United States at the Olympics

United States at the Olympics
Flag of the United States
IOC code	USA
NOC	United States Olympic Committee
Medals	Gold Silver Bronze Total 1,118 896 789 2,803
Summer appearances
1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016
Winter appearances
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

The United States of America have sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games, except the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott. The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.

U.S. athletes have won a total of 2,521 medals (1,022 of them being gold) at the Summer Olympic Games and another 282 at the Winter Olympic Games. Most medals have been won in athletics (track and field) (801, 32%) and swimming (553, 22%). Thomas Burke was the first athlete to represent the United States at the Olympics. He took first place in both the 100 meters and the 400 meters of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. American track and field athlete James Connolly was the first modern Olympic champion. He took first place in the triple jump which was the first opening day final event at the 1896 Summer Olympics. American swimmer Michael Phelps is the most-decorated Olympic athlete of any nation, with 28 medals (including 23 golds).

The United States has won gold at every games at which it has competed, more gold and overall medals than any other country in the Summer Games and also has the second-most gold and overall medals at the Winter Games, trailing only Norway. From the mid-20th century to the late 1980s, the United States mainly competed with the Soviet Union at Summer Games and with the Soviet Union, Norway, and East Germany at the Winter Games. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it now primarily contends with China and Great Britain at the Summer Games for both the overall medal count and the gold medal count and with Norway at the Winter Games for the overall medal count.

The United States has topped the total medal count at 17 Summer Olympics and one Winter Olympics: 1932 in Lake Placid. At the 2010 games, the United States set a record for the most total medals (37) of any country at a single Winter Olympics.

Hosted Games

The United States have hosted the Games on eight occasions, more than any other country:

Medal tables

*Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Medals by Summer Games Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank 1896 Athens 14 11 7 2 20 1 1900 Paris 75 19 14 14 47 2 1904 St. Louis 526 78 82 79 239 1 1908 London 122 23 12 12 47 2 1912 Stockholm 174 25 19 19 63 1 1920 Antwerp 288 41 27 27 95 1 1924 Paris 299 45 27 27 99 1 1928 Amsterdam 280 22 18 16 56 1 1932 Los Angeles 474 41 32 30 103 1 1936 Berlin 359 24 20 12 56 2 1948 London 300 38 27 19 84 1 1952 Helsinki 286 40 19 17 76 1 1956 Melbourne 297 32 25 17 74 2 1960 Rome 292 34 21 16 71 2 1964 Tokyo 346 36 26 28 90 1 1968 Mexico City 357 45 28 34 107 1 1972 Munich 400 33 31 30 94 2 1976 Montreal 396 34 35 25 94 3 1980 Moscow Did not participate 1984 Los Angeles 522 83 61 30 174 1 1988 Seoul 527 36 31 27 94 3 1992 Barcelona 545 37 34 37 108 2 1996 Atlanta 646 44 32 25 101 1 2000 Sydney 586 37 24 32 93 1 2004 Athens 613 36 39 26 101 1 2008 Beijing 596 36 38 37 111 2 2012 London 530 46 28 29 103 1 2016 Rio de Janeiro 554 46 37 38 121 1 2020 Tokyo Future event 2024 Paris Future event 2028 Los Angeles Future event Total 1022 794 705 2521 1

Medals by Winter Games Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank 1924 Chamonix 24 1 2 1 4 5 1928 St. Moritz 24 2 2 2 6 2 1932 Lake Placid 64 6 4 2 12 1 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 55 1 0 3 4 8 1948 St. Moritz 69 3 4 2 9 4 1952 Oslo 65 4 6 1 11 2 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo 67 2 3 2 7 6 1960 Squaw Valley 79 3 4 3 10 3 1964 Innsbruck 89 1 2 4 7 8 1968 Grenoble 95 1 5 1 7 9 1972 Sapporo 103 3 2 3 8 5 1976 Innsbruck 106 3 3 4 10 3 1980 Lake Placid 101 6 4 2 12 3 1984 Sarajevo 107 4 4 0 8 3 1988 Calgary 118 2 1 3 6 9 1992 Albertville 147 5 4 2 11 5 1994 Lillehammer 147 6 5 2 13 5 1998 Nagano 186 6 3 4 13 5 2002 Salt Lake City 202 10 13 11 34 3 2006 Turin 211 9 9 7 25 2 2010 Vancouver 216 9 15 13 37 3 2014 Sochi 230 9 7 12 28 4 2018 Pyeongchang Future event 2022 Beijing Future event Total 96 102 84 282 2

