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Medal Count 2021 Olympics: Updated Standings, Highlights After Day 11
August 3, 2021
The stars were out on day 11 of the Tokyo Olympic games as Team USA basketball survived and advanced to the semifinal round of competition while Simone Biles competed on the balance beam, her last opportunity to medal at these games.
How did Biles fare, which American etched her name in the history book and what does Tuesday's win mean for Team USA's captain?
Olympic Medal count (Through August 3)
1. United States of America (73 total, 24 gold medals)
2. People's Republic of China (69 total, 32 gold medals)
3. Russian Olympic Committee (52 total, 13 gold medals)
4. Great Britain (43 total, 13 gold medals)
5. Japan (36 total, 19 gold medals)
Full medal standings available here.
Team USA One Step Closer to Gold
Is Kevin Durant the GOAT Olympic basketball player of all time?
The Brooklyn Nets star came one step closer to earning the title Tuesday as he led Team USA back from a 10-point deficit to knock off Spain 95-81 and advance to the semifinal round, where they will take on Australia for the right to play for the gold medal.
Durant helped his team overcome the glaring weaknesses in its game, obvious throughout this tournament, to score 13 of his 29 points in the momentum-shifting third quarter.
"We're in a good spot right now," Durant said after the game (h/t ESPN). "Guys are starting to understand their roles and just getting comfortable within the team. In this setting, it's always hard to get your footing as an individual player. You don't want to step on toes."
It could be argued that 'starting to understand their roles' this late in the competition is scary given the level of competition that exists in the final rounds of competition, but it is also a sign of a team overcoming their imperfections to make a run at Durant's third Olympic gold, a feat accomplished only by Carmelo Anthony.
Durant passed Anthony's to become Team USA's all-time leading scorer earlier in the games.
If he can manage to take this team, with its lack of star power in and all of its inconsistencies, and manifest a gold medal out of sheer willpower, it will be difficult to deny his legacy in Olympic basketball.
Biles Snags Bronze in Balance Beam
Simone Biles was already the most decorated and acclaimed gymnast in American history before she ever arrived in Tokyo for this year's Olympics. Tuesday, she added a seventh medal to a resume that includes four golds.
Biles earned a bronze medal for her performance beam, the final event of her games.
"I had nerves but I felt pretty good," she said after her routine (h/t AP). "I was just happy to be able to perform, regardless of the outcome. I did it for me, and I was just proud of myself for being able to compete one more time."
Biles had pulled herself out of a number of competitions earlier in the games, attributing the move to mental health and a case of the "twisties."
"It means more than all the golds," she said of the bronze. "I pushed through so much over the last five years and the last week while I've been here. It was very emotional and I'm just proud of myself and all of these girls as well," Biles told the TODAY show (h/t NBC 4).
Biles declined to go into detail about her future in the sport, instead opting to "take some time and let this Olympics sink in."
Athing Mu Makes American Olympic History
For the first time since 1968, the United States has a gold medalist in the women's 800 meters in 19-year-old Texas A&M freshman Athing Mu.
Mu dominated the race, sprinting to the front and never leaving any doubt as to who the superior runner race. "I’m going to let my capabilities and myself as an athlete be known," she said after the race (h/t Washington Post).
They are certainly known following Tuesday's definitive performance.
"My time is now. That’s what they can take away from this event. Watching anything in the future, I’m going to maintain with that statement. My time is now. Six years from now. Two years from now. It’s going to be my time."
Mu may appear in one final race at these Olympics, the 4x400 relay, and further announce to the world her status as one of its premier runners.