American Michael Phelps is the record holder for gold medals at the Olympic Games, with 23. By country, the United States leads the ranking, with 1229 gold medals. Kenya is the African nation with the most medals, followed by South Africa and Ethiopia. Mozambique occupies an honourable 14th place on the continent, thanks to the two medals won by Maria Mutola in athletics. See our list of 15 favourites to win gold in Paris, five of whom are African.
Winning a medal at the Olympic Games is the dream of every top athlete. That’s why the Paris Games Athletes’ Commission, made up of 18 former champions, was involved in choosing the creative proposal. The design, by jeweller Chaumet, which belongs to the French luxury conglomerate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), associates the Olympic rings with the hexagonal shape of Paris’ greatest icon – the Eiffel Tower.
And how much is each medal worth? The International Olympic Committee (IOC) requires it to be at least 6 grams of gold and 92.5 per cent silver. This means that if the gold medal from the Paris Games were melted down, it would be worth 933,000 dollars (2.9 billion meticais) at the current price. However, we know that its real and sentimental value is much higher.
The world record for an auctioned Olympic medal belongs to American Jesse Owens, who won it at the 1936 Games in Berlin and sold it for 1.5 million dollars (4.7 billion meticais) in 2013. What’s new in Paris is that the International Athletics Federation (FIA) has decided to award, for the first time, a prize of 50,000 dollars (158,600 meticais) to the winner of a gold medal in athletics.
Kenya is the African country with the most gold medals
The athlete with the most Olympic medals is US swimmer Michael Phelps, with a total of 28, 23 of which are gold. He also holds the record for being the athlete to win the most gold medals (8) in a single edition of the Games, in 2008 in Beijing. Next on the podium are two gymnasts from the former USSR: Larisa Latynina, with 18 medals, and Nikolai Andrianov, with 15.
By country, the United States is also the clear leader with 1229 gold medals in the 29 editions already held. The former Soviet Union comes second, with 473 (with the Russian Federation there would be 763), and Germany third, with 384 (adding the former East Germany there would be 577). Curiously, China has the same number of gold medals as Germany, but loses out to the latter in the sum of silver and bronze medals.
As far as Africa is concerned, Kenya is the country with the most gold medals (35 out of a total of 113), followed by South Africa (27) and Ethiopia (23). Close behind are Egypt (8), Morocco (7), Algeria (5) and Tunisia (5). Mozambique occupies an honourable 14th place on the continent, with one gold medal (in Sydney, 2000) and one bronze (in Atlanta, 1996). Both were won by Maria de Lurdes Mutola, the greatest athlete in the country’s history, in the 800 metre athletics event.
The fifteen favourites to win medals in Paris
The eyes of the world will be on the return to the Games of US gymnast Simone Biles, a four-time Olympic champion. The same goes for LeBron James, four-time NBA champion, who is aiming to lead the United States to a 17th Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball. The country is also pinning its hopes for gold on rookie sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.
As for the Europeans, the highlights go to two Frenchmen: swimmer Léon Marchand, a five-time world champion, and judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou, the defending Olympic champion in the up to 63kg category. Another European highlight is Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, who won gold at Tokyo 2020 by jumping 6.02 metres in the men’s pole vault.
Elsewhere, Sun Yingsha is expected to maintain China’s winning streak in table tennis. India’s Neeraj Chopra is also expected to repeat his Tokyo gold in the men’s javelin and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in swimming. Among the younger athletes, the hope of an Olympic triumph lies with Brazilian skater Rayssa Leal, who is only 16. Of the younger players, tennis player Novak Djokovic returns to the Olympic Games for the fifth time in search of his first gold medal.
Finally, the African favourites to win the gold medal are two-time Kenyan Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge, who is aiming to win the Olympic marathon for the third time in a row. Other names to watch out for are Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) and Tobi Amusan (Nigeria), both in athletics. In the men’s competitions, Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) and boxer Patrick Chinyemba (Zambia) stand out.
Jaime Fidalgo
