AFTER A FORTNIGHT that includes 329 competitions, the battle for Olympic supremacy got here all the way down to the final occasion on the ultimate day of the Paris video games. When America’s girls’s basketball crew beat France’s within the remaining on August eleventh, additionally they helped their nation equal China’s tally of 40 golds at these video games. In consequence, America retained its place on the summit of the official medal desk—which ranks nations based mostly on the variety of golds they win—because of a larger haul of silvers (44 in contrast with China’s 27). However the official desk might overstate the risk to America’s crown. By one other measure, which weights the worth of all medals, crew USA gained by a considerable margin (see chart).
