Hong Kong (CNN) — China is celebrating its best-ever performance at an overseas Olympics, matching the United States with 40 gold medals at the Paris 2024 Games. This marks the first time in Summer Olympics history that two countries have finished with the same number of golds. Despite the tie, the US led overall with 126 total medals compared to China’s 91.
The competition was intensely close, showcasing yet another facet of the ongoing geopolitical rivalry between the two sporting superpowers, in a Games that were occasionally overshadowed by doping controversies.
In recent decades, China has emerged as one of the world’s most formidable sporting nations, viewing its Olympic success as a symbol of national strength. The country topped the gold medal tally at the Beijing 2008 Games, surpassing the US for the first time.
In Paris, the Chinese team initially appeared poised to lead the medal table with an early advantage over Team USA, driven by strong performances in shooting and diving. However, as the track and field events commenced, the US rapidly closed the gap and ultimately surpassed China.
China has become only the third country, after the US and the former Soviet Union, to lead the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics held outside its home soil. Chinese state media celebrated the “record-breaking” achievement from Paris, with the Global Times noting that the success reflects the benefits of Chinese modernization, including advancements in public health and the sports sector.
Chinese social media expressed national pride, with users criticizing what they perceived as unfair attempts by US officials to tarnish China’s reputation through persistent doping allegations against its swim team.
On Weibo, the hashtag “China tied for first place on the gold medal leaderboard” became a top trending topic, accumulating over 500 million views. One prominent comment with over 28,000 likes declared, “We won every gold medal fair and square!”
Some commentators argued that China should have surpassed the US with a total of 44 golds if medals from Hong Kong and Taiwan were included. Taiwan competes as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own despite never having controlled it.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, competes as Hong Kong, China at the Olympics. China’s swim team faced intense scrutiny in Paris following revelations that nearly half the swimmers sent to the Tokyo 2021 Olympics had previously tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance. These swimmers had been cleared by the China Anti-Doping Agency (CHINADA) before the Tokyo Games, which attributed the positive tests to contamination likely from a hotel restaurant. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted this assessment without appeal.
The doping accusations, initially reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, have fueled backlash in the swimming world, where doping violations can lead to lengthy bans. The controversy intensified last month when WADA acknowledged a separate 2022 case involving two Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trace amounts of a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared of violations by Chinese officials, again citing contamination from food.
In China, the doping allegations against its swim team have sparked outrage and accusations of unfair treatment, with many viewing it as an attempt by the US to undermine the Chinese team. The Chinese Embassy in Washington accused the US of “using the doping issue to smear and suppress China,” while CHINADA and state media have criticized the US for “double standards” in handling doping scandals.
Last week, CHINADA called for more rigorous testing of American track and field athletes, pointing to past doping controversies in the US, including 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 was cleared to compete in Paris after an independent arbitrator determined his failed test was likely due to contaminated meat.
On Monday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV published an article with the headline: “The Olympics Games have ended, but the shocking questions about the ‘United States of Addicts’ cannot be left unanswered.” The article emphasized that with the next Olympics set to be held in Los Angeles, the US must address these issues to restore global confidence in American sports.
