As much as many would like to fill our sports world with partisan politics, it’s important that we retain some national pride in our global teams. And with its back against the wall, Team USA delivered a performance worthy of celebration.
The United States escaped the Tokyo Olympics with the most gold medals of any country, making it three victories in a row at the Summer Games. The chances of it happening looked bleak: Newsweek warned on Friday that Team USA was “unlikely to catch China.”
But Team USA went on a run over the final few days, setting the stage for a chance at victory on the final night of the Games. When the U.S. women’s volleyball team smashed Brazil in straight sets, the U.S. secured at least a tie with China atop the gold medal count. When British boxer Lauren Price defeated China’s Li Qian a few minutes later, China lost its final gold medal opportunity. The U.S. stood alone at the top of the table.
It was obvious China was awaiting a propaganda victory, hoping to claim that it toppled the big, bad U.S. on the global sports stage. Mouthpieces of the Chinese government expressed their anger that (some) websites listed the U.S. atop the medal count board before taking that lead in gold.
Frame it pic.twitter.com/VnGRPwx1bP
— Zachary Faria (@ZacharyFaria) August 8, 2021
The U.S. has now won the most gold medals in six of the last seven Summer Olympics, with the sole exception being China at the 2008 Beijing Games (where the country benefited from having the automatic qualifications that come with hosting the Olympics). The U.S. also beat China by 25 total medals, making it seven Summer Games in a row that the U.S. leaves with the most medals.
As much as some pundits and mediocre athletes want to inject sports with politics, this should remain a point of national pride. China prides itself on its Olympic program and wants to become a host for all kinds of global sports competitions. Were the Chinese Communist Party able to gloat about defeating the U.S. at an Olympics that was delayed because the CCP had loosed a deadly virus on the world, it would be rather sickening.
There are plenty of incredible American athletes whose stories can be enjoyed with no politics at all. From patriotic wrestler to Tamyra Mensah-Stock to Allyson Felix making history in what could be her final Olympic Games, there is a story for nearly everyone and, in the end, our American athletes didn’t let any shine come off another golden finish.
