The United States make Olympic history in 2021

Over the summer, team USA competed in the Tokyo Olympic Summer Games of 2020. Despite the name, these games were held over the summer of 2021. It was decided that for the health and wellbeing of the athletes, international community and everyone involved in the Olympics, to postpone the event until it was safe, considering the pandemic and unknown variables. This unusual change in events didn’t stop team USA from pulling through and victoriously walking away with a total of 113 medals overall. With 39 Gold, 41 Silver and 33 Bronze medals team USA finished the Summer Olympic Games on top.

In basketball, the women’s team brought home their seventh consecutive gold medal. Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird became the first players ever to win five olympic gold medals. The USA men’s basketball team suffered from their first loss since the 2004 games. They were beaten by France in an 83-76 win over the American team. Women’s volleyball earned their first Olympic medal against Brazil. This is the first win for Team USA in women’s volleyball since the sport was introduced in 1964. 

On the other hand, the Men’s Volleyball team reached the end of the road earlier than expected after being defeated by Team Argentina in a 25-21 game, closing their Olympic door for the summer. Going into swimming, Caeleb Dressel finished the Olympics with five gold medals. Bobby Finke made his olympic debut, coming out with a gold in the 800m freestyle set. 17 year old Lydia Jacoby became the state of Alaska’s first gold medal olympian after completing the 100m breaststroke, putting her on top of the podium.

In more noteworthy news, surfing debuted in the 2020 games and USA earned its first gold medal when Hawaii’s Carissa Moore competed in the shortboard competition. In gymnastics, the USA women’s team fought through last minute changes after past Olympian, Simone Biles, dropped out of the all round competition due to mental health concerns. Despite this, the team pulled through and Suni Lee won gold for the USA for the fifth summer in a row. Team USA is currently continuing to make history in the Paralympic Games.