How Latin America fared at the Paris 2024 Olympics compared to Tokyo 2020

The Paris Olympic Games came to a close on Sunday. And as the Olympic flame goes out, it is time to take stock.

For Latin America, the final results of this Olympiad are positive: four countries in the region that had not managed to win medals in Tokyo 2020 reached the podium on this occasion.

Chile, Peru, Panama and Guatemala managed to get into the Olympic medal table, improving their performance compared to three years ago.

In addition, countries such as Ecuador and Mexico achieved more Olympic podiums than they had achieved in the previous games (which were held in 2021, due to the pandemic).

However, not all was glory for the region.

Brazil, Colombia and Cuba won far fewer medals than they had been accumulating.

The Cuban case is striking: in Paris 2024, the island won just two golds. In Tokyo 2020, it had won seven.

Brazil had a similar performance: it went from seven gold medals in Tokyo to just three in these Games. In addition, Venezuela, which had won four medals in Tokyo 2020, this time left with zero.

In the overall medal table, the United States and China tied for the most gold medals (40), but the Americans remained in first place in the table thanks to the fact that they had a greater amount of silver.

And although Latin American countries were far from the top positions (the best placed was Brazil, at number 20), the truth is that the feats of the fifth consecutive gold for the Cuban wrestler Mijaín López and the Olympic record of the Guatemalan shooter Adriana Ruano became moments for Olympic history.

BBC Mundo tells you how Latin American countries fared in Paris 2024, compared to Tokyo 2020.

Overall, Latin America fared better at Paris 2024 than at Tokyo 2020.

In these games that have just concluded in the French capital, Peru, Chile, Guatemala and Panama won medals, unlike what had happened in Tokyo where they had left with zero medals in their pockets.

It is also worth noting that the gold medal won by shooter Adriana Ruano Oliva was the first gold medal in the history of Guatemala.

Ruano Oliva also finished last in Tokyo 2020 in the same event, the women’s trap.

“I definitely had a disappointment in Tokyo and this time I just wanted to do it bigger and better. I trained hard and did everything I could and I am very happy to win a medal,” Ruano told the media after climbing to the top of the podium in Paris.

Guatemala also won a bronze in the men’s trap with shooter Jean Pierre Brol.

The Chilean case was also historic. The gold medal won by Chilean Francisca Crovetto in women’s skeet was the first medal for a woman from that country at the Olympic Games.

The southern country also won silver in wrestling. Chile had not won a single medal since tennis player Fernando González, who had won gold in Athens 2004, won silver in Beijing 2008.

Peru also ended a long medal drought: 32 years.

Sailor Stefano Peschiera took bronze in the sailing event and managed to raise his country’s flag across the Olympic sky some three decades after shooter Juan Giha took silver in shooting at Barcelona 92.

Another country that celebrated wildly was Ecuador. In Paris 2024, Ecuadorian athletes achieved the historic figure of five medals: one gold, two silver and two bronze.

There were three in Tokyo, but two of them were gold.

Two of the medals won in Paris were by race walker Daniel Pintado, who took gold in the 20km event and silver in the mixed marathon relay with his compatriot Glenda Morejón.

Added to this is the Mexican case.

Although there were expectations within the country of many more medals and, above all, of achieving a gold medal (they have not achieved this since the gold in men’s football in London 2012), the truth is that the balance is better than in Tokyo.

In Paris, three silver medals and two bronze medals were won, compared to four bronze medals three years ago.

And history will go down in history with the feat of Cuban Mijaín López, who won his fifth consecutive gold medal in wrestling in the 130-kilogram category. Something that no other athlete in the history of the Olympics had ever achieved.

In addition, he did it against another fighter from the region: the Cuban naturalized Chilean Yasmani Acosta, who took home the silver.

In Tokyo, Latin American countries had managed to collect 17 gold medals. In Paris, the number of gold medals for the region was only 10.

This is largely due to the weaker performance of two delegations: the Brazilian and the Cuban.

At Tokyo 2020, Brazil had achieved an incredible harvest: seven gold medals, which placed the country in 12th place in the Olympic medal table.

But in Paris 2024, the gold medal count was reduced to three. Perhaps the most notable of these medals was won by gymnast Rebeca Andrade, in the artistic gymnastics floor event.

One of the reasons may be that in 2021, the same year that the Olympics were held in the Japanese capital, the Brazilian government eliminated the Ministry of Sport and a year earlier had halved the budget for the Olympic program.

Another case is Cuba, which did not shine like the Olympic power it usually is.

In Tokyo 2020, Cuban athletes had achieved a grand total of seven gold medals: wrestling, boxing and shooting had raised their flag high.

But in Paris only two golds were won: the historic one for López in wrestling, plus that of Erislandy Álvarez in boxing. Cuba’s worst performance since Mexico 68.

The truth is that it was something that was coming: the Cuban delegation in Paris 2024 was the smallest since the Tokyo Olympics… but in 1964.

“This small delegation is symptomatic of the current state of sport in Cuba. It also reveals how serious the current socio-economic crisis really is,” wrote Robert Huish, a professor of social studies at Dalhousie University.

This kind of crisis can also be seen replicated in Venezuela’s performance.

In Tokyo 2020, Venezuelans had achieved the historic number of four Olympic medals, of which one was gold and the other three were silver.

And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.