By Kehinde Okeowo
In the last 17 days, the world has been treated to an entertaining and scintillating time in Tokyo, Japan as top athletes from all over the universe competed for honours in the 2020 Olympics
The game which started on July 23, 2021, came to a befitting end today, August 8, 2021.
People’s Republic of China, who had led the medal table from the beginning of the tournament was eventually overtaken on the final day of events by United States of America.
The Americans came first on the medal table with 39 gold medals, 41 silver medals and 33 bronze medals.
China came a close second with 38 gold medals, 32 silver medals and 18 bronze medals.
The host, Japan, earned the third spot with 27 gold medals, 14 silver medals and 17 bronze medals.
Six other countries from Europe and Oceania made up the top 10 positions. Great Britain came 4th, Russian Olympic Committee 5th, Oceania representative, Australia 6th, Netherlands 7th, France 8th , Germany 9th and the Italians completed the 10th position.
A total of 93 countries from different regions of the world found their way to the podium, United States ranked first in the overall table medals with 113 medals while Syrian Arab Republic with 1 bronze medal ranked 86th with seven other counties, Botswana. Burkina Faso, Ghana , Cote d’Ivoire, Granada , Kuwait and Republic of Moldova.
The African challenge was led by Kenya who came 19th overall with 4 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 2 bronze medals. Uganda came 36th overall and 2nd on the African medal table with 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal, South Africa came 52nd overall and 3rd among the African countries with 1 good medal and 2 silver medals.
Egypt came next to South Africa on the list of the top 10 African countries with 1 gold medal. 1 silver medal and 4 bronze medals. Ethiopia 5th , Tunisia 6th , Morocco 7th and Nigeria came 74th overall and 8th in Africa with 1silver medal and 1 bronze medal.
Namibia followed Nigeria in the 9th position with Botswana and three other African countries, Burkina Faso , Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana occupying the 10th position with 1 bronze medal each.
The organizers and host of Toyko 2020 Olympics must be commended for hosting a memorable event despite the ravaging Covid -19 pandemic which threatened the hosting of a succesful event. The Olympics touch now moves from Tokyo in Japan, to Paris in France in 2024.