USC and UCLA-affiliated athletes scored a total of 30 medals at the Olympics in Rio, with Trojans bringing home the most at 21, university officials said Monday.
Athletes with ties to USC won nine gold medals, five silver and seven bronze, according to the university, which noted that a Trojan has won a gold medal at every Summer Olympics since 1912. A total of 44 current, former or incoming USC students competed in Rio, the most of any U.S. university.
The games featured 36 Bruins, with eight of them winning a total of nine medals, including six gold. Gymnast Madison Kocian won two medals — a gold in the team competition and silver on the uneven bars. Five current or former Bruins won gold medals as part of the U.S. women’s water polo team, while freshman soccer player Jessie Fleming won a silver medal as part of Team Canada and 2015 graduate Karsta Lowe won a bronze with the U.S. women’s volleyball team.
According to UCLA, 424 Bruins have made 687 Olympic appearances since the university was founded in 1919, and there has been a Bruin in ever Olympics since 1920 with the exception of 1924. A UCLA-affiliated athlete has won a gold medal in every Olympics in which the United States has competed since 1932.
Among the notable Trojan standouts in Rio was former USC swimmer Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who won three gold medals and a silver — setting a USC record for most individual event medals in a single Olympics.
Track star Allyson Felix won three medals in Rio, giving her a total of nine medals in four Olympics and making her the most decorated female U.S. track-and-field Olympic competitor. Former Trojan Andre De Grasse of Canada also won three track medals in Rio.
Other Trojans collecting medals included Kami Craig and Kaleigh Gilchrist of the women’s water polo team, hurdler Dalilah Muhammad, basketball player DeMar DeRozan, high-hurdler Nia Ali, swimmer Amanda Weir, sprinter Aaron Brown of Canada, tennis player Steve Johnson, beach volleyball player April Ross and men’s volleyball players Micah Christenson and Murphy Troy.
Since 1904, a total of 451 Trojan athletes have competed in the Olympics, winning 309 medals — including 144 gold.
–City News Service