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U.S. ends Olympics on top of medal table

 
Claressa Shields becomes the first U.S. boxer, woman or man, with two gold medals after defending her 2012 title.
Claressa Shields becomes the first U.S. boxer, woman or man, with two gold medals after defending her 2012 title.
Published Aug. 22, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The U.S. Olympic team made itself right at home in Rio.

The British, they had a Games to savor as well.

The host Brazilians got the soccer gold they had craved, the Russians struggled on the heels of the exposure of a state-sponsored doping program, and the Chinese finished well below expectations.

So went the medal race at the Olympics, where the Americans — with women leading the way — dominated the gold and overall totals. With five medal wins on Sunday's final day of the Games — gold from the men's basketball team, boxer Claressa Shields and freestyle wrestler Kyle Snyder, and bronze from marathoner Galen Rupp and the men's volleyball team — the United States finished with 46 gold medals and 121 medals overall. Its margin of 51 total medals over second-place China is the largest in a nonboycotted Olympics in nearly a century.

"This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me," said gymnast and closing ceremony flag bearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics.

For the fourth consecutive Games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps left with more medals than anyone else. He won six in Rio, five of them gold to increase his Olympic-record gold total to 23 and his overall total to 28. Biles and U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky each won five — all gold for Ledecky — to lead to lead a big haul from American women.

U.S. women left Rio with 27 golds, by far the most among any team of female Olympians at the Games, and 61 medals total. U.S. track star Allyson Felix won two relay golds to bring her career total to six, a track record for women, and Shields, a middleweight, became the first American, man or woman, with two boxing golds.

"I wanted it to be known that I'm not just a great female boxer. I'm one of the greatest boxers to ever live," Shields, 21, said.

The previous record for U.S. medals at a fully attended Olympics was 110, set at Beijing eight years ago. And the margin between first and second in the overall medals race tops all others — the boycotted Games of 1980 and 1984 excluded — since the Americans won 67 more medals than Italy did at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

"We weren't sure we were going to have that kind of success coming in," said U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, noting the track and swimming teams had plenty of first-time Olympians.

Even with far fewer athletes competing in Rio than it had in London four years ago — and no homefield advantage this time — Britain got more medals than ever in the modern Games. It won 67 medals, 27 of them gold.

China won 26 golds, just over half as many as it won in 2008. Russia — with its track team told to stay home because of the doping investigation and a cloud hovering over its athletes who were in Rio, some of whom were publicly called out by competitors — finished with 19 golds and 56 medals overall, both well below its normal showings.

There were plenty of positives for others, however.

Usain Bolt finished off his triple-triple — three Olympics, three golds in each in the 100 meters, 200 and 400 relay — for Jamaica, in what he has said was his last Games. Neymar's winning penalty kick decided a shootout and clinched the men's soccer gold medal for Brazil, a host that wasn't a factor in the medal standings but got the gold that it probably wanted most.

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"We went through difficult moments in the beginning of the competition," Neymar said. "We were criticized. And we answered on the field, with soccer."