Kara Winger, of the United States of America, center, arrives to the closing ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Tokyo Olympics Closing Ceremony
TOKYO (AP) — Closing ceremonies took place at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The US won more gold medal’s than any other country in this summer’s Olympics, although few than they won five years ago in Rio de Janeiro.
According to Sporting News, the US won 30 Gold Medals, followed by China with 38 and Japan, the host country, with 37:
| Pos. | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 39 | 41 | 33 | 113 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 32 | 18 | 88 |
| 3 | Japan | 27 | 14 | 17 | 58 |
It was the fifth straight Summer Games at which the US finished with a double-digit lead over the next country. Still, it was not 121 medals, which is what they won five years ago in a Rio de Janeiro with fewer events.
But when the U.S. athletes voted for a flagbearer at the closing ceremony, medals didn’t matter. They chose four-time Olympian Kara Winger, a javelin thrower who has never won any hardware. In doing so, they tapped into the core message resonating inside a fractured, fractious U.S. Olympic family over the last few years: The medals shouldn’t matter as much as the athletes who compete.
