USA, Sept 10 (Alliance News): For the first time in decades, Team USA has found itself trailing in the Paralympic medal standings, finishing third in the 2024 Paralympics final medal table.
While US Olympians have long dominated the Olympic Games, their Paralympic counterparts have historically achieved more modest results.
Since the turn of the 21st century, the US has consistently performed well in the Olympics, often topping the medal table.
However, its Paralympic performance has seen fluctuations, with an average position of fourth from 2000 until Paris. Notably, Ukraine has outperformed Team USA in two of the last four Paralympic Games.
Despite a strong history, where the US topped the Paralympic medal table from 1976 to 1996 and holds records for the most overall and gold medals, recent years have seen a gradual decline.
After finishing sixth in London 2012, the US improved to fourth in Rio 2016 and third in Tokyo 2021. In the 2024 games, the US secured 36 gold medals and 105 overall, finishing behind China and Great Britain.
Julie Dussliere, USOPC Chief of Paralympics, attributed the US’s current standing to the global expansion of the Paralympic movement. She expressed satisfaction with Team USA’s performance, despite the drop in medal standings.
The Paralympics have struggled to attract the same TV viewership as the Olympics, with a significant disparity in audience numbers. In Sydney 2000, while the Olympics garnered 3.7 billion viewers, the Paralympics attracted only 300 million.
