The list of American universities with Olympic medalist students and alumni shows the number of Olympic medals won by students and alumni of American universities in
Olympic Games up through
2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Many of these athletes did not compete for the United States; the American college sports model, in which post-secondary institutions sponsor a wide range of athletic competitions and provide scholarships and subsidies to athletes with little regard for their origin, has the effect of drawing university-age athletes from all over the world to the United States for both academic and athletic study.[1][2][3][4]
This list considers both summer and winter Olympic games, and only those who actually received
Olympic medals are counted. Therefore, the list includes Olympic athletes only and excludes coaches, staff managers and so on.[5][6] In addition, if an athlete attended more than one university, that athlete might show up in the medal count of each university attended.[7] For example,
Alma Richards who won the gold medal in the
1912 Stockholm Olympics in the
high jump attended
BYU prep school (degree),
Cornell (degree),
University of Southern California (degree) and
Stanford.[8] He is listed in the medal count for
BYU,
Cornell and
USC, but Stanford does not include him in its list. Finally, in this list, universities are presented in descending order starting from those with the most Olympic medals.
^"Olympians in the Archives!". Iowa State University Library Special Collections Department Blog. 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
^James, Fort; Libraries, University of Maryland (College Park, Md.).
"MAC TO MILLENNIUM: Letter O". www.lib.umd.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-06.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Plizga, Matt, ed. (2016).
2016–17 Men's Basketball Media Guide(PDF). University of Pittsburgh Athletic Media Relations Office. p. 100. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
^Stanford's count (296=150+79+67) may have overlooked or excluded some medals from the past Summer/Winter Olympics. For fair comparison, some of these medals have been manually added to Stanford's count in this list (with supporting sources):
Alma Richards (1 gold),
Debi Thomas (1 bronze),
Sami Jo Small (2 golds, 1 silver), and
John Coyle (1 silver).
^The UCLA count has produced inconsistent and conflicting figures in the past few years, some of which included medals "won" by coaches and staff members. The latest UCLA count claims to include student athletes only, and is thus adopted in this list.
^University of Texas's current count has overlooked or excluded the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics. These medals have been manually added to this list.
^University of Texas's current count has overlooked or excluded the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics. These medals have been manually added to this list.
^This count is fewer than Michigan's count (185=84+47+52) because Michigan's count also includes coaches, staff, etc.
^This count is fewer than Harvard's count (116=47+48+21) because Harvard's count also includes coaches, staff, etc. On the other hand, Harvard's current count has not been updated to reflect the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics – these medals have been manually added to this list.
^Harvard's current count has not been updated to reflect the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics – these medals have been manually added to this list.
^The sources from University of Arizona provide conflicting medal counts. The latest sources (2021 & 2016) are used in this list.
^This count is fewer than Minnesota's count because Minnesota's count also includes coaches.
^This count has not included medalists from 2014 & 2018 Winter Olympics, as well as from 2020 Summer Olympics.
^The count is based on the sources that counted Olympic medalists from the Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Center. But in reality an athlete may not be a student at the university.
^Purdue's count includes
Chris Huffins (bronze medal 2000), who is a coach at Purdue rather than an athlete. He is not included in this list.
The list of American universities with Olympic medalist students and alumni shows the number of Olympic medals won by students and alumni of American universities in
Olympic Games up through
2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Many of these athletes did not compete for the United States; the American college sports model, in which post-secondary institutions sponsor a wide range of athletic competitions and provide scholarships and subsidies to athletes with little regard for their origin, has the effect of drawing university-age athletes from all over the world to the United States for both academic and athletic study.[1][2][3][4]
This list considers both summer and winter Olympic games, and only those who actually received
Olympic medals are counted. Therefore, the list includes Olympic athletes only and excludes coaches, staff managers and so on.[5][6] In addition, if an athlete attended more than one university, that athlete might show up in the medal count of each university attended.[7] For example,
Alma Richards who won the gold medal in the
1912 Stockholm Olympics in the
high jump attended
BYU prep school (degree),
Cornell (degree),
University of Southern California (degree) and
Stanford.[8] He is listed in the medal count for
BYU,
Cornell and
USC, but Stanford does not include him in its list. Finally, in this list, universities are presented in descending order starting from those with the most Olympic medals.
^"Olympians in the Archives!". Iowa State University Library Special Collections Department Blog. 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
^James, Fort; Libraries, University of Maryland (College Park, Md.).
"MAC TO MILLENNIUM: Letter O". www.lib.umd.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-06.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Plizga, Matt, ed. (2016).
2016–17 Men's Basketball Media Guide(PDF). University of Pittsburgh Athletic Media Relations Office. p. 100. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
^Stanford's count (296=150+79+67) may have overlooked or excluded some medals from the past Summer/Winter Olympics. For fair comparison, some of these medals have been manually added to Stanford's count in this list (with supporting sources):
Alma Richards (1 gold),
Debi Thomas (1 bronze),
Sami Jo Small (2 golds, 1 silver), and
John Coyle (1 silver).
^The UCLA count has produced inconsistent and conflicting figures in the past few years, some of which included medals "won" by coaches and staff members. The latest UCLA count claims to include student athletes only, and is thus adopted in this list.
^University of Texas's current count has overlooked or excluded the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics. These medals have been manually added to this list.
^University of Texas's current count has overlooked or excluded the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics. These medals have been manually added to this list.
^This count is fewer than Michigan's count (185=84+47+52) because Michigan's count also includes coaches, staff, etc.
^This count is fewer than Harvard's count (116=47+48+21) because Harvard's count also includes coaches, staff, etc. On the other hand, Harvard's current count has not been updated to reflect the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics – these medals have been manually added to this list.
^Harvard's current count has not been updated to reflect the medals won by
Gabrielle Thomas (1 silver, 1 bronze) at the 2020 Summer Olympics – these medals have been manually added to this list.
^The sources from University of Arizona provide conflicting medal counts. The latest sources (2021 & 2016) are used in this list.
^This count is fewer than Minnesota's count because Minnesota's count also includes coaches.
^This count has not included medalists from 2014 & 2018 Winter Olympics, as well as from 2020 Summer Olympics.
^The count is based on the sources that counted Olympic medalists from the Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Center. But in reality an athlete may not be a student at the university.
^Purdue's count includes
Chris Huffins (bronze medal 2000), who is a coach at Purdue rather than an athlete. He is not included in this list.