U.S. athletes left London with a total of 105 medals (48 gold, 26 silver and 31 bronze), finishing at the top of the gold and overall medal standings. The 48-gold medal record was the most the United States had ever won in any Olympics in which it was not the host nation.[3] At least one medal was awarded to U.S. athletes in sixteen sports, thirteen of which contained at least one gold. U.S. athletes dominated the nations' medal standings in swimming, wherein they won a total of 31 medals, including 16 golds. Twenty-seven U.S. athletes won more than a single medal. The U.S. team-based athletes also proved particularly successful, as the women's soccer, water polo, and volleyball teams won gold and silver medals, respectively. Furthermore, the men's and women's basketball teams managed to defend their titles from Beijing. For the first time since 1936, no U.S. athlete won an Olympic medal in sailing.
Among the nation's medalists were swimmers Missy Franklin, Allison Schmitt and Ryan Lochte, who each won a total of five medals. Swimmer Nathan Adrian and platform diver David Boudia won gold medals in their respective individual events after 24-year-long non-successes. Meanwhile, tennis player Serena Williams followed her sister's success by winning the gold medal in the women's tennis singles event. Gymnast Gabby Douglas became the fourth U.S. female to win a gold medal in the individual all-around event. Allyson Felix became the most successful U.S. track-and-field athlete at the event, winning three gold medals. Swimmer Michael Phelps emerged as the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, with a total of 22 medals won (including four gold and two silver medals in London) – 18 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals – surpassing Larisa Latynina's overall Olympic medal count.[4]
After the disqualification of Russian Ivan Ukhov for doping, Erik Kynard has finally got upgraded from silver to gold,[5] which makes it the 47th US gold medal at these Games, the best American result in terms of gold medals in the Summer Olympics held outside of the United States. Ten years later, Lashinda Demus was promoted to the gold medal as well after another Russian, Natalya Antyukh, was found guilty of doping, bringing the total to 48 gold medals.
The USOC selected a team of 530 athletes, 261 men and 269 women, to compete in all sports except handball; it was the nation's sixth-largest team sent to the Olympics, but the smallest since 1988. Athletics was the largest team by sport, with a total of 125 competitors.
The U.S. team featured 302 first-time athletes, and 228 returning Olympians to participate in these games.[6] Among the returning Olympians, seven of them had competed at their fifth Olympics (high jumper Amy Acuff, archer Khatuna Lorig, shooters Kimberly Rhode and Emil Milev, indoor volleyballer Danielle Scott-Arruda, and eventing riders Phillip Dutton and Karen O'Connor – the oldest of the team at age 54). Twenty-one athletes made their fourth Olympic appearances, including springboard diver Troy Dumais, track hurdler Angelo Taylor, and beach volleyballers and double-defending champions Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor. Fifty-seven athletes made their third Olympic appearances, including rifle shooter Matt Emmons, and twins Bob and Mike Bryan in the men's tennis doubles match. One hundred and forty-three athletes were two-time Olympians, including former defending champions Justin Gatlin (athletics) and Anthony Ervin (swimming), who both made their comeback in London after long years of absence. Two hundred and eight returning athletes had competed in Beijing, including 124 Olympic medalists, and 76 defending champions.[6]
Among the nation's defending champions were swimmers Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin. Phelps won a historic amount of eight gold medals in Beijing to become the most-decorated Olympic athlete at a single event and the first person to win a total of fourteen Olympic gold medals. Coughlin, on the other hand, won a total of 11 Olympic medals in two previous games, including six gold medals from Beijing. Other notable defending champions featured NBA basketball players Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, who led their team by recapturing the nation's gold medal in Beijing, shooters Walton Eller and Vincent Hancock, road cyclist Kristin Armstrong in women's time trial, and swimmers Rebecca Soni and Ryan Lochte.[6]
First-time Olympians also featured gymnasts Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman, decathlete Ashton Eaton, and swimmers Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky, the youngest of the team at age 15. Former basketball player and five-time Olympic champion Teresa Edwards served as the U.S. team's chef de mission.[7] Double Olympic champion Mariel Zagunis became the third fencer and sixth female athlete to serve as the United States flag bearer at the opening ceremony.[2]
The following is the list of number of competitors participating in the Games. Note that reserves for fencing, field hockey, football and handball are not counted as athletes:
U.S. athletes earned qualifying standards in the following track and field events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):[9][10] The team was selected based on the results of the 2012 United States Olympic Trials.
