The COVIDLympics, The Final Numbers

There is almost a full day of NBC coverage left (probably women's volleyball and basketball to head it up, two boxing defeats, and a shock cycling gold to cover), so this won't go into the ratings just yet -- that'll be in the next day or two.

This is the National Dick-Waving Contest Post:

1. Team USA has topped the table with a stunning final weekend.  After spending most of the Games in arrears to China in the gold-medal actual table, Team USA won the gold count for the third consecutive Games with 39 (7 down from Rio -- see my previous post for some idea where that drop-off might've occurred), and 113 total (that's eight down from Rio).
2. China was second in both regards:  38 gold, but only 88 total for that 38 gold.  It is clear that China did some very targeted work on trying to win specifically GOLD medals in these Games, to counteract what they felt was a substandard performance in Rio.  Hence, they got back to their end of London Games numbers in both gold and total, to the exact medal.  38 and 88.  (They now have 91 on the London total due to drug changes.)
3. The hosts can hang their head high on one account:  The strong showing in Judo carried forward to a record for Japan in both gold and total:  27 golds for the hosts, 58 total (which finished fifth in the total).  Obviously, the bump for being the host was substantial -- they had 12 gold in Rio and 41 total, 7 gold and 38 total in London.  Their previous record for golds was 16, twice.  Not surprisingly, they got 16 the last time they hosted the Games in 1964.  But very surprisingly, they also got 16 in Athens in 2004.
4. Great Britain has flexed it's muscle into at least a secondary world sports power, finishing fourth in these Games with 22 gold and an almost perfectly-symmetrical 65 total (22-21-22).  That finished fourth in both respects.  That's the same number they got in London, continuing their record of excellence after the Games they hosted.  But the 22 gold was five short of Rio and seven short of London.  The 22 gold spanned 13 different Olympic disciplines, no discipline winning more than three.
5. The Illegal "Russian Olympic Committee" Team was third in total with 71, but fifth in golds with 20.  That was one more gold medal than they won in Rio.  The total, however, increased by FIFTEEN!  Near sweeps in Artistic (Synchronized) Swimming and Fencing certainly helped, as did four golds on the wrestling mat.
6. Australia, sixth in both respects, 17 gold, 46 total.  That more than doubled the gold intake from Rio (8, with 7 in London), and their total went up by SEVENTEEN.  A strong second on the medal table in swimming (9 gold) was the hallmark of that effort.
7. Seven through 10 on the table is a four-way tie in golds which had to be broken down the table.  The Dutch beat the French on BRONZE medals for 7th (10 gold, 12 silver 14 bronze -- 36 total)  The total was 9th on the list.  The 10 golds is two more than Rio and four more than London.  The 36 total was SEVENTEEN better than Rio.
8. France (10 gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze for 33 total).  The 10 gold is the same as they got in Rio and one fewer than London.  The 33 total was nine fewer than Rio and one fewer than London.
9. Germany (10-11-16=37 -- eighth in the total).  Seven fewer golds than in Rio, one fewer than London.  Total was five fewer than Rio, seven fewer than London.
10. Italy (10-10-20(!!)=40 -- seventh in the total)  Two more golds than Rio, twelve more medals in total, pretty much the bronze total.

• 65 nations won gold medals in the Games, six more than Rio.  A new Olympic record.  The last two new nations added to the gold medal chart on Day 15.
• Unlike the Rio Games, when 9* (actually, two caveats, Bahrain got a drug-reawarded gold from London and a Kuwaiti won independently -- so it was ten, technically, as of the end of Rio) nations won their first gold medals, in Tokyo, only three nations could pull it off...

1. Bermuda, when Flora Duffy won the women's triathlon.  (Duffy was one of only two athletes from the nation at the Games, the other was a rower.)
2. The Philippines, when Hidilyn Diaz won the women's 55kg weightlifting event.  (The Philippines' 19 athletes won 4 medals during the Games, adding three boxing medals -- two silvers and a bronze -- to Diaz' victory.)
3. And Qatar, which won TWO.  Mutaz Essa Barshim, in that classic "Can We Have Two Golds?" moment in the men's high jump co-championship, and Fares El-Bakh (Fares Ibrahim Saed Hassouna El-Bakh) in the 96 kg men's weightlifting event.  (Qatar's 16 athlete delegation also scored a bronze in men's beach volleyball.

• The total medal table consisted of 93 nations, also a new Olympic record.  Seven more than Rio.
• Three nations (same number as Rio) won their first Olympic medals.  Unlike Rio, none of the medals were gold.

1. Burkina Faso took a bronze with Hugues Fabrice Sango in the men's triple jump.  (Zango was one of only seven athletes and two Track and Field athletes in the Games from the nation.)
2. San Marino not only won it's first medal, it won THREE.  A silver for their mixed trap team in the shooting, and two bronzes, Alessandra Perilli in the individual women's trap shooting event, and Myles Nazem Amine, in the men's 86kg freestyle wrestling event.  (That was the entirety of both the shooting (the mixed team of 2) and wrestling contigents at the event.  They took five athletes in total, including one in judo and swimming.)
3. And Turkmenistan got it's first medal in women's weightlifting:  Polina Guryeva in the 59kg class with a silver.  (Turkmenistan took nine athletes to the Games.)

Some table oddities to run out the post:

• I'd have to see someday if this is a record for bronzes only.  Kazakhstan took home 8 medals in these Games, all bronze.  They took 97 athletes, but could only muster bronzes in boxing (two), judo, karate (two), weightlifting (two) and wrestling.
• 2016, the bronze-only high was four.  2012, three.  2004 and 2008, two.  2000, the Republic of Georgia got six.
• Kazakhstan also had the highest number of medals (29th in total) without winning a gold.  They just beat out Azerbaijan, who got three silvers and four bronzes.
• 2000, Brazil got 12 without getting a gold, and Jamaica 9.  North Korea won that honor in 2004 with only 5.  Four countries shared that honor with 5 in 2008.  2012, India with six.  2016, Malaysia and Mexico, 5 each.
• 112 nations and the Refugee Team did not medal.

As for the Refugee Team:

• Tachlowini Gabriyesos from Eritrea finished 16th in the men's marathon.
• Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin from Iran probably came the closest of any of the Refugee Team to medal, losing a narrow 8-6 verdict in a bronze medal women's taekwondo event to a Turkish fighter.
• Haroom Derafshipour of Iran finished 3-2 in his pool of karate kumite, but could not advance to the medal round.
• In all, 29 refugees from around the world were hosted by 14 nations to compete at the Games.