The delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics has drawn to a close after two weeks of thrilling action as more than 11,600 athletes competed for glory. The Games are an ideal subject of cultural exchange and the shared experience of participating provides a powerful tool for people-to-people relations, bridging cultural divides and promoting peace.
The Games have always given nations the opportunity to show their best athletes on the international stage and this event was no exception. We’ve already seen that five Commonwealth nations are in the top 20 for achieving the most medals and two of those being Australia at number 6 and New Zealand at 13.
It cannot be understated how successful Australia and New Zealand have been in the Olympics this year, both nations winning 66 medals between them 46 to Australia 17 of them being gold and 22 for New Zealand 7 of them being gold.
One of the most poignant events for Australia was in basketball, on four previous Olympic events Australia has barely missed Olympic bronze for the past 16 years they have been desperately trying to achieve this Olympic medal and fortunately this year they have achieved just that with Patty Mills spearheading the team's efforts to winning the Olympic medal with some in Australia arguing he should be the next prime minister for this achievement.
We also cannot forget New Zealand’s victories this year. Its Olympic team has achieved the most Olympic medals the nation has ever achieved with Lisa Carrington being their most decorated Olympian winning 5 golds and 1 bronze for her nation.
It is a clear point that the Pacific nations of Australia and New Zealand have done incredibly well in the Olympics this year and is a point of pride not just for themselves but for the entire commonwealth.
Canada also came away with quite a haul winning 302 medals 64 gold, 102 silver, 136 bronze — over the course of 26 Olympiads. Mohammed Ahmed became the first Canadian to win a men's long-distance track medal at the Olympics. And who can forget the women's soccer team winning the gold medal — finally — in penalty kicks?
India and Malaysia, the only two Asian Commonwealth countries competing in the Olympics this year, won seven and two medals respectively. India’s Neeraj Chopra made history winning his country’s first-ever track and field gold, the second Indian to ever win an individual gold in the Olympics after Abhinav Bindra in the 10m air rifle event at Beijing 2008. Chopra also received a personal congratulations from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter.
India won additional accolades off the field by emerging as the loudest country to engage about the Games on Facebook and Instagram, with data from Facebook and Instagram showing that India has overtaken the United States and Brazil in Olympic-related conversations on the two websites.
Moving on to Kenya, runner Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s marathon, cruising to victory ahead of everybody else in the field. He finished the race in 2:08.38, which was more than a minute faster than the next best runner. In the men’s 800 meters, Emmanuel Korir took home the gold, the fourth consecutive gold by a Kenyan man in the event.
Below you can see the medal count of #TeamCommonwealth. We at CFOC would like to congratulate all athletes that participated in the Tokyo Olympics on their massive achievement.
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