US basketball players secure their last gold medal - 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. It's the eighth consecutive Olympic tournament victory for the US women's basketball team. Together with China, the USA wins the most gold medals of the Paris Games (40). France ends the Olympics in fifth place in the medal table, with 16 golds.
Meanwhile, the German team continues the negative Olympic trend at the Paris Summer Games. While athletes can celebrate a few more gold medals, the overall record remains historically weak. After the final decisions, Germany ranks tenth in the medal table, the worst result since 1952.
The total of 33 medals is also the weakest since reunification, with Germany having won 37 medals in Tokyo 2021. However, there were more golds to celebrate this time: twelve Olympic victories, compared to ten in Japan.
"We started these Games with a different goal," said Olaf Tabor, performance sports director of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, on Saturday. "Many fourth and fifth places are a testament to strong performances, but still, it hurts, we left some medals on the table." Nevertheless, he saw "excellent performances, even world-class performances, in almost all sports."
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 what Tabor aims for in future Summer Games, but this will require clear progress in setting up a sports agency. This, he stressed, is "a necessary step" for more efficient promotion of elite sports.
The most successful sports were equestrian (five medals, four gold) and canoeing (six medals, two gold). The German team also performed better than last time in the core Olympic sports of athletics and swimming. Disappointing, however, were the results of the fencers, wrestlers, sailors, and shooters, who went home without a medal. The German Cycling Federation (BDR) also fell short of expectations with just two medals.
The US women's basketball team broke the Olympic record for consecutive gold medal wins, setting it at eight with their victory in Paris. Despite a few notable performances, Germany fell short of expectations, failing to improve on their tenth-place finish in the medal table since 1952.
