Final Olympic medal tally puts U.S. on top in Paris : NPR

PARIS — The United States came out on top in the Olympic medal count in Paris, with a stunning total of 126 medals, including forty gold.

The fight for national bragging rights over gold medals — considered by many countries to be the most coveted prize — came down to the wire and in the end China and the U.S. tied with forty apiece.

China, with 91 overall medals, has cemented itself as America’s chief rival in the Summer Games.

Meanwhile, Russia, once a world powerhouse at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, was nearly invisible in Paris, fielding only about fifteen athletes and barely registering in the total medal count.

How did the U.S. do it? Swimming and track

Once again in Paris, America’s Olympic engine fired on two cylinders: swimming and track.

In the pool, U.S. swimmers led by Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske, racked up 28 medals, including 8 gold.

On the track, American athletes were even more dominant winning 34 total medals, 14 gold.

Those two sporting disciplines alone accounted for roughly half of the total U.S. medal tally.

China, by contrast, garnered most of its gold medals from diving (8 gold), shooting (5 gold), table tennis (5 gold) and wrestling (5 gold).

So while the two countries go head-to-head in the medal count, they often do it in very different sports.

Some other take-aways: France did great, Australia did better

It’s pretty common for the Olympic host country to do well at the Summer Games and France was no exception.

One of the breakout stars of these Olympics was Léon Marchand, the young French swimmer, who captured four gold and one bronze medal.

Altogether, France won 64 medals, sixteen of them gold.

Another country that punched above its weight is Australia. With a relatively tiny population, just 26 million people, the Aussies racked up 53 medals, eighteen of them gold.

Per capita, that puts Australia into a league of its own for medal victories.

One final note. The International Olympic Committee fielded a team this year of refugee athletes to represent displaced persons around the world.

A woman from Cameroon, Cindy Djanjeu Ngamba, won that team’s single bronze medal in boxing.