And they still came second in the medal table. Outside the medals, sometimes with the tiniest of margins enough to separate ecstasy and heartache.Īt Rio 2016, Team GB finished fourth on 16 occasions, a post-war record. The one table you don't want to finish top of - fourth place is often considered as the 'worst position to finish'. The eight medals, including seven golds, in weightlifting were also both Chinese Olympic records and it was their best performance in table tennis (four gold, three silver) since Sydney 2000. Twelve diving medals and 11 shooting medals were both Olympic records for China. ChinaĬhina's core sports of diving, shooting, weightlifting, artistic gymnastics and table tennis produced 25 golds and 46 medals in Tokyo (66% and 52% of their totals respectively). There were no men's individual track golds for the first time and even though the men won 10 athletics medals in total - that was also their lowest return in Games history. Their seven athletics golds was the joint lowest in US Olympic history, with the US men's two athletics gold medals also an all-time low. Much to Michael Johnson's irritation, the USA's athletics performance set some unwanted records. However, despite the performances of Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky, 11 swimming golds was the lowest since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Nine freestyle wrestling medals - including three golds - is a US best tally in that sport since 1904. Once again, swimming and athletics were the core of the US Olympic performance, providing 56 medals including 18 golds (50% of their total medals, 46% of total golds). Swimming Cycling - Track Sailing Boxing AthleticsĬycling - Track Athletics Rowing Gymnastics - Artistic SwimmingĬycling - Track Rowing Athletics Boxing SailingĬycling - Track Sailing Athletics Rowing Track cycling and athletics are the only sports in which Team GB have won at least four medals in at each of the last four Olympic Games. Neither China nor USA won medals in as many sports as Great Britain. Great Britain won medals in just 12 sport-discipline combinations as recently as Sydney 2000. Medals were won by Team GB in 25 different sport-discipline combinations, breaking the record of 23 set at Rio 2016. Great Britain's strength is in the number of sport-discipline combinations the country medals in. This was Britain's best ever swimming performance. We've grouped some sports together for this chart In weightlifting only four world records went - three to the same person Georgian super-heavyweight Lasha Talakhadze - compared to eight in Rio.' British strength in breadth Team GB won medals in 25 different sport-disciplines in Tokyo - more than any other country. Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis at Nielsen Gracenote, said: 'The 22 world records broken in Tokyo is down on the 27 in Rio five years ago despite the addition of another sport, sport climbing, in which records can be broken. And Britain's history-making swimming team set a new world record time in the 4x100m mixed medley relay.īut despite some pre-Games concern over shoe technology having too much sway in athletics especially, there were fewer records set in Japan. Norway's Karsten Warholm ran an astonishing 45.94 second men's 400m hurdles race to obliterate his previous world record and take gold at Tokyo 2020, in one of the moments of the Games. Tokyo Olympics: Are super shoes & springy track helping break athletics records?.The last time there was no German team in the top six of the medal table was at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. Germany did not finish in the top six of the medal table for the first time since re-unification of East and West Germany in 1990. The Brazilians repeated Great Britain's feat of improving on their medal total at the Olympics immediately after hosting. Outside the top six countries, Italy had their best ever Summer Games with 40 medals, as did the Netherlands (36 medals), New Zealand (20 medals) and Brazil (21 medals). The Sports Desk podcast: Has Biles changed the game on mental health?Īustralia return to the top six of the medal table for the first time since Beijing 2008.An alternative medals table - with the US 15th.However, this is Team GB's second best performance at an overseas Olympics, after Rio (67 medals). Great Britain finished second in Rio 2016 and third in London 2012. Japan's third place in the medal table - with 58 medals including 27 gold - is the country's joint best with Tokyo 1964 when hosting and Mexico 1968. At all seven, they have won the most medals. The United States top the medal table for the sixth time in seven Olympic Games. 21 striking photographs from Tokyo 2020.So what are the stats to savour from this Olympic Games? BBC Sport and Nielsen Gracenote take a look.

C. moore olympic games tokyo 2020