About the medal table
As is traditional, the table prioritises the number of gold medals won. On this basis in 2016, the United States led the field with 46 golds, with Great Britain second on 27 and China third with 26. If countries have the same number of gold medals, the order is then dictated by which has the most silvers, and finally bronze if the numbers are still identical.
The US won 121 medals overall in Rio, while China had more medals overall than Britain, 70 to 67. UK Sport has said it hopes Team GB will win “between 45 and 70” medals in Tokyo.
Japan, the host country at the 2020 Games, came sixth in the medal table in 2016 with 12 gold medals. Before the pandemic it was targeting 30 golds at these Games, but its Olympic committee says it no longer has a target.
Australia came 10th at Rio, with eight gold medals, equal on golds with Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands.