[imagesource: Marko Djurica / Reuters]

The Olympics have come and gone, and now the four three-year wait starts once more.

Paris 2024, you’re up.

Tokyo did provide some truly exceptional moments, like the race many are calling the greatest in Olympic history, and our own Tatjana Schoenmaker breaking the world record en route to gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

A less than stellar medal haul on the whole, but we celebrate nonetheless.

Let’s cover some of the standout stats from Tokyo via the BBC, starting with the final medal table:

That’s the US topping the medal table for the sixth time in the past seven Olympic Games, having been pipped by China at the 2008 Beijing Games.

For those who don’t know, ROC stands for ‘Russian Olympic Committee’, with more via Sporting News:

Athletes aren’t competing under the Russian flag because of a punishment handed down by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Originally, Russia had been suspended for four years of Olympic action, but in late 2020, that punishment was reduced to two years.

During that two-year period, athletes that weren’t involved in the Russian doping scandal are still able to compete in Olympic competition. That’s why there are 335 Russians competing in the 2021 Olympics. However, they have to do it as neutrals.

In the all-time medal table, the US is well clear in top spot, with China in fourth behind the former Soviet Union and Great Britain.

There were 22 world records broken on Tokyo, down from 27 in Rio five years ago.

To shake things up, here’s what the 2020 Olympic medal table would look like if population was taken into account:

The Bermuda gold medal also created a cracking trivia question.

Which Olympian won gold in an event that was longer than walking from one side of their country to the other?

That would be triathlete Flora Duffy.

Now let’s talk wealth:

All of a sudden, the US isn’t sitting so pretty.

Time for some great photos, starting with these from The Washington Post:

See the rest of those here.

The BBC also put together a list of their best snaps:

See that full list here.

Let’s finish with a few people who didn’t cover themselves in glory.

The Ozzie men’s rugby and rowing teams certainly stand out, as well as the man who provided the Olympics with its own Mike Tyson moment.

Then there’s French marathon runner Morhad Amdouni, who sparked outrage by appearing to intentionally knock over a row of water bottles during the men’s marathon event.

This clip has been widely shared:

Thoughts on Amdouni knocking over an entire row of water before taking the last one? pic.twitter.com/qrPaSzxLBW

— Ben St Lawrence (@bennysaint) August 8, 2021

It certainly doesn’t look great, with Piers Morgan labelling Amdouni the “biggest dickhead of the Olympics”. Takes one to know one, and all that.

Some say it was accidental, some say it was intentional, and one guy reckons we should appreciate it for an altogether different reason:

Amdouni could only finish 14th, with Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge once again claiming gold, so it wasn’t that brilliant.

All in all, given what was being said ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, just making it through the entire list of scheduled events can be classed a success.

[sources:bbc&washpost&bbc]