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Fewer medals, more heart for US at a most unusual Olympics

Tokyo Olympics Closing Ceremony
Posted at 6:08 AM, Aug 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-10 08:08:57-04

TOKYO (AP) — The Americans won 113 medals at the Olympics. It was the fifth straight Summer Games at which they finished with a double-digit lead over the next country.

Still, it was not 121 medals, which is what they won five years ago in a Rio de Janeiro with fewer events.

But when the U.S. athletes voted for a flagbearer at the closing ceremony, medals didn't matter.

They chose four-time Olympian Kara Winger, a javelin thrower who has never won any hardware.

In doing so, they tapped into the core message resonating inside a fractured, fractious U.S. Olympic family over the last few years: The medals shouldn’t matter as much as the athletes who compete.