People's Republic of China claimed the first gold medal of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Day 1 of sporting events on Saturday. China opened its medals account with a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event with Yuting Huang and Lihao Sheng beating Republic of Korea's pair.
China also bagged the second gold of the 33rd Summer Games to further extend their lead in the medals table. The Republic of Korea, the United States of America, Great Britain and Kazakhstan also opened its medal accounts but China was the only team to win gold in the early stages of Day 1 in Paris.
China, the five-time winners at the Olympics, fell just one gold short of topping the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The USA claimed the top spot with 39 gold medals in Tokyo and is in contention for the apex position in the Paris Games.
The USA had to settle for a silver in the women's synchronised 3m springboard event as China's Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen claimed a total of 337.68 points to clinch the gold. Notably, China has claimed gold in the women's synchronised 3m springboard event in each of the last six editions.
Meanwhile, unlike the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Indian contingent failed to clinch a medal on the opening day. India's shooting team in the mixed event finished sixth in the qualifying but Manu Bhaker made the finals of the women's 10m air pistol individual event. India will target their first medals on Sunday with the women's archery team and Manu Bhaker in action.
Paris Olympics 2024 medal table
| Rank | Team | G | S | B | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | People's Republic of China | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Republic of Korea | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | United States of America | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
