TOKYO — Team USA, whose 600-plus athletes competed in hundreds of events over 19 whirlwind days here, staged a thrilling comeback in the final hours of the 2020 Olympics to top the gold medal table for the third Summer Games in a row.
The U.S. entered Sunday trailing China 38-36 in that vaunted gold medal column. But U.S. women’s basketball beat Japan in their final, and American cyclist Jennifer Valente won gold in her omnium points race, to pull the U.S. level at around 1 p.m. here in Tokyo.
And then, a little before 3 p.m. at the Ariake Arena, U.S. women’s volleyball won their first-ever Olympic title to clinch the nation’s spot atop the gold medal table for good.
