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Olympics: Americans Top Swimming Medal Table With 11 Golds & 30 Total; Australia Explodes With Nine Golds and 20 Total
The United States swim team took its lumps this week during the Tokyo Olympics swimming competition. They won just two relays out of seven after claiming gold in five of six at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. They missed out on medals in two relays entirely, which had never happened before in Olympic history. They were on the disappointing end of a few tight finishes. But the Olympics ended with the Americans in the usual position, on top of the Olympic swimming medal table by a significant margin.
The Americans ended up with 30 total medals, a bit less than 33 from the 2016 Rio Games and 31 from the 2012 Olympics (albeit with three new events on the program in Tokyo). The main difference for this time around was the U.S. team finishing with just 11 gold medals after capturing 16 top honors at each of the last two Olympics. The American men won 12 of the 18 medals but eight of the 11 U.S. golds. Caeleb Dressel, of course, won five of those gold medals (three individual and two relay), while Bobby Finke was one of the Games’ shocking performers with gold medals in the 800 free and 1500 free.
The U.S. women, on the other hand, took only three gold medals — two by Katie Ledecky in the 1500 free and 800 free and one by Lydia Jacoby in the 100 breast — but they won 18 total medals. In an amazing four events, the Americans finished 2-3: the women’s 400 IM, 200 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke.
Meanwhile, after disappointing performances at two straight Olympics, Australia came in with a lot of hyped swimmers but pressure to perform, and the Aussies absolutely delivered. The Aussie women saw Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown and Emma McKeon produce two individual golds each, and they also claimed gold medals in the women’s 400 free and 400 medley relays. For the men, Zac Stubblety-Cook was the top performer after winning gold in the 200 breaststroke.
Australia finished with 20 medals, doubling its total from each of the previous two Games (10), and nine gold medals, more than doubling the combined London and Rio total (four). Third in the medals table went to Great Britain with eight total medals and four golds (by Adam Peaty in the men’s 100 breast, Tom Dean in the men’s 200 free and the men’s 800 free and mixed 400 medley relay squads). China and Canada each won six medals, while China was the only other team to capture three golds.
Check out the full medals table below.
