NPR News

The United States has become the first country to win 3,000 Olympic medals

By Maquita Peters

Published July 30, 2024 at 7:05 PM CDT

From left, U.S. silver medalist Regan Smith, Australian gold medalist Kaylee McKeown and U.S. bronze medalist Katharine Berkoff pose with their medals following the women's 100-meter backstroke swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday. Berkoff's bronze was not only the 3,000th medal for Team USA, but also the 600th Olympic medal earned by a USA swimming athlete.

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The United States has become the first country to surpass the 3,000-Olympic medal barrier. This record tally includes both Summer and Winter Games and was helped Tuesday by Team USA's historic performances in Paris in the pool, picking up four medals.

Among the highlights were Regan Smith claiming silver in the women's 100-meter backstroke and her teammate Katharine Berkoff capturing bronze. Australian Kaylee McKeown defended her Olympic title, setting a new record of 57.33.

No one does it like U.S. 🇺🇸

Team USA has won 3,000 Olympic medals!#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/r5cKgnA6Ux
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 30, 2024

But it was Berkoff's bronze that earned the distinction not only of marking the 3,000th medal ever for Team USA, but also the 600th Olympic medal earned by a U.S. swimming athlete.

Where the United States stands in the medal count in Paris, so far

Rounding out the individual swimming events was Team USA's Bobby Finke silver medal in the men's 800-meter freestyle. Irishman Daniel Wiffen, who claimed his nation's first medal this Olympics with his win, bested Finke in a time of 7:38.19. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri won bronze.

It wasn't, however, only individual wins for Team USA; the men's 4X200 freestyle relay team comprising the quartet of Luke Hobson, Carson Foster, Drew Kibler and Kieran Smith won the silver medal with a time of 7:00.78, 1.35 seconds behind Great Britain, which won the gold. Australia won the bronze.

Team USA's journey to reach the 3,000-medal milestone couldn't have happened without the massive 5.8-point margin win for the women's gymnastics team to reclaim the gold medal over Italy in the all-around competition. Simone Biles, who finished as the leading scorer of the night, along with teammates Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee and Jade Carey, got Olympic glory for their country with medal No. 2,998.