USA top Tokyo Olympics medal table as Team Nigeria finish 74th

Team Nigeria ended the just concluded Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games as the 74th best country in the competition won by the United States.

Nigeria won one silver medal in wrestling and one bronze medal in the long jump to end the competition as Africa’s sixth-best team.

Kenya’s four gold medals, four silvers, and two bronze medals made them Africa’s number one team, with South Africa (one gold, two silver), Egypt (one gold, one silver, four bronze), Tunisia (one gold, one silver), Morocco (one gold) placed second, third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Overall, the United States ended the competition as champions following triumphs in basketball, volleyball, and track cycling. The U.S ended with 39 gold medals for the Games, pipping China at the post.

China finished with 38 gold medals, meaning that for the third successive Olympics it is the United States who hold sway on the front of the medal.

Japan claimed third in the table after amassing 58 medals, including 27 golds, while Team GB finished fourth on 65 medals, made up of 22 golds, 21 silvers, and 22 bronzes.

The all-conquering women’s basketball team were 90-75 winners over Japan in their final, landing gold for a seventh successive Olympics.

They last lost at the Games in 1992 at Barcelona and were never in danger of surrendering their undefeated streak since, as Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each picked up the fifth gold medal of their remarkable careers.

Jennifer Valente emerged victorious from the multi-race omnium cycling event at the Izu Velodrome, with the 26-year-old from San Diego scooping the first Olympic gold of her career.

Volleyball gold medals had previously been the preserve of the men among the US ranks, but now the women have triumphed at the Olympic level too.

Their first visit to the top step of the Games podium was secured by a 3-0 win over Brazil in Sunday’s final.

Haleigh Washington, a 25-year-old star of the team, said: “It’s a great day to have a gold-medal day. The hard work we put in, the sweat, the tears, the blood, it’s been worth it. I am so proud to have done it with this group of women. I am so honoured.”

Coach Karch Kiraly added: “I am so happy for this team and these amazing women in this programme. I told them not only are they bad-asses, but they are now gold medallists.”