Nielsen's Gracenote Expects USA, China, Great Britain, France and Australia to Lead 2024 Paris Olympic Games Medal Table

Just days ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony on Friday, Nielsen's Gracenote releases its final Virtual Medal Table (VMT) forecast for the 2024 Games. Considering available results data from key global and continental competitions since the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, Gracenote has projected gold, silver and bronze medal counts for participating countries and athletes at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.

Almost all Russian and Belarussian competitors have been absent from international competitions since February 2022. Any who take part in Paris 2024 without results in this period cannot be predicted accurately. However, there is limited participation of these athletes and we expect the Virtual Medal Table to be the usual accurate reflection of the National Olympic Committees' potential Olympic performance based on the data that we have.

Snapshot

Gracenote's VMT forecast projects the United States to win the most medals overall at Paris 2024 (112). If Team USA meets this expectation, it would mark the team's eighth successive placement at the top of the final Summer Games medal table.

China is projected to finish second on total medals but could challenge the United States for first place on gold medals. The 86 medals currently forecast for China would be three fewer than the country's total of 89 in Tokyo three years ago. The 34 gold medals forecast would be four down on China's total of 38 three years ago.

Great Britain is also expected to produce a similar performance to the last Olympics with the Gracenote VMT forecasting one British medal fewer than Tokyo's 64. Gold medals could be significantly down though as the British team is projected to win 17 golds in Paris.

Host nation France should sharply increase its overall medal haul in comparison to the 33 total medals won in Tokyo. The Virtual Medal Table puts France in third place on gold medals, behind the United States and China, and its final forecast total of 27 gold medals would be not far short of France's total number of medals at the last Olympics, if it is achieved.

Australia is expected to be fifth on the total medal table. The 54 medals forecasted by the Gracenote Virtual Medal Table would be the country's most for 24 years, since winning a record 58 when hosting Sydney 2000.

Russian and Belarussian athletes

With competitors from Russia and Belarus being banned from international competition in almost all Olympic sports since February 2022, it is not possible to assess potential performance accurately for those participating as Individual Neutral Athletes at Paris 2024 unless they have been competing more or less normally like, for example, the tennis players from the two countries. However, it appears that the number of competitors from these countries is severely limited in Paris and the Gracenote Virtual Medal Table is therefore representing the current situation accurately given the data which we have.

The top-five medal winning countries

United States

(Paris 2024 projection: 112 medals, Tokyo 2020: 113)

The U.S. is expected to once again top the Summer Games Virtual Medal Table in Paris. The current Gracenote projection of 112 medals is similar to the total claimed by Team USA in 2021. The United States team has medals projected in 28 different sports in the Virtual Medal Table, one sport fewer than the country's own Olympic record of 29 which was set in Tokyo. Athletics and swimming are still the key to success though with just under half of US medals projected to be won in those two sports.

China

(Paris 2024: 86, Tokyo 2020: 89)

At the Tokyo Olympics, China recovered from its total of 70 medals at the Rio Olympics, its lowest since 2004. Final Gracenote projections for Paris 2024 suggest that China will produce a similar performance to three years ago. Diving, shooting, swimming, table tennis, artistic gymnastics and badminton are China's key medal-winning sports but 20 different sports have a top-three Chinese competitor according to the VMT. China's projected gold medal total of 34 means that it may be a threat to the United States' position as the winner of most golds in Paris.

Great Britain

(Paris 2024: 63, Tokyo 2020: 64)

The final Gracenote Virtual Medal Table for Paris 2024 suggests that Great Britain can sustain its winning performance of 60 or more medals for a fourth successive Olympic Summer Games. British success over the past three Summer Olympics has been built on having medal winners in at least 20 sports. Gracenote's final VMT forecast has British medal winners in 21 different sports, suggesting that this trend is set to continue. Prior to the 2012 Olympic Games, Great Britain had not won medals in at least 20 sports for over 100 years, since hosting in 1908.

France

(Paris 2024: 60, Tokyo 2020: 33)

Gracenote's final forecast projects that host nation France will increase its medal total significantly, nearly tripling its number of gold medals in comparison to the Tokyo Olympics. Summer Olympic success for France has been achieved in 15 to 19 different sports at each Olympics this century but medals are projected in 28 different sports in Paris. This would be a new French record. At the Paris 2024 Games, France is expected to have its best Olympic Games for 124 years, since winning 115 medals when hosting in 1900.

Australia

(Paris 2024: 54 medals, Tokyo 2020: 46)

After the disappointing Olympics of 2012 and 2016, Australia will again improve in Paris. Gracenote expects Australia to win over 40 medals for the sixth time in the last eight Olympics and more than 50 for the first time for 24 years. If Australia wins 54 medals as forecast, it will be the country's best Olympic performance since hosting Sydney 2000. Achieving this will depend to a great extent on the success of the swimming team.

Virtual

LINK:	https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2024/virtual-medal-table-forecast/...
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