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
The United States will be represented in two out of the five badminton events: men's doubles and women's singles. No US athlete has ever medaled in badminton since it became an Olympic sport in 1992.
* – Spence successfully appealed his initial 11–13 loss. Using video review, AIBA determined the bout referee gave too few cautions for holding fouls and should have awarded Spence at least four more points.[55]
U.S. canoeists qualified boats in three out of twelve sprint events, one men's and one women's. No U.S. athlete has medaled in Olympic sprint canoeing since 1992.
U.S. divers qualified for eight individual diving spots at the 2012 Olympic Games. Three US synchronized diving teams qualified through the 2012 FINA Diving World Cup and the rest of the divers qualified for the Olympics through the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials for diving (quotas themselves were won at the world championships while divers who filled them were selected after the trials)
U.S. equestrians qualified teams in the dressage and eventing team competitions.[56] and also qualified a team in the jumping team competition.
They have also qualified four athletes in the individual dressage competition, five athletes in the individual eventing competition,[56] and four athletes in the individual jumping competition.
↑ Aliya Mustafina of Russia and Aly Raisman finished with the same total score of 59.566. In the case of a tie, the sum of the three highest apparatus scores is used. These sums were 45.933 for Mustafina and 45.366 for Raisman (both dropping their Beam score), earning Mustafina the bronze medal.
Rhythmic
One U.S. rhythmic gymnast qualified for the individual all-around competition.
Nicholas Delpopolo was ejected from the Games and disqualified by the International Olympic Committee from his seventh position finish after he tested positive for marijuana. Though he claimed he had accidentally taken the banned substance before the Games begun, he apologized for the "embarrassment".[67]
Three U.S. athletes qualified to compete in the modern pentathlon event. Dennis Bowsher and Margaux Isaksen qualified through the 2011 Pan American Games.
Athlete
Event
Fencing (épée one touch)
Swimming (200 m freestyle)
Riding (show jumping)
Combined: shooting/running (10 m air pistol)/(3000 m)
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage
U.S. swimmers earned qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT), and 1 at the Olympic Selection Time (OST)):[70][71] Swimmers qualified at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials (for pool events).
Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats.
Qualifiers for the latter rounds (Q) of all events were decided on a time only basis, therefore positions shown are overall results versus competitors in all heats. * – Indicates athlete swam in the preliminaries but not in the final race.
The 2012 US Olympic team uniforms for opening ceremony of the London Olympics were designed by Ralph Lauren, but were manufactured in China, setting off a bipartisan backlash from the United States Congress protesting US manufacturing not being showcased by the US Olympic athletes.[81]
Due to uniform controversy for the summer games, on July 13, 2012, The U.S. Olympic Committee stated that the uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia, will be made in the United States.[83]
Jennifer Simpson is a retired American middle- and long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 1500 meters at the 2011 World Championships, silvers at the 2013 and 2017 World Championships, and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Natasha Monique Hastings is an American 400 meter track and field sprinter.
Clifford 'Cliff' Wiley is a former American track and field athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400 metres event at the 1981 Athletics World Cup in Rome and the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas.
Cynithia "Janay" DeLoach is a United States track and field athlete who won the bronze medal in the women's long jump at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was listed in The Coloradoan's #3 Top Sports Story of 2011 about her road to the 2012 Olympics. She is currently signed to Nike and trains in Colorado.
The United States Olympic trials for the sport of track and field is the quadrennial meet to select the United States representatives at the Olympic Games. Since 1992, the meet has also served as the year's USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Because of the depth of competition in some events, this has been considered by many to be the best track meet in the world. The event is regularly shown on domestic U.S. television and covered by a thousand members of the worldwide media. As with all Olympic sports, the meet is conducted by the national governing body for the sport, currently USA Track & Field (USATF), which was previously named The Athletics Congress (TAC) until 1992. Previous to the formation of TAC in 1979, the national governing body for most sports was the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).
