USC Athletes Win 21 Medals, Including 9 Golds, At 2016 Rio Olympics
August 22, 2016 | USC Athletics
USC-affiliated athletes won 21 medals (9 golds, 5 silvers and 7 bronzes) at the just-concluded 2016 Rio Olympics, keeping Troy as the leader among U.S. universities for most all-time medals and gold medals and continuing its streak of having won a gold medal at every Summer Olympics since 1912.
USC's 21 medals in Rio were tied for second most by an American university in 2016, while its 9 golds were fourth most. It is the third consecutive Summer Olympics that USC athletes have won at least 20 medals. If USC athletes had competed as a country in 2016, they would have tied for eighth in the gold medal standings at the Rio Games and tied for 11th in overall medals.
Since 1904, there have been 451 athletes who attended USC before, during or after their Olympic appearance, more than any other U.S. university. They have collected 309 medals (144 golds, 93 silvers and 72 bronzes). USC's 309 all-time Summer Olympics medals would rank 14th most among all countries, while its 144 gold medals would be 13th most.
Forty-four current, former and incoming USC students competed in Rio, the most of any U.S. university. It was the fifth consecutive Summer Games that USC has had at least 40 Olympians. In Rio, those Trojans competed in 9 sports and represented 21 countries. Twenty-five of USC's Rio Olympians were women, 29 were competing in their first Games and 9 were current or incoming student-athletes.
Former Trojan swimmer Katinka Hosszu of Hungary captured 4 medals in Rio (3 golds in the 100m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley and a silver in the 200m backstroke) to set a USC record for most individual event medals in a single Olympics.
Two other ex-Trojans–tracksters Allyson Felix of the U.S. (golds in the 400m relay and 1600m relay and silver in the 400m) and Andre De Grasse of Canada (silver in the 200m and bronzes in the 100m and 400m relay)–each won 3 medals. Felix now has won 9 medals and 6 golds in 4 Olympics to become not only the Trojan career leader in total medals and gold medals but also the most decorated U.S. track and field woman Olympic medalist ever (she is tied for most medals among all track and field women internationally). She became the third U.S. woman to win at least 6 golds in any sport.
One-time USC water poloists Kami Craig and Kaleigh Gilchrist won golds with the U.S. in Rio, helping America become the first country to repeat as gold medalist in women's water polo. It was Craig's third Olympic medal (she won a silver in 2008 and gold in 2012). Former Women of Troy track hurdler Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. won a gold in Rio in the 400m intermediate hurdles, becoming the first American woman to get gold in that event. Former USC basketball player DeMar DeRozan of the U.S. also won a gold medal in Rio, becoming the first Trojan to bring home gold in men's basketball.
Other Trojans collecting silver in Rio were 100m high hurdler Nia Ali of the U.S. and swimmer Amanda Weir of the U.S. in the 400m freestyle relay. It was Weir's fourth career Olympic medal after getting a pair of silvers in 2004 and a bronze in 2012.
USC's other bronze medalists in Rio were sprinter Aaron Brown of Canada (400m relay), tennis player Steve Johnson of the U.S. (doubles), beach volleyballer April Ross of the U.S. and American men's volleyballers Micah Christenson and Murphy Troy. Ross also won a silver in 2012.
The 9 medals earned by Trojans in track and field in Rio are the most ever by USC tracksters in a single Games.
For complete coverage of #USC2RIO, go to USCTrojans.com/rio2016 .
