US women have won more medals than all of Australia, France and almost everybody else

PARIS — If U.S. women were a nation unto themselves, their results at the 2024 Paris Olympics would make them one of the most dominant athletic countries on earth.

The exhilarating U.S. soccer victory over Brazil Saturday evening added an exclamation point to what already have been a fabulous Olympic Games for the American women. 

They are winning medals at such a terrific rate that if they jettisoned the guys, they would be third in the overall medal standings, behind only the full U.S. team and China. 

That means half of the U.S. team is performing better at the Paris Olympics than the full teams of about 200 other nations, including 85 countries that have won at least one medal.

The U.S. women are having a better Olympics than the full teams from Australia, Japan, host France, Great Britain, Korea, the Netherlands and Germany — and everyone else.

And they are doing this without medals from some traditional  American Olympic women’s powerhouses. The U.S. was shut out of the medals entirely in water polo, golf and beach volleyball, in addition to some disappointments, as there always are when stars don’t win gold or are perhaps shut out of the medals completely in the big three sports: swimming, track and field and gymnastics. 

For the fourth consecutive Summer Olympics, the U.S. women will win more medals than the U.S. men. As of early Saturday evening, American women have won 58 percent of the total U.S. medals. 

“The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been nothing short of extraordinary, showcasing the incredible talent, determination and confidence of the women athletes of Team USA,” U.S. Olympic & Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said in a text message earlier this week.

“Seeing young stars dominate their sports is both inspiring and a testament to the impact of Title IX. Their performances are a reminder of how far we've come and the boundless potential that still lies ahead. We couldn’t be prouder of their achievements and the example they set for future generations of athletes.”

It’s no secret why this is happening in the United States. It’s what occurs when a nation passes a law — Title IX — that mandates sports participation for all of the children and young adults in the country, not just half of them, the male half. When President Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law in June 1972, he opened the floodgates for women and girls to play sports. 

All these years later, look at the results.