reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, have sparked backlash in the swimming world, where doping can result in years-long bans for athletes who violate the rules.
Concern only deepened last month, after WADA acknowledged a separate 2022 case in which two Chinese swimmers tested positive for trace amounts of a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared of a violation by Chinese officials – again citing contamination linked to food, WADA said.
In China, where the swim team has long been a source of Olympic glory, the doping allegations brought outrage and accusations of unfair treatment – with many seeing it as an attempt by the US to sabotage the Chinese team at the Games.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington accused the US of “using the doping issue to smear and suppress China,” while CHINADA and state media have accused the US of “double standards” in handling drugs scandals.
Last week, CHINADA called for more intensive testing of American track and field athletes, citing past doping controversies in the US – and highlighting the case of sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who finished fourth in the men’s 200-meters in Paris.
Knighton was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance in March, but he was cleared to compete in Paris after an independent arbitrator determined his failed drug test was “more likely than not” caused by contaminated meat, according to the US Anti-Doping Agency.
On Monday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV posted an article on social media with the headline: “The Olympics Games have ended, but the shocking questions about the ‘United States of Addicts’ cannot be left unanswered.”
“The next Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, USA. To restore the world’s confidence in American sports, the US owes an explanation to the world,” the article said.