The Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw mainland China’s team head home with 40 gold medals, representing victories in sports ranging from artistic gymnastics to weightlifting. It was the country’s best haul of gold from an overseas Olympics (the previous record was 39, set at the 2012 Games in London), but not enough to top the all-time high of 48 – achieved on its home turf at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
All in all, mainland China’s athletes earned 91 medals at this year’s games, including 27 silvers and 24 bronzes. The country earned the Games’ second-highest medal tally after the US, which also won 40 golds. The US’s tally totalled 126, with 44 silver and 42 bronze medals.
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Japan came third in the gold medal rankings, with a total of 20. Australia, in spite of its comparatively tiny population, was fourth with an impressive 18 gold medals, while France rounded out the top five with 16.
By individual sports, China bagged the most golds from diving events – eight – followed by shooting, table tennis and weightlifting, where the nation’s athletes each nabbed five. It was Li Wenwen’s gold in the women’s +81 kilogram weightlifting tournament that pushed China’s gold medal count over its previous overseas record, while tennis star Zheng Qinwen made history as the first Asian gold medalist in the Olympic women’s singles category.
In terms of overall medals, China did best in swimming. Its swimmers achieved a total of 12 gongs: two golds, three silvers and seven bronzes. As an additional shout-out to the country’s stellar aquatic athletes, its artistic swimming team earned two gold medals.
Eleven-year-old Zheng Haohao, China’s youngest-ever representative at the Olympics and the youngest athlete at the 2024 Paris Games, did not win a medal in her event, skateboarding.
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After the Games ended on Sunday, the central government issued a statement praising the Chinese team for its performance. “You have vigorously promoted the Chinese sports spirit and the Olympic spirit, stirring to win medals not only for your athletic performance but also for your moral integrity, sportsmanship, and clean competition,” the China Daily reported the message as saying.
Hong Kong’s team, meanwhile, won a grand total of four medals: two golds in fencing and two bronzes in swimming. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, bagged seven medals – a gold each in badminton and boxing, and bronzes in artistic gymnastics, shooting, weightlifting and boxing.
Macao didn’t send any athletes to this year’s Olympics as the SAR is not a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
