Team USA expected to win bumper medal haul at Paris Olympics
With 100 days to go until the start of the Paris Olympics, Team USA is expected to top the medal table once again at this year’s Summer Games.
According to a virtual Paris Olympics medal table released by Nielsen’s Gracenote, the US is forecast to win 123 medals in Paris – 39 gold, 37 silver and 47 bronze.
That’s the same number of golds as the team won in Tokyo three years ago but 10 more medals overall.
“If this total is achieved, it will be the best US medal performance since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics which suffered from boycotts,” Gracenote said in a press release on Wednesday.
“The United States team has medals projected in 27 different sports in the Virtual Medal Table, two sports fewer than the country’s own Olympic record of 29 which was set in Tokyo.
“Athletics and swimming are still the key to success though with just under half of US medals projected to be won in those two sports.”
China is predicted by Gracenote to win 89 medals (the same as in Tokyo), Great Britain 66 and host France 55 – an increase of 22 compared to the previous Olympics.
Australia, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Germany and South Korea make up the rest of the top 10 in the virtual medal table.
The table is a statistical model based on individual and team results in past events, including Olympics, world championships and World Cups.
American sprinters Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles are expected to win the men’s 100- and 200-meter races respectively, according to Gracenote’s model, while the US women’s gymnastics team is predicted to take gold, as are the men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Swimmer Katie Ledecky has been predicted to win gold in the 1,500- and 800-meter freestyle events and Simone Biles, who returned to gymnastics last year after an extended break from the sport, is forecast to claim silvers in the beam, floor exercise and individual all-around events.
This year’s Games officially get underway on July 26 and conclude on August 11.
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