China and the Russian Paralympic Committee finished atop the medal table at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
The overall medal race easily belonged to the Chinese juggernaut, with 19 goals, 19 silvers and 18 bronze medals, the most in each category. It took home 56 total medals.
That fits with the overall progression of the Tokyo Paralympics, where China won the overall medal table with 207 pieces of hardware. Its 96 gold medals were more than twice as much as second-place Great Britain, which took third overall with 124 total medals. The United States was third in golds at the Paralympic Games overall at 37 and fourth in total medals at 104.
What a #Paralympics it proved to be for Great Britain!#Tokyo2020
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 5, 2021
In swimming particularly, China benefitted from the Paralympic allowance of up to three swimmers per event. The Chinese swept the podium on four occasions, the men’s S5 50 butterfly, 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke and the women’s S11 100 backstroke, the only nation to do so even once. All three S5 events were won by Zheng Tao, one of the inspirational stars of the Games.
Zheng’s four gold medals led the way for the Chinese delegation, shared by Lu Dong. Wang Lichao led the way with five total medals (one gold, two silver, two bronze). China had 18 swimmers win multiple medals.
Second was the RPC with 17 golds and 49 total medals. The RPC produced two of the top individual medalists of the meet, with Valeriia Shabalina (women’s S14) winning three golds and four total medals, and Roman Zhdanov (men’s S4) claiming three gold and five total medals.
It was quality over quantity for the United States, finishing third with 15 gold medals but fifth overall with 39 medals. Jessica Long again led the way in that effort, with three gold medals and six total, bringing the total in her unparalleled career to 16 Paralympic gold medals and 29 total medals. Only three Americans won more than two medals, Long joined by Mallory Weggemann (two gold, one silver) and Elizabeth Marks (gold, silver, bronze).
The women were the clear strength for the Americans, winning 28 of the 35 medals and 12 of 15 golds. On the men’s side, only Robert Griswold (two golds) and Evan Austin (gold, bronze) won multiple medals.
These are the most decorated male swimmers at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games. Ukrainian Maksym Krypak won seven medals and five gold medals. All his gold medals were won in individual events, so as Belarusian Ihar Boki. pic.twitter.com/arazGKfJVo
— Swimming Stats (@SwimmingStats) September 4, 2021
Ukraine was fourth in golds with 14 and third in overall medals at 43, led by two of the top individual medal winners. Maksym Krypak takes top honors in that regard, with five gold medals and seven total medals. Andrii Trusov also walked away with six medals (two gold) and Yelyzaveta Mershko won five medals (two gold).
Italy likewise had two of the Games’ most prolific winners on the way to 11 golds and 39 total. On the women’s side, Giulia Terzi and Carlotta Gilli each won two gold and five total medals. Stefano Raimondi only won one gold but took home seven total medals, tied with Krypak for the most at the Games. Antonio Fantin won a gold among five medals.
In all, 35 countries earned swimming medals at the Tokyo Paralympics. The host Japanese were 13th on the medal table with 13 medals, including three golds.
In terms of time, 70 world records were set at the Games, led by three resets of the women’s S11 50 freestyle world record between Ma Jia of China and Karolina Peledritou of Cyprus. A total of 136 Paralympic records were set in addition to 206 continental records (eight African records, 56 Americas, 42 Asian, 67 European and 33 Oceanian.)
Paralympic Medal Table
(gold-silver-bronze—total)
- China 19-19-18—56
- RPC 17-14-18—49
- United States 15-10-10—35
- Ukraine 14-18-11—43
- Italy 11-16-12—39
- Australia 8-10-15—33
- Great Britain 8-9-9—26
- Brazil 8-5-10—23
- Israel 6-1-1—8
- Netherlands 5-6-6—17
Top individual total medalists
7 medals
- Maksym Krypak, Ukraine (5 gold, silver, bronze)
- Stefano Raimondi, Italy (gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)
6 medals
- Jessica Long, United States (3 gold, 2 silver, bronze)
- Andrii Trusov, Ukraine (2 gold, 3 silver, bronze)
5 medals
- Ihar Boki, Belarus (5 gold)
- Reece Dunn, Great Britain (3 gold, silver, bronze)
- Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago, Brazil (3 gold, silver, bronze)
- Roman Zhdanov, RPC (3 gold, 2 bronze)
- Giulia Terzi, Italy (2 gold, 2 silver, bronze)
- Carlotta Gilli, Italy (2 gold, 2 silver, bronze)
- Yelyzavata Mereshko, Ukraine (2 gold, 2 silver, bronze)
- Chantalle Zijderveld, Netherlands (2 gold, 2 silver, bronze)
- Aurelie Rivard, Canada (2 gold, silver, 2 bronze)
- Antonio Fantin, Italy (gold, 3 silver, bronze)
- Takayuki Suzuki, Japan (gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
- Lichao Wang, China (gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
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