Japan wins 20 gold medals at Paris Olympics in new record

Japan’s Kotaro Kiyooka celebrates with his gold medal during the victory ceremony for men’s freestyle 65kg wrestling, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the Paris Olympics 2024, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

PARIS — The Paris Olympics came to an end Sunday with Japan’s team winning 20 gold medals, the nation’s most ever for an Olympics held abroad.

Among all the Olympics so far, Japan’s Paris haul was its second-largest number of gold medals. Japan won 27 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The previous record at an overseas Olympics had been the 16 gold medals that Japanese athletes won in Athens in 2004.

Overall, Japan won 45 medals at the Paris Games, topping the 41 earned in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Kotaro Kiyooka won the gold medal in the men’s 65-kilogram freestyle wrestling on Sunday, and Yuka Kagami secured the gold in the women’s 76-kilogram freestyle event.