Team USA by the Numbers: NCAA Athletes Bolster Olympic Squad

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Team USA by the numbers: NCAA athletes bolster Olympic squad

All members of 14 teams comprise former, current or incoming NCAA athletes

The NCAA, its member schools and conferences play a pivotal role in Team USA’s success on the Olympic stage. Team USA’s full roster, released Wednesday, further validates the valuable training grounds that college sports provide for Olympians.

This summer in Paris, 75% of U.S. Olympians will have competed collegiately as part of their journey to Team USA, which includes NCAA, junior college, NAIA and club programs. Of those, 65% (385 of 592) have competed in NCAA varsity sports across all three divisions. In total, 151 NCAA schools from 45 conferences will have one or more U.S. Olympians competing in Paris. View the full collegiate Team USA list here.

Twenty-one teams are made up at least 80% of collegiate athletes, including 14 teams that are made up exclusively of NCAA athletes. The 100% NCAA teams are:

  • Women’s basketball.
  • Men’s 3×3 basketball.
  • Women’s 3×3 basketball.
  • Beach volleyball (men’s and women’s).
  • Diving (men’s and women’s).
  • Fencing (men’s and women’s).
  • Men’s golf.
  • Men’s gymnastics.
  • Women’s field hockey.
  • Modern pentathlon.
  • Men’s volleyball.
  • Women’s volleyball.
  • Men’s water polo.
  • Women’s water polo.

“We are incredibly grateful for the collegiate athletics administrators, coaches and support staff who inspire greatness in the student-athletes who will represent Team USA in Paris this summer,” said USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland. “With more than 440 current and former college athletes on the U.S. Olympic Team, we know they are competing not only for themselves and our country but also proudly for their schools and school communities.”

The top three NCAA schools represented on Team USA are Stanford (38 athletes), UCLA (17) and USC (16). The top five conferences represented on Team USA are the Big Ten Conference (116 athletes), Atlantic Coast Conference (98), Southeastern Conference (85), The Ivy League (47) and the Big 12 Conference (28).

In terms of Olympic sports, the top five with NCAA varsity athlete representation are track and field (113 athletes), swimming (44), water polo (26), volleyball (24) and rowing (24).

An estimated 10,500 athletes from more than 200 national Olympic committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will take to Paris to compete on the world stage. Athletes from around the world will compete in 32 sports. In total, there will be 329 medal events, with Olympic competition spanning 40 venues.

The Paris Games will make history by achieving numerical gender parity on the field of play, ensuring equal representation of male and female athletes. Team USA features 314 females and 278 males.

The Olympics kick off Friday, July 26, and run through Sunday, Aug. 11. Tune in to NBC and Peacock to watch the opening ceremony at noon Eastern time on July 26, with prime-time coverage starting that evening at 7:30 p.m.

All collegiate data of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team was collected by the USOPC collegiate partnerships department. Team USA’s collegiate footprint is defined as athletes who have or will represent their college in competition. This includes athletes who have finished their collegiate careers, those currently competing and those who have signed National Letters of Intent. More information about the collegiate composition of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team can be found online at USOPC.org/2024college.

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David Keech
Author: David Keech

David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]