The last gold medal goes to the USA - German Olympic record historically bad
In Paris, the final medal decision of the Olympic Games falls: The USA wins the women's basketball final - and takes gold against the host nation France. The German Olympic record is overall disappointing.
The US women's basketball team wins the last gold medal of the Paris Olympics. The US team won the dramatic tournament final against the French hosts 67:66. This is the eighth consecutive Olympic tournament victory for the US women's basketball team. Together with China, the USA wins the most gold medals at the Paris Games (40). France finishes the Olympics in fifth place in the medal table, with 16 gold medals.
Meanwhile, the negative Olympic trend for the German team continues at the Paris Games. While athletes can celebrate a few more gold medals, the overall record remains historically weak. In the medal table, Germany ranks tenth after the final decisions, the worst result since 1952.
The total of 33 medals is also the weakest result since reunification, with Germany winning 37 medals in Tokyo 2021. However, there were more gold medals to celebrate than in Japan: the team won 12 Olympic titles, compared to 10 three years ago.
"We started these Games with a different goal," said Olaf Tabor, performance sports director at the German Olympic Sports Confederation, on Saturday. Many fourth and fifth places are evidence of strong performances, but "it hurts, we've left a few medals behind." Nevertheless, he saw "excellent performances in almost all sports, even world-class performances."
Germany just manages to reach the top ten in the nation's ranking. In the long term, however, the goal is to move up again. "Fifth place" is Tabor's target for future summer games, but this will require significant progress in establishing a sports agency. This is "a necessary step" for more efficient promotion of elite sports, Tabor emphasized.
The most successful sports were equestrian (five medals, four gold) and canoe (six medals, two gold). The German team also performed better than last time in the core Olympic sports of athletics and swimming. Disappointing results came from fencing, wrestling, sailing, and shooting, which did not win any medals. The German Cycling Federation (BDR) also fell short of expectations with two medals.
The US women's basketball team's victory in the Olympics final secures another gold medal for the United States of America in Paris. With 40 gold medals in total, the United States of America and China lead in medal count at the Paris Games.
