United States at the Summer Olympics

The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Summer Olympic Games with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics, during which it led a boycott. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee for the United States.

United States at the
Olympics
IOC codeUSA
NOCUnited States Olympic & Paralympic Committee
Medals
Ranked 1st
Gold
1,022
Silver
795
Bronze
706
Total
2,523
Summer appearances
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games
Main article: United States at the Olympics

Hosted Games

The United States has hosted the Summer Games on four occasions, more than any other nation, and is planning to host the fifth:

GamesHost cityDatesNationsParticipantsEvents
1904 Summer OlympicsSt. Louis, MissouriJuly 1–November 231265191
1932 Summer OlympicsLos Angeles, CaliforniaJuly 30–August 14371,332117
1984 Summer OlympicsLos Angeles, CaliforniaJuly 28–August 121406,829221
1996 Summer OlympicsAtlanta, GeorgiaJuly 19–August 419710,318271
2028 Summer OlympicsLos Angeles, CaliforniaJuly 21–August 6TBATBATBA

Medal tables
Red border color indicates host nation status.

Medals by Summer Games
Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Gold medals Total medals
1896 Athens1411722012
1900 Paris751914144722
1904 St. Louis52678827923911
1908 London1222312124722
1912 Stockholm1742519196312
1920 Antwerp2884127279511
1924 Paris2994527279911
1928 Amsterdam2802218165611
1932 Los Angeles47441323010311
1936 Berlin3592420125622
1948 London3003827198411
1952 Helsinki2864019177611
1956 Melbourne2973225177422
1960 Rome2923421167122
1964 Tokyo3463626289012
1968 Mexico City35745283410711
1972 Munich4003331309422
1976 Montreal3963435259432
1980 MoscowDid not participate
1984 Los Angeles52283613017411
1988 Seoul5273631279433
1992 Barcelona54537343710822
1996 Atlanta64644322510111
2000 Sydney5863724329311
2004 Athens61336392610111
2008 Beijing59636393711221
2012 London53046283010411
2016 Rio de Janeiro55446373812111
2020 TokyoFuture event
2024 ParisFuture event
2028 Los AngelesFuture event
Total1022795706252311

Medals by summer sport
  Leading in that sport
SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Athletics335260207802
Swimming246172135553
Wrestling544336133
Shooting542927110
Boxing502440114
Diving494445138
Gymnastics374235114
Rowing33322489
Basketball232328
Tennis2161239
Sailing19231860
Cycling16212057
Weightlifting16161244
Archery1411934
Equestrian11212052
Beach volleyball62210
Canoeing55616
Synchronized swimming5229
Football4217
Golf33511
Volleyball33410
Softball3104
Fencing291425
Water polo25411
Judo24814
Taekwondo2259
Rugby union2002
Roque1113
Tug of war1113
Baseball1023
Triathlon1012
Jeu de paume1001
Modern pentathlon0639
Polo0112
Lacrosse0101
Field hockey0022
Totals (36 sports)10227947052521

Updated on November 1, 2018

*This table does not include two medals – one silver awarded in the ice hockey and one bronze awarded in the figure skating events at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Flagbearers
See also: List of flag bearers for the United States at the Olympics
Summer Olympics
Games Athlete Sport
1908 London Ralph Rose Athletics
1912 Stockholm George Bonhag Athletics
1920 Antwerp Pat McDonald Athletics
1924 Paris Pat McDonald Athletics
1928 Amsterdam Bud Houser Athletics
1932 Los Angeles Morgan Taylor Athletics
1936 Berlin Al Jochim Gymnastics
1948 London Ralph Craig Sailing
1952 Helsinki Norman Armitage Fencing
1956 Melbourne Norman Armitage[1] Fencing
1960 Rome Rafer Johnson Athletics
1964 Tokyo Parry O'Brien Athletics
1968 Mexico City Janice Romary[2] Fencing
1972 Munich Olga Fikotova Connolly Athletics
1976 Montreal Gary Hall, Sr. Swimming
1980 Moscow USA did not participate
1984 Los Angeles Ed Burke Athletics
1988 Seoul Evelyn Ashford Athletics
1992 Barcelona Francie Larrieu Smith Athletics
1996 Atlanta Bruce Baumgartner Wrestling
2000 Sydney Cliff Meidl Canoeing
2004 Athens Dawn Staley Basketball
2008 Beijing Lopez Lomong Athletics
2012 London Mariel Zagunis Fencing
2016 Rio de Janeiro Michael Phelps Swimming

Summary by sport

Archery
Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1972 Munich2002
1976 Montreal2002
1984 Los Angeles1102
1988 Seoul1113
Total

Athletics

The United States first competed in athletics at the inaugural 1896 Games; the sport has been a strength of the country ever since. The United States competed in 11 of the 12 athletics events in 1896, with Americans winning 9 of them (not competing in the men's 800 metres, taking second in the men's 1500 metres, and having one runner but no finishers in the marathon).

