US Wins Fewest Number of Gold Medals During Winning Streak (Medal Table Breakdown)

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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The US led the final medal table of swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics. They tallied a total of 8 golds and 28 total medals to finish ahead of Australia with 7 gold and 18 total medals.

The US has led the medal table for 9 straight Olympics now. How does each country stack up to their previous success in swimming at the Olympics?

SWIMMING MEDAL TABLE

RANK NATION GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
1 United States 8 13 7 28
2 Australia 7 8 3 18
3 France 4 1 2 7
4 Canada 3 2 3 8
5 China 2 3 7 12
6 Italy 2 1 2 5
7 Hungary 2 1 0 3
8 Sweden 2 0 0 2
9 Great Britain 1 4 0 5
10 South Africa 1 1 0 2
11 Ireland 1 0 2 3
12
Germany 1 0 1 2
Romania 1 0 1 2
14
Greece 0 1 0 1
Japan 0 1 0 1
16
Hong Kong 0 0 2 2
Netherlands 0 0 2 2
18
South Korea 0 0 1 1
Switzerland 0 0 1 1

Overall Historic Swimming Medal Table

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States (USA) 265 191 151 607
2 Australia (AUS) 76 78 76 230
3 East Germany (GDR) 38 32 22 92
4 Hungary (HUN) 30 27 20 77
5 Japan (JPN) 24 28 32 84
6 Great Britain (GBR) 21 33 30 84
7 Netherlands (NED) 19 20 21 60
8 China (CHN) 18 24 19 61
9 Germany (GER) 14 18 31 63
10 Soviet Union (URS) 12 21 26 59
11 Canada (CAN) 12 20 30 62
12 France (FRA) 12 17 21 50
13 Sweden (SWE) 11 16 14 41
14 South Africa (RSA) 8 8 6 22
15 Italy (ITA) 7 7 17 31
16 Unified Team (EUN) 6 3 1 10
17 Russia (RUS) 4 9 9 22
18 Ukraine (UKR) 4 3 2 9
19 Romania (ROU) 4 2 5 11
20 Ireland (IRL) 4 0 3 7
21 West Germany (FRG) 3 5 14 22
22 Denmark (DEN) 3 5 7 15
23 Tunisia (TUN) 3 0 1 4
24 Zimbabwe (ZIM) 2 4 1 7
25 Australasia (ANZ) 2 3 3 8
26 Spain (ESP) 2 2 4 8
27 ROC 2 2 1 5
28 New Zealand (NZL) 2 1 3 6
29 Austria (AUT) 1 6 5 12
30 United Team of Germany (EUA) 1 5 6 12
31 Brazil (BRA) 1 4 10 15
32 Greece (GRE) 1 4 2 7
33 Poland (POL) 1 3 2 6
34 South Korea (KOR) 1 3 1 5
35 Belgium (BEL) 1 2 2 5
36 Costa Rica (CRC) 1 1 2 4
37
Argentina (ARG) 1 1 1 3
Bulgaria (BUL) 1 1 1 3
39 Yugoslavia (YUG) 1 1 0 2
40
Mexico (MEX) 1 0 1 2
Suriname (SUR) 1 0 1 2
42
Kazakhstan (KAZ) 1 0 0 1
Lithuania (LTU) 1 0 0 1
Singapore (SIN) 1 0 0 1
45 Hong Kong (HKG) 0 2 2 4
46 Belarus (BLR) 0 2 1 3
47 Slovakia (SVK) 0 2 0 2
48 Finland (FIN) 0 1 4 5
49
Cuba (CUB) 0 1 1 2
Norway (NOR) 0 1 1 2
51
Croatia (CRO) 0 1 0 1
Serbia (SRB) 0 1 0 1
Slovenia (SLO) 0 1 0 1
54 Switzerland (SUI) 0 0 4 4
55 Philippines (PHI) 0 0 2 2
56
Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) 0 0 1 1
Venezuela (VEN) 0 0 1 1

Comparing Countries To Previous Games

USA

The US has led the medal table for the last 9 Olympics but this was the worst they have done leading the medal table, with only 8 golds. They have always been in double-digits for golds but still managed to stand on the top of the medal table in Paris.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 13 11 2 26
2000 14 8 11 33
2004 12 9 7 28
2008 12 9 10 31
2012 16 9 6 31
2016 16 8 9 33
2020 11 10 9 30
2024 8 13 7 28

Australia

Australia has had solid showings in the last two Olympic Games. After 9 gold medals in Tokyo, they walk away with 7 here.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 2 4 6 12
2000 5 9 4 18
2004 7 5 3 15
2008 6 6 8 20
2012 1 6 3 10
2016 3 4 3 10
2020 9 3 9 21
2024 7 8 3 18

France

Host country France walks away with four gold medals and 7 total, their most since the 2012 London Games.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
2000 Sydney 0 1 0 1
2004 Athens 1 2 3 6
2008 Beijing 1 2 3 6
2012 London 4 2 1 7
2016 Rio 0 2 1 3
2020 Tokyo 0 1 0 1
2024 Paris 4 1 2 7

Canada

Summer McIntosh led the way for Canada with three gold medals, becoming the first Canadian to ever win three golds at one Olympic Games.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 Atlanta 0 1 2 3
2000 Sydney 0 0 1 1
2008 Beijing 0 0 1 1
2012 London 0 1 1 2
2016 Rio de Janeiro 1 1 4 6
2020 Tokyo 1 3 2 6
2024 Paris 3 2 3 8

China

China brings home 12 total medals, more than it brought home at the 2012 Games, although in 2012 they had 5 gold compared to just 2 from Paris.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 1 3 2 6
2000 0 0 0 0
2004 1 1 0 2
2008 1 3 2 6
2012 5 2 3 10
2016 1 2 3 6
2020 3 2 1 6
2024 2 3 7 12

