Chinese state media has declared the country the winners of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after embellishing their medal count to claim more golds than Team USA, according to pictures posted online, Daily Mail reports.
The official International Olympic Committee (IOC) medal count named the United States in first place and China in second place overall.
The US took home 39 gold medals, 41 silver medals, and 33 bronze for a total of 113 medals.
China earned 38 gold medals, 32 silver medals, and 18 bronze medals for a total of 88 medals.
But a week after the end of the Olympics, images posted on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, and China Central Television have circulated which show an altered medal count – with China also claiming medals won by Hong Kong and Taiwan.
By adding Hong Kong and Taiwan’s medals, China’s self-claimed medal count jumped to 41 gold, 37 silver, and 27 bronze for an accumulative 106 medals.
And although that still puts them second in terms of total medals overall, the “winner” of the Olympics is typically ranked as the country that wins the most golds.
Some modified images even show China claiming medals from Macau giving them 42 gold medals, according to Taiwan News.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region (SAR) of China officially known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
It governs itself under the ‘one country, two systems’ philosophy.
Taiwan is officially known as the Republic of China and claims independence from the People’s Republic of China (PRC)- the borders that are commonly referred to as mainland China.
Macau is another autonomous SAR on the south coast of China. Like Hong Kong, it also governs under the ‘one country, two systems’ principal.
The International Olympic Committee recognizes Hong Kong and Taiwan – referred to as Chinese Taipei by the IOC – as competing independently from China as National Olympic Committees (NOC).
While it normally competes separately from the PRC during international competitions, the IOC does not recognize Macau as a National Olympic Committee.
Taiwan took 34th place in the Olympics with 2 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 6 bronze medals for a total of 12.
Hong Kong placed 49th in the Olympics with 1 gold medal, 2 silver medals, and 3 bronze medals for another total of 12 medals.
Out of the 11,656 athletes that competed in Tokyo last month, the PRC sent 431 athletes to compete in the games while the US sent 634 athletes.
The PCR has finished in the top three spots in the overall medal tally in every summer Olympics since the 2000 games in Sydney.
This year the PRC came close to topping the medal table, as they began the last day of competitions leading the gold medal count with 38 compared to Team USA’s 36.
But on the final day, Team USA women’s volleyball and women’s basketballs won their games to bring in the final gold medals that topped off the count and solidified the win for the United States.
