The United States won five more gold medals on the eighth official day of the Paris Olympics, reclaiming second place in the medal standings, behind China.
Two American stars, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles, both shone to bring home gold medals on August 3rd, in the women’s 800m freestyle swimming and the gymnastics vault event, respectively. This gold medal allowed Ledecky to match Michael Phelps’ record of winning gold in the same event for four consecutive Olympics. Meanwhile, Biles increased her all-time Olympic gold medal tally to seven.
The US also won three more gold medals thanks to Ryan Crouser in the men’s shot put, Vincent Hancock in skeet shooting, and the men’s 4x100m medley relay team, consisting of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh, and Torri Huske. The swimming team also set a world record.
By winning more gold medals than any other team on the day, the US surpassed France and Australia to reclaim the second spot. However, China did not slow down, winning three more gold medals from Zheng Qinwen in women’s singles tennis, Zheng Siwei and Huang Ya Qiong in mixed doubles badminton, and Long Daoyi and Wang Zongyuan in the men’s 3m synchronized diving.
China currently has 16 gold medals, two more than the US. However, China’s silver medal count is only half that of the US, with 12 compared to 24. In terms of the total number of medals, the US leads with 61, while China is in third place.