After Tie With US, Some in China Count Gold Differently

With a population the size of China's, there are bound to be few people unwilling to settle for a tie with the US at the Paris Olympics at 40 gold medals each. The official result generally was cheered in China, and a state media post on Weibo with the hashtag "China tied for number one in gold" drew almost 1 million likes. But a few are counting differently, the Wall Street Journal reports. "No no no, we have 44 gold medals," one comment on the same site says. Reaching that figure requires a more expansive view of the country.

"We have Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong," the comment says. Taiwan's athletes, who are required to compete in the Games as "Chinese Taipei"—despite representing a self-ruled democracy—won two gold medals in Paris. China's ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan to be part of its territory. Hong Kong, which is a separately administered Chinese territory, also won two gold medals. Posts revising the total to 44 then attracted criticism on the Chinese internet, with users pointing out that the three delegations had different Olympic committees and were listed separately in the International Olympic Committee's official medal count. Chinese state media adhere to that system.

It's true that everyone doesn't determine the winning nation in the same way. The IOC goes by gold medals, using silver and bronze to break ties, per the Journal. The US goes by the number of medals won of all types—126 this time—which works out well for Americans. Or the decider could be medals won per capita, which would make Dominica the Paris champion; the country with a population of 66,000 won one gold medal, in the triple jump. The count can be broken down many ways, Ben Blatt writes in the New York Times, where a dropdown menu ranks results by events involving a ball, judged events, GDP, and events other than swimming, for starters. It can be found here. (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)