USC sent 44 athletes to the 2016 Summer Games, the most of any American university. Photo by Shawn Carpenter.

USC wraps up the Rio Games with 21 medals, including 9 golds

USC Dornsife students and alumni help keep the university tops among U.S. schools for most all-time medals and gold medals.

ByUSC Athletics staff August 24, 2016

USC-affiliated athletes won 21 medals — nine golds, five silvers and seven bronzes — at the just-concluded 2016 Rio Olympics, keeping the school 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 nine 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.

Former Trojan swimmer Katinka Hosszu (B.A., psychology, ’12) of Hungary captured four medals in Rio — golds in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter individual medley and 400-meter individual medley, and a silver in the 200-meter backstroke — to set a USC record for most individual event medals in a single Olympics.

Two other Trojan alumni track and field athletes each won three medals: Allyson Felix of the U.S. (golds in the 400-meter relay and 1600-meter relay, and silver in the 400-meter) and Andre De Grasse (B.A., sociology, ’15) of Canada (silver in the 200-meter and bronzes in the 100-meter and 400-meter relay). Felix now has won nine medals and six golds in four 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 also is tied for most medals among all track and field women internationally and is only the third U.S. woman to win at least six golds in any sport.

One-time USC water polo standouts Kami Craig (B.A., sociology, ’10) and Kaleigh Gilchrist won golds with the American team in Rio, helping the U.S. become the first country to repeat gold medal wins in women’s water polo. It was Craig’s third Olympic medal; she won a silver in 2008 and a gold in 2012.

Nia Ali (B.A., psychology, ’11) collected silver in the 100-meter high hurdle for the U.S.

USC Dornsife’s other bronze medalists in Rio were sprinter Aaron Brown (B.A., political science, ’14) of Canada (400-meter relay), tennis player Steve Johnson (B.A., human performance, ’12) of the U.S. (doubles), beach volleyballer April Ross (B.A., international relations, ’03) of the U.S. and American men’s volleyballers Micah Christenson (B.A., human biology, ’15) and Murphy Troy (B.A., physics, ’11). Ross also won a silver in 2012.

For complete coverage of the Trojans in Rio, visit the USC Athletics Olympics website.