How many U.S. athletes won Olympic medals

[PaulB]

I just checked the NBC site - they have a list of all the medal winners. I just cut/pasted this into a spreadsheet and got 262 medalists for the U.S., or 44%. Of these, 111 won at least one gold medal and 29 athletes won 2 or more medals.

Contrast this with China; about 700 athletes, 100 "medals" and 158 medalists (i.e. the US did a lot better in the team sports than did China).

The one other number that would be interesting would be the percentage of the total participants that won medals - any info?

[PaulB]

I was able to find the answer to my question, plus some other interesting numbers.

28 sports
302 events
906 "medals"

11,028 participants
1,134 medalists (10.3%)

1 person with 8 medals
1 with 6
1 with 5
4 with 4
21 with 3
69 with 2
1,037 with 1

[BPBrinson]

Very interesting information. It was a great 2 weeks, no matter what country you are from! I enjoyed it, now maybe I can get some sleep!

Thank you, Brooks

[spacepilot]

I just checked the NBC site - they have a list of all the medal winners. I just cut/pasted this into a spreadsheet and got 262 medalists for the U.S., or 44%. Of these, 111 won at least one gold medal and 29 athletes won 2 or more medals.

Contrast this with China; about 700 athletes, 100 "medals" and 158 medalists (i.e. the US did a lot better in the team sports than did China).

The one other number that would be interesting would be the percentage of the total participants that won medals - any info?

Not wanting to get into the controversies of gold count vs. total count, gold count vs. gold-awarded athlete count, He's age vs. Johnson's age, China vs. the world..., I just want to say that the dedication (at lease during the competition) required to win an individual Olympic gold medal vs. the dedication required to win a team gold is vastly different, IMHO. Case in point, a single lapse of concentration at the last moment cost Matt Emmons the gold medal in 3P. I doubt a similar lapse of concentration from any team sport player had been nearly as costly in the Beijing Olympic Games.

[robf]

You didn't watch the 100 & 400 relays then? :D

[Richard H]

A lapse of judgement in a team sport can have the same outcome. It can also be worse as you become responsible for what the others receive. Matt's lapse of concentration cost Matt a medal, a soccer goal tender missing a ball, a volleyball player missing a serve, can cost a whole team a medal, so in some respects there is also an additional pressure.

Personally I wouldn't even try comparing one to the other, they are just different.