United States at the Olympics

United States at the Olympic Games
Flag of the United States IOC code  USA NOC United States Olympic Committee
Olympic history
Summer Games
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 Games
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
Intercalated Games
1906

The United States of America has 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 2,400 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 281 at the Winter Olympic Games. Most medals have been won in athletics (track and field) (767, 32%) and swimming (520, 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. U.S. athlete Michael Phelps is the most-decorated Olympic athlete of any nation, with 22 Olympic medals (including 18 golds).

The United States has won 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, it now primarily contends with China 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 two winter Olympics: 1932 in Lake Placid and 2010 in Vancouver. At the 2010 games, the United States set a record for 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:

Games	Host city	Dates	Nations	Participants	Events
1904 Summer Olympics	St. Louis, Missouri	1 July – 23 November	12	651	91
1932 Winter Olympics	Lake Placid, New York	7 – 15 February	17	252	14
1932 Summer Olympics	Los Angeles, California	30 July – 14 August	37	1,332	117
1960 Winter Olympics	Squaw Valley, California	2 – 20 February	30	665	27
1980 Winter Olympics	Lake Placid, New York	13 – 24 February	37	1,072	38
1984 Summer Olympics	Los Angeles, California	20 July – 18 August	140	6,829	221
1996 Summer Olympics	Atlanta, Georgia	18 July – 4 August	197	10,318	271
2002 Winter Olympics	Salt Lake City, Utah	8 – 24 February	77	2,399	78

Medal tables

See also: All-time Olympic Games medal count

*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	36	110	2
2012 London	530	46	28	29	103	1
2016 Rio de Janeiro
2020 Tokyo
Total		976	757	666	2399	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
2022 Beijing
Total		96	102	84	282	2

Medals by summer sport

   Leading in that sport

   Dropped from the current Olympics program

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Athletics	322	249	197	768
Swimming	230	164	126	520
Shooting	53	29	25	107
Wrestling	52	43	34	129
Diving	49	42	44	135
Boxing	49	23	39	111
Gymnastics	33	36	33	102
Rowing	32	31	24	87
Basketball	21	2	3	26
Tennis	20	5	11	36
Sailing	19	23	17	59
Weightlifting	16	16	11	43
Cycling	14	18	20	52
Archery	14	10	8	32
Equestrian	11	20	18	49
Beach volleyball	6	2	1	9
Canoeing	5	5	6	16
Synchronized swimming	5	2	2	9
Football	4	2	1	7
Golf	3	3	4	10
Volleyball	3	3	2	8
Softball	3	1	0	4
Fencing	2	7	12	21
Taekwondo	2	2	4	8
Rugby union	2	0	0	2
Water polo	1	5	4	10
Judo	1	3	8	12
Roque	1	1	1	3
Tug of war	1	1	1	3
Baseball	1	0	2	3
Jeu de paume	1	0	0	1
Modern pentathlon	0	6	3	9
Polo	0	1	1	2
Lacrosse	0	1	0	1
Field hockey	0	0	2	2
Triathlon	0	0	1	1
Total*	976	756	665	2397

Updated on March 1, 2014

*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
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

See also: List of flag bearers for the United States at the Olympics

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	Fencing
1960 Rome	Rafer Johnson	Athletics
1964 Tokyo	Parry O'Brien	Athletics
1968 Mexico City	Janice Romary	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

Winter Olympics

Games	Athlete	Sport
1924 Chamonix	Clarence Abel	Ice hockey
1928 St. Moritz	Godfrey Dewey
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

See also

• United States at the Paralympics