China is giving tough competition to United states when it comes to the gold medal and overall medal race. We have now 3 years before the next Olympics and there is very much possibility that in that Olympic, china will take the lead over united states. This will be an historic moment in history, if it happens.
This time the European and American teams were at a disadvantage, because the Games took place in Asia. But the next edition is scheduled to take place in Paris, and therefore the disadvantage should be for Asian teams like China and Japan. And I have serious doubts regarding the future of China in sports. Their population is rapidly ageing, and this reduces the player pool.
I am pretty sure that it has 0 impact on the performances of the american and european athletes that the olympic games where in japan this time. The athletes arrive early enough to the Games that jet lag is no longer a problem once the competitions begin. Nowadays, everything is scientifically and medically planned. The European and American athletes would not have performed better on their home continent. For the spectators from Europe, of course, it was not ideal because a competition day began at night time and when people usually came home from work it ended, so from this point of view the competitions took place at exactly the wrong time.
You are right, for now what I do believe is that countries like China and Japan have raised their level in sport a lot, I also know that in the different disciplines that Asian countries had deficiencies they have taken into account to improve it, for example. In women's volleyball, for years they have looked for women who are tall and who are already training them in the sport, they have launched initiatives to train them in this regard, Asian countries are taking all the provisions to highlight the competitions of high level much more, this is good, so the competition increases its level enormously worldwide, the hegemony of the USA and the European countries is lagging behind.
