A roller coaster ride for the USA athletes that competed on Sunday, as the USA had a mixed bag of good and bad for the ninth day of competition.
The good, USA won five gold, two silver and three bronze medals, 10 in total for the day and upping their total medal count to 71. USA tied China in 19 gold medals.
Continuing the good note, Bobby Finke set a world record in swimming’s 1,500-meter freestyle. Scottie Scheffler came from four shots behind to win the men’s golf tournament, and Noah Lyles (feature picture – Credit AP News) became the first American to win the men’s 100 meters track event in 20 years. in the same event, Fred Kerley came in third. Kristen Faulkner won the women’s road race and became the first U.S. rider in 40 years to win a medal in the event, the 4×100 medley relay team (Lily King, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Regan Smith) set a world record an won gold in the swimming event, Katie Douglass nabbed silver in the 200 meter swimming event, and Suni Lee won her third medal, a bronze on the bars in gymnastics, according to AP News.
Now onto the not-so-good news: Swimming, once dominated by USA in games past, brought home the realization that the podium was not theirs alone. AP News reported, USA finished with 28 medals overall, two shy of their total three years ago in Tokyo. In all, 13 countries won at least one gold and 19 teams made the medal podium. Alex Walsh came in third in the 200 meter final, but after review of a possible illegal turn on rotation, Walsh was disqualified and the bronze medal slipped away in her only Olympic event this year. China stunned Team USA when they set a world record and snatched gold for the USA who settled for silver. American archer Brady Ellison settled for silver as he was edged out South Korean Kim Woo-jin.
And ending on another good note The USA sits atop the leaderboard with 19 gold medals and 71 total medals overall going into the last week of the 2024 Paris Games.