Sylvia Mosqueda is an American long distance runner notable for hard front running over an extended career at an elite level.
Eileen-Philippa "Phil" Raschker is a German-born American masters athlete.
Desiree "Des" Nicole Linden is an American long-distance runner, author, and podcaster. She represented the United States in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon. In 2018, she won the Boston Marathon, becoming the first American in 33 years to win the woman's category in the event. She holds the women's 50K world record of 2:59:54.
Sharon Day-Monroe is an American heptathlete, pentathlete and high jumper. She is the 2011, 2013, and 2014 national heptathlon champion.
The United States of America (USA) competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. 533 competitors, 279 men and 254 women, took part in 254 events in 31 sports.
Maren Elizabeth Seidler is a retired American track and field athlete. She dominated the shot put from the mid-1960s through 1980. She won the event at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships eleven times starting in 1967, including nine in a row from 1972 to 1980. She was the American champion indoors nine times, 1968–9, 1972, 1974-5 and 1977 to 1980. She won her event at the United States Olympic Trials four straight times 1968–1980, a feat only equalled by only one woman, Madeline Manning, Edwin Moses is the only man to achieve four. Jackie Joyner Kersee is the only woman who has won more events at the Olympic Trials, split between the long jump and heptathlon. She competed in the Olympics three times, making the final twice. Her 1980 selection was quashed by the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. Seidler did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.
Dave Davis is an American Shot Putter. He was on the 1960 United States Olympic Team. The circumstances of his failure to throw in those games are one of the quirky stories of the Olympics. Davis almost did not get to the Olympic Trials. As Cordner Nelson wrote at the time, he found himself 45 miles north of the Stanford University stadium at the time his event was about to begin. This was not the first time he had gotten lost on the way to a big meet. Davis spent $18 to rent a seaplane to fly him to the Palo Alto harbor, where he convinced a city employee to drive him to the stadium while he changed his clothes. Arriving after the first two rounds had been completed, he took his qualifying throw with no warm up and made it to the final. In the final, he surpassed Bill Nieder's earlier throw to move into third place. Injured with his leg heavily taped, Nieder was unable to improve and was pushed to the "alternate" position, while the team was made up of three University of Southern California alumni.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from August 5 to 21, 2016. U.S. athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which they boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. For the second consecutive time in the Summer Olympics, the United States was represented by more female than male athletes.
Vernon Larnard Norwood is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters.
The United States competed in the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019. The team included 313 men and 327 women.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2020, the Games were postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which the U.S. boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The opening ceremony flag-bearers for the United States were baseball player Eddy Alvarez and basketball player Sue Bird. Javelin thrower Kara Winger was the flag-bearer for the closing ceremony. For the third consecutive time in the Summer Olympics, the United States was represented by more female than male athletes.
Bryce Deadmon is an American track and field athlete. In July 2023, he became US national champion in the 400 meters.
David Kendziera is an American Olympic athlete who runs the 400m hurdles and 110m hurdles.
The United States of America (USA), represented by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024. U.S. athletes have appeared in every Summer Olympic Games of the modern era, except for the 1980 edition in Moscow, when America led a sixty-six-nation boycott in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics, the United States marched penultimately before the homebound French team entered Place du Trocadéro during the parade of nations segment of the opening ceremony. Additionally, an American segment featuring H.E.R. and Tom Cruise from Paris, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre from Long Beach, was performed during the closing ceremony.
↑ "USA – Squad List". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
↑ "United States – France". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. July 25, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
↑ "United States – Colombia". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. July 28, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
↑ "United States – North Korea". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. July 31, 2012. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
↑ "United States – New Zealand". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. August 3, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
↑ "Canada – USA". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. August 6, 2012. Archived from the original on August 9, 2012. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
↑ "United States – Japan". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. August 9, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
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