China or Japan, who was the biggest winner of the 2026 Asian Games

At the 2026 Asian Games held in Aichi-Nagoya, China emerged as the clear winner with an impressive total of 341 medals, including 169 golds. This haul far surpassed Japan's performance, who secured 269 medals, with 83 golds. Even when combined, the gold medals from the next four nations - South Korea, India, and Uzbekistan - would still fall short of China's gold medal count. Despite this, China still finished on top of the medals tally for the 12th consecutive edition of the Asian Games since 1982.

However, the Chinese team fell short of their total medal count from their previous home Asian Games in Hangzhou 2023, being 42 medals behind (341 in Nagoya compared to 383 in Hangzhou). They also missed out on 32 gold medals (169 in Nagoya compared to 201 in Hangzhou). The shortfall in gold medals was mostly due to the exclusion of certain disciplines like dragon boat racing, xiangqi, and chess from the event, which could have potentially won China more gold medals.

Japan, on the other hand, gained significantly in their home Asian Games. Their biggest gain came in athletics, turning around their two gold medal return from Hangzhou to 10 golds. This improvement was supported by several other sports like judo, fencing, wrestling, and swimming, all of which helped in contributing to their overall medal haul of 269 compared to 188 in Hangzhou.

China's medal tally was made up in 57 different disciplines in Nagoya, down from 47 in Hangzhou. This decline was primarily due to the exclusion of certain disciplines like dragon boat racing, xiangqi, and chess. In contrast, Japan managed to maintain their presence in 56 disciplines in 2026.