Italy

After winning zero gold medals in Tokyo, Thomas Ceccon and Nicolo Martinenghi led the Italian team to two golds and five total medals

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 0 0 1 1
2000 3 1 2 6
2004 0 1 1 2
2008 1 1 0 2
2012 0 0 1 1
2016 1 1 2 4
2020 0 2 5 7
2024 2 1 2 5

Hungary

Kristof Milak and Hubert Kos teamed up to equal Hungary’s medal tally of three total medals from Tokyo. The country has consistently had a medalist in the last 8 Games.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 3 1 2 6
2000 1 0 0 1
2004 0 1 1 2
2008 0 3 0 3
2012 2 0 1 3
2016 3 2 2 7
2020 1 2 0 3
2024 2 1 0 3

Sweden

Sarah Sjostrom brings home two gold medals, one in the 50 free and one in the 100 free. After winning 0 medals in back to back to back Games, they country now has medaled in the most recent 3.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 0 1 0 1
2000 1 2 1 4
2004 0 0 0 0
2008 0 0 0 0
2012 0 0 0 0
2016 1 1 1 3
2020 0 1 0 1
2024 2 0 0 2

Great Britain

The men’s 4×200 free relay defended their title from Tokyo while in Paris. The country did not match its total medal tally of 8 from Tokyo but 5 is still more than they were at the turn of the century.

Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1996 0 1 1 2
2000 0 0 0 0
2004 0 0 2 2
2008 2 2 2 6
2012 0 1 2 3
2016 1 5 0 6
2020 4 3 1 8
2024 1 4 0 5

Medals Per Continent

North America

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States 8 13 7 28
Canada 3 2 3 8
11 15 10 36

Europe

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
France 4 1 2 7
Italy 2 1 2 5
Hungary 2 1 0 3
Sweden 2 0 0 2
Great Britain 1 4 0 5
Ireland 1 0 2 3
Germany 1 0 1 2
Romania 1 0 1 2
Greece 0 1 0 1
Netherlands 0 0 2 2
Switzerland 0 0 1 1
14 8 11 33

Oceania

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Australia 7 8 3 18

Asia

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
China 2 3 7 12
Japan 0 1 0 1
Hong Kong 0 0 2 2
South Korea 0 0 1 1
2 4 10 16

Africa

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
South Africa 1 1 0 2

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Nancy
1 hour ago

I understand that something has to change for the US swim team after their Olympic performance screw up in France 🇫🇷.

Just Keep Swimming
4 hours ago

Is this the first time USA hasn’t had the best women’s team or the best men’s team?

France Men: 4 gold
US men: 2 gold

AUS women: 6 gold
US women: 5 gold

Just Keep Swimming
Reply to  Just Keep Swimming
4 hours ago

And if you exclude the Mickey Mouse events added in Tokyo, the total is only 6 gold. The worst result since 1956.

Doe
5 hours ago

Most silvers ever for USA

ole 99
8 hours ago

Simply looking at total medals from Olympics to Olympics does not accurately represent the relative performance of each nation over time since there have been a number of additional swimming events added over the years. In 1988 there were 94 swimming medals, whereas this year there will be 111 swimming medals (inclusive of open water). As open water has not concluded yet, the data could change slightly, but regardless, the results are not great from the USA perspective.

In Paris, the USA has currently won 22.9% of the gold medals awarded in swimming. Based open water results, the final win percentage will range from 21.6% (no more gold) to 27.0% (USA wins gold in both 10k events). Between 1988 and… Read more »

Greeny
9 hours ago

Who are some young Australian swimmers who win a medal in LA?
Also anyone else from other nation (besides USA as I already know the up and coming talent).

Barty’s Bakery
Reply to  Greeny
8 hours ago

Sienna Toohey looks like the most promising. She went a 1:07.01 in the 100 breast which breaks Leisel’s age record and is faster than the US 15-16 age record (slower than Ruta at 15 though haha)

Crazycucumber93
10 hours ago

Idk if this has been written about yet, but looking at the medal count in some ways downplays how weak the U.S.’s (mostly the men’s) performance was here.
In Rio, there was only one instance of a U.S swimmer failing to make it out of the heats. (Tom Sheilds, 200 fly) In Paris, there were 10 different instances of an American failing to advance past the prelims. Even when taking into account there were two more individual events than 8 years ago, that’s still a huge increase.
In Rio, there were 5 instances of U.S. swimmers not qualifying for their respective finals. In Paris, I believe this happened 15 times.
You could argue that final appearances don’t… Read more »

Hmm
10 hours ago

… and still win 56% more medals than Australia….

Barty’s Bakery
Reply to  Hmm
8 hours ago

1,307% more people and 56% more medals. Nice!

Hmm
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
7 hours ago

and 10000% more cowbell……

swimswamrocks
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
4 hours ago

mah per capita

Jeff
Reply to  swimswamrocks
1 hour ago

of course the supporters of the much larger country with a much larger funding budget doesn’t care about per capita.

Swim for life
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
4 hours ago

46 swimmers VS.. 41 swimmers…

Jeff
Reply to  Swim for life
1 hour ago

quite a lot to choose from.

swim4fun
10 hours ago

Counting only individual medals, Continent Bob Bowman has 5 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze for 11 total

Barty’s Bakery
Reply to  swim4fun
10 hours ago

And counting all medals, Dean Boxall has 9 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze for 18 and tops the medal tally

Coach
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
6 hours ago

Counting all medals and counting only individual medals are very different, but that was a sly little trick you pulled there.

swimswamrocks
Reply to  Barty’s Bakery
4 hours ago

What a goof

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. She also attended 2023 US Summer Nationals as well as the 2024 European Championships …

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