The 2024 Paralympic Games have officially come to a close, and Team USA finished with the third-highest total medal count, trailing only China and Great Britain for the most podium finishes.
Team USA finished the 2024 Paralympic Games with 36 gold, 42 silver, and 27 bronze for a total of 105 medals, a slight increase over the 104 accumulated during the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Although picking up 105 medals is incredibly impressive, China managed to secure a total of 220 medals during the games, including 94 gold, 76 silver, and 50 bronze.
Great Britain also finished slightly higher than Team USA but still trailed China by a significant margin, collecting 124 total medals with 49 gold, 44 silver, and 31 bronze.
Although it is common for Team USA to finish atop the medal count during the Olympic Games, China has become the dominant force during the Paralympic Games due to the number of athletes sent.
China sent more athletes than any other country, with 282 athletes traveling to the 2024 games, while Team USA sent just 220 athletes, per the Paralympics.
Additionally, China allows Paralympic athletes to train at the largest facility in the world for disabled athletes while also supporting 30 regional centers around the country for such athletes, according to CNN.
Ian Brittain, a Paralympic sport expert at Coventry University, explained that this infrastructure has allowed China to rise to the top of the Paralympic world.
“Unless a country is willing to replicate this kind of factory farming of para-athletes and invest resources to this degree and beyond — or China decides it no longer wishes to do this — China will continue to dominate for many decades to come,” he explained, per CNN.
Julie Dussliere, United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) chief of Paralympics, said she is excited about the Los Angeles games in 2028 and said the committee will use the opportunity to grow recognition and try to overtake China.
“LA has a history of transformational Games, and this is no doubt a huge opportunity to grow Paralympic sport and reimagine the way the community in LA and across the United States engages,” she added, per CNN.
“Combined with hosting in Salt Lake in 2034, this decade of sport has the potential to [be] extraordinarily impactful for Paralympic sport in the United States,” she said.