Medals by summer sport    Leading in that sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank Athletics 335 259 207 801 1 Swimming 246 172 135 553 1 Wrestling 54 43 35 132 2 Shooting 54 29 27 110 1 Boxing 50 24 40 114 1 Diving 49 44 45 138 1 Gymnastics 37 42 35 114 2 Rowing 33 32 24 89 1 Basketball 23 2 3 28 1 Tennis 21 6 12 39 1 Sailing 19 23 18 60 2 Cycling 16 21 20 57 5 Weightlifting 16 16 12 44 3 Archery 14 11 9 34 2 Equestrian 11 21 20 52 4 Beach volleyball 6 2 2 10 1 Canoeing 5 5 6 16 15 Synchronized swimming 5 2 2 9 2 Football 4 2 1 7 1 Golf 3 3 5 11 1 Volleyball 3 3 4 10 3 Softball 3 1 0 4 1 Fencing 2 9 14 25 14 Water polo 2 5 4 11 5 Judo 2 4 8 14 15 Taekwondo 2 2 5 9 3 Rugby union 2 0 0 2 1 Roque 1 1 1 3 1 Tug of war 1 1 1 3 2 Baseball 1 0 2 3 2 Triathlon 1 0 1 2 7 Jeu de paume 1 0 0 1 1 Modern pentathlon 0 6 3 9 12 Polo 0 1 1 2 4 Lacrosse 0 1 0 1 2 Field hockey 0 0 2 2 12 Badminton 0 0 0 0 10+ Handball 0 0 0 0 10+ Table tennis 0 0 0 0 10+ Total* 1022 794 705 2521 Updated on March 1, 2017 *This table does not include two medals – one silver awarded in the ice hockey and one bronze awarded in the figure skating events at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Medals by winter sport    Leading in that sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total Speed skating 29 22 16 67 Alpine skiing 16 19 9 44 Figure skating 15 16 18 49 Snowboarding 10 5 9 24 Freestyle skiing 8 7 6 21 Bobsleigh 7 7 10 24 Short track speed skating 4 6 9 19 Ice hockey 3 11 2 16 Skeleton 3 4 1 8 Nordic combined 1 3 0 4 Luge 0 2 3 5 Cross country skiing 0 1 0 1 Ski jumping 0 0 1 1 Curling 0 0 1 1 Biathlon 0 0 0 0 Total* 96 103 85 284 Updated on March 1, 2014 *This table includes two medals – one silver awarded in the ice hockey and one bronze awarded in the figure skating events at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Flagbearers

Summer Olympics Games Athlete Sport 1908 London Ralph Rose Athletics 1912 Stockholm George Bonhag Athletics 1920 Antwerp Pat McDonald Athletics 1924 Paris Pat McDonald Athletics 1928 Amsterdam Bud Houser Athletics 1932 Los Angeles Morgan Taylor Athletics 1936 Berlin Al Jochim Gymnastics 1948 London Ralph Craig Sailing 1952 Helsinki Norman Armitage Fencing 1956 Melbourne Norman Armitage [1] Fencing 1960 Rome Rafer Johnson Athletics 1964 Tokyo Parry O'Brien Athletics 1968 Mexico City Janice Romary [2] Fencing 1972 Munich Olga Fikotova Connolly Athletics 1976 Montreal Gary Hall, Sr. Swimming 1980 Moscow USA did not participate 1984 Los Angeles Ed Burke Athletics 1988 Seoul Evelyn Ashford Athletics 1992 Barcelona Francie Larrieu Smith Athletics 1996 Atlanta Bruce Baumgartner Wrestling 2000 Sydney Cliff Meidl Canoeing 2004 Athens Dawn Staley Basketball 2008 Beijing Lopez Lomong Athletics 2012 London Mariel Zagunis Fencing 2016 Rio de Janeiro Michael Phelps Swimming

Winter Olympics Games Athlete Sport 1924 Chamonix Clarence Abel Ice hockey 1928 St. Moritz Godfrey Dewey Cross Country Skiing (team manager) 1932 Lake Placid Billy Fiske Bobsleigh 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Rolf Monsen Cross Country Skiing 1948 St. Moritz Jack Heaton Skeleton & Bobsleigh 1952 Oslo Jim Bickford Bobsleigh 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Jim Bickford Bobsleigh 1960 Squaw Valley Don McDermott Speed skating 1964 Innsbruck Bill Disney Speed skating 1968 Grenoble Terry McDermott Speed skating 1972 Sapporo Dianne Holum Speed skating 1976 Innsbruck Cindy Nelson Alpine skiing 1980 Lake Placid Scott Hamilton Figure skating 1984 Sarajevo Frank Masley Luge 1988 Calgary Lyle Nelson Biathlon 1992 Albertville Bill Koch Cross Country Skiing 1994 Lillehammer Cammy Myler Luge 1998 Nagano Eric Flaim Speed Skating 2002 Salt Lake City Amy Peterson Short track 2006 Turin Chris Witty Speed skating 2010 Vancouver Mark Grimmette Luge 2014 Sochi Todd Lodwick Nordic combined

Amateurism and professionalism

The exclusion of professionals caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics. The 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion Jim Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics. His medals were posthumously restored by the IOC in 1983 on compassionate grounds.^[3]

The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.^[4][5] As a result, the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Pierre de Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes.

See also

• United States at the Paralympics
• List of United States Olympic medalists

References

External links

• "United States of America". International Olympic Committee. 
• "Results and Medalists". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. 
• "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee. 
• "United States". Sports-Reference.com.