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Paris Olympics: China’s best overseas Games and rivalry with US set scene for LA in 2028

  • Country’s 40 golds, its highest tally except at home in 2008, hailed by its Olympic committee as ‘breakthrough’

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China’s Li Wenwen celebrates gold in the women’s +81kg weightlifting on the final day of the Games. Photo: dpa

China’s athletes completed their most successful overseas Olympics on Sunday, winning more events in Paris than ever before and finishing level on golds at the top of the medal table alongside the United States.

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Aside from the 48 won at the 2008 Beijing Games, China’s next best effort had previously been the 39 won in London four years later.

That dipped to just 26 in Rio in 2016, climbed to 38 in Tokyo three years ago, but hit 40 on Sunday afternoon in the French capital when Li Wenwen snatched gold in the women’s +81kg weightlifting, one of the last events of the 33rd Olympiad.

In a statement posted to its Weibo account, the Chinese Olympic Committee hailed the achievement as a “breakthrough in terms of the total number and quality of gold medals”.

Pan Zhanle (left) inspired China to gold in swimming’s men’s 4x100m medley relay. Photo: Reuters
Pan Zhanle (left) inspired China to gold in swimming’s men’s 4x100m medley relay. Photo: Reuters

The US needed success for their women’s basketball team, who had yet to lose a game at an Olympics since they first entered in Barcelona in 1992, to ensure they matched China’s 40 golds.

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