Great Britain shine at Tokyo Olympics to become best European team

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Great Britain was the best European team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, returning home with 65 medals, including 22 golds.

Team GB came in fourth in the Tokyo 2020 medal count after bagging 22 gold, 21 silver, and 22 bronze medals.

The top three in the medal standings were non-European countries.

The US topped the list with 113 medals, including 39 gold. China placed second with 88 medals including 38 gold ones.

Host nation Japan won 58 medals, including 27 gold, to end the Games standing third.

British swimmers James Guy and Adam Peaty led their team as the athletes won three medals each.

Guy and Peaty earned two gold and one silver each in Japan's capital.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics ran from July 23 to Aug. 8.

- Russian Olympic Committee take 71 medals but stand behind Team GB

With 71 Olympic medals, the Russian Olympic Committee won more medals than Great Britain at the Tokyo 2020 Games but they earned less gold than the Team GB.

So Team GB were ahead of the ROC in the medal standings.

The Russian Olympic Committee ended the 2020 Games with 20 gold medals.

Vitalina Batsarashkina, in shooting, and Evgeny Rylov, in swimming, were the best Russian athletes to lead their nation in medal count as the Russian pair earned three medals each (two golds and one silver).

- Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy win 10 gold each

The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy were the other European countries to be in the top 10 in the Tokyo 2020 medal count list.

Each of these countries won 10 gold medals at the Games.

The Netherlands bagged 36, France had 33, Germany won 37, and Italy earned 40 medals in Tokyo.

So there were six European countries in the Tokyo 2020 top 10 medal ranking.

- Turkey bring 13 medals from Tokyo

Team Turkey returned home with 13 medals from Tokyo, making it the best Olympic performance in the nation’s history, breaking a 73-year record.

Turkey won two gold medals, two silver, and nine bronze at the Games, postponed from last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It ranked 35th in this year’s medal table.

Turkey enjoyed its best Olympics ever in Japan's capital, beating its medal record sealed in London 1948, where it bagged 12 Olympic medals – six golds, four silver, and two bronze medals.

Turkey’s gold medals in Tokyo came in archery and boxing.

On July 31, Mete Gazoz won the gold in the men's individual archery final, bringing Turkey its first-ever Olympic medal in archery.

Gazoz, 22, beat Italy's Mauro Nespoli 6-4 in the gold medal match. It was Turkey's first gold in Tokyo as well.

Turkey took its second and final gold in Tokyo in women's boxing when Busenaz Surmeneli, 23, became the Olympic welterweight champion on Saturday, the Games’ penultimate day.

Surmeneli defeated China’s Gu Hong 3-0 to secure the first-ever Olympics medal in boxing for Turkey.

- Best European countries in Tokyo Olympics top 10 medal ranking

Great Britain (22 gold, 21 silver, 22 bronze)

Russian Olympic Committee (20 gold, 28 silver, 23 bronze)

The Netherlands (10 gold, 12 silver, 14 bronze)

France (10 gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze)

Germany (10 gold, 11 silver, 16 bronze)

Italy (10 gold, 10 silver, 20 bronze)