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United States at the Olympics

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Template:Infobox Olympics United States 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 2,520 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) (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. 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 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 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:

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.

Flagbearers

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

See also

References

  1. ^ Warren Wofford was the flagbearer in the (Equestrian) parade in Stockholm for the Olympics Equestrian Sports Association events held there because a quarantine imposed on horses prevented equestrian events from taking place in Australia
  2. ^ First woman to carry the flag at the Olympics for United States
  • "United States of America". International Olympic Committee.
  • Template:IOC medals
  • "Olympic Medal Winners". International Olympic Committee.
  • "United States". Sports-Reference.com.

Template:United States at the Olympics

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