Girls received greater than half of Staff USA’s Olympic medals : NPR

American girls dominated the summer season Olympics, bringing dwelling greater than half of Staff USA’s medals.

The U.S. received 126 whole medals, the most of any nation. Of these, girls have been chargeable for a whopping 67.

Of that whole, one medal stays in rivalry: Olympic officers have ordered gymnast Jordan Chiles to return her bronze medal from the ground train closing after a rating reversal, however the U.S. is interesting that ruling.

That controversy apart, American girls have received so many medals in Paris that in the event that they have been their very own nation, they’d place third within the total medal rely, behind the 126 received by the total U.S. squad and China’s 91 whole medals and forward of Nice Britain’s 65.

In terms of gold medals, China and the U.S. tied with 40 apiece. Staff USA has girls to thank for 26 of these.

The medal rely is one in every of many historic accomplishments by American girls at what organizers have hailed because the first gender-equal Olympics.

U.S. girls introduced dwelling the nation’s first-ever rugby sevens medal, a bronze. The U.S. girls’s soccer group received Olympic gold, their fifth in lower than three a long time (and their first since 2012). And the U.S. girls’s basketball group closed out the video games by beating France on their dwelling turf, for his or her eighth consecutive gold medal.

Swimmer Torri Huske took dwelling 5 medals, essentially the most of any Staff USA athlete. Swimmers Gretchen Walsh, Katie Ledecky and Regan Smith, in addition to gymnast Simone Biles, every received 4 medals.

Ledecky received her ninth Olympic medal — and 14th ever — to increase her title because the most-decorated U.S. feminine Olympian.

Biles received 4 medals in Paris, bringing her whole to 11 and turning into essentially the most adorned U.S. Olympic gymnast in historical past. She helped lead Staff USA to gold within the girls’s all-around gymnastics closing in a much-anticipated comeback.

American girls additionally blazed their solution to a number of key victories on the monitor. Amongst them: An all-star group of runners cruised to first place in 4-by-400m relay, the eighth in a row by which U.S. girls have claimed gold.

Hurdle phenom Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone beat her personal world file within the 400-meter hurdles, turning into the one girl to win the occasion in consecutive Video games. Tara Davis-Woodhall and Jasmine Moore earned the U.S. two lengthy bounce medals (gold and bronze), whereas sprinter Gabby Thomas received three gold medals.

Even some lesser-known sports activities have gotten extra consideration — and extra funding — because of their Olympic dominance.

Whereas the ladies’s water polo group fell brief in its quest for a historic fourth consecutive gold medal, it received headlines and a multi-year sponsorship deal from its high-profile hype man, the rapper Taste Flav.

Rugby and TikTok star Ilona Maher has helped put her sport on many peoples’ radar — together with American businesswoman Michele Kang, who introduced a $4 million donation to the U.S. Girls’s Rugby Sevens group after their Olympic victory.

There have been loads of notable group and particular person wins. U.S. inventive swimmers earned silver within the group occasion, their first Olympic medal since 2004. The U.S. Girls’s Foil Staff grew to become the first People to win a group fencing gold in historical past.

Olivia Reeves received the first U.S. gold medal in weightlifting since 2000, whereas Evy Leibfarth received the nation’s first medal in canoe slalom since 2004. Jenn Valente grew to become essentially the most adorned U.S. Olympic girls’s bike owner in historical past, whereas Kristen Faulkner grew to become the primary American bike owner to win gold in each monitor and highway biking.

Whereas Olympic organizers touted their progress in reaching full gender parity in Paris, athletes and researchers say there’s nonetheless extra to be finished relating to giving girls the identical high quality of assets, alternatives and media protection, to call just a few areas.

And sexism was a persistent problem all through the Video games, which began with a Eurostar commentator getting dropped for his remarks about girls swimmers and noticed an worldwide controversy over the participation of two girls boxers.

The U.S. ranked eighth for medal parity between women and men at this yr’s Video games, in accordance with the U.Ok.-based charity Girls in Sport. It famous that the highest 10 international locations rank above common on the United Nations’ Gender Inequality Index, “displaying that there’s a direct correlation between girls’s sport and broader social equality.”

That is the fourth Summer season Olympics the place U.S. girls received extra medals than their male teammates, in accordance with USA At the moment, in addition to the fourth the place the nation has despatched extra girls than males. Staff USA’s Paris roster featured 314 girls and 278 males.

Olympic & Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland instructed the outlet earlier this week that the athletes’ achievements are a testomony to Title IX, which prohibits intercourse discrimination in federally funded college applications.

“Their performances are a reminder of how far we have come and the boundless potential that also lies forward,” she stated. “We couldn’t be prouder of their achievements and the instance they set for future generations of athletes.”