Games Athletes Events Gold Silver Bronze Total
1896 Athens1011/1296217
Total335260207802
EventNo. of
appearances		First
appearance		First
medal		First
gold medal		 Gold Silver Bronze Total Best finish
Men's 100 metres27/281896189618961614939 (16 times)
Men's 400 metres27/2818961896189619131138 (19 times)

History

Early Olympics (1896–1912)

Interwar period (1920–1936)

Cold War era (1948–1992)

The 1948 London Olympics marked the first time that the newly communist countries, that were occupied by the Soviet Union after WW2, competed in the games. The Soviets themselves declined to compete, sending only observers, after a long hesitation that saw Soviet leader Joseph Stalin demanding guarantees from his sports officials that the USSR would beat the US in the medal standings. The Soviet officials told him that chances were 50/50, and Stalin ultimately rejected the idea of competing in 1948. With its newest political rival absent, the United States comfortably dominated the games, winning 38 gold and 84 total medals, 22 gold and 40 total medals more than the runner-up Sweden. The most medals were won in track and field, 27, and swimming, 15. The US basketball team won its second consecutive gold medal, defeating France in the final, 65–21.[3]

In 1952, Helsinki saw the Soviets sending a team for the first time. This was the beginning of a new era, as the Soviet Union would go on to dominate the Olympics for the next four decades. The Soviets viewed the Olympics as international battlefield, where they can achieve their political goals by winning medals, thus proving their system's superiority.[4][5] The Soviet authorities also significantly bent the amateur rules, that were in place at the time, by providing state-funding to their athletes who trained full-time and, unlike American self-financed amateurs, were de facto professionals. That would start a significant controversy, that will result in the amateur rules being abolished, though only in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, meaning that the Soviets benefited from those rules throughout their Olympic history.[6] The United States still topped the medal count at these games, winning 40 gold and 76 total medals, 22 gold and 5 total medals more than the Soviets who finished second. American athletes won 31 medals in track and field, their most successful sport. US basketball team won its third consecutive gold, twice defeating the Soviets in the process, American boxers won all five finals they entered, and American weightlifters edged their Soviet rivals 4 to 3 in terms of gold medals, with the two nations sweeping all seven events in the sport.[7]

Melbourne hosted the Olympics in 1956. There were calls for the expulsion of the Soviet Union following their invasion of Hungary, but the International Olympic Committee decided not to pursue any action. As a result, some nations boycotted the games in protest of the Soviets' presence, and the Hungarians themselves became engaged in a violent brawl with their Soviet counterparts in a water polo game, an event that was instantly called Blood in the Water. The US performance at the games was relatively successful, though it was getting harder and harder to compete with the Soviet machine. As a result, the Americans earned 32 gold and 78 total medals (second place in the medal standings), 5 gold and 24 total medals less than the first-placed Soviets. The US contingent was particularly successful in track and field, where American athletes amassed 31 medals. On the other hand, the US won only 2 golds in swimming, being unable to stop the Australian domination of the swimming events at these games. In weightlifting, the Americans and Soviets once again won all seven events, once again with a 4 to 3 ratio in favor of the US team. In boxing, the Soviets won 3 golds, while the Americans only managed to win two events. However, it was gymnastics where the USSR achieved its greatest success, winning 11 out of 17 events and guaranteeing the first place in the medal rankings. The US basketball team won its fourth consecutive gold, beating the Soviets in the final game, 89–55.[8]

The 1960 Rome Olympics saw the Americans losing their grip on their traditionally successful sports, such as track and field and weightlifting. On the other hand, boxing, swimming (where the Americans won 9 gold medals, while being controversially denied gold in the 100 meters freestyle, despite showing the best time), and wrestling produced unexpectedly good results, which somewhat helped to compensate for what was lost in other sports. In track and field, the Soviets won 11 golds, only one less that the Americans. It is worth mentioning that the US team encountered many problems throughout the meet, such as a controversial disqualification of their gold-medal-winning men's 4 × 100 relay team. In weightlifting, the Soviets, with the help of their state-of-the-art doping program, won five out of seven events, leaving the US with only one gold. 10 Soviet golds in gymnastics didn't surprise anyone, as the nation had always been a gymnastics powerhouse, but it did mean that the Soviets beat the Americans in the medal standings for the second straight summer games. The US basketball team, however, met the pre-tournament expectations and won its fifth consecutive gold medal, a noble feat, given that they had to compete against veteran pros from the USSR. The final result, 43 gold and 103 total medals for the Soviets to 34 gold and 71 total medals for the Americans, showed that America was no longer a leading force in Olympic competition.[9]

There was some redemption for the US at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, as the nation returned to the top of the gold medal count for the first time since 1952. Particularly successful was the US swimming team that won 13 out of available 18 golds and shattered 9 world records. In track and field, the Americans also improved on their 1960 performance, winning 14 gold and 24 total medals, while the Soviets left Japan with 5 gold and 18 total medals, a significant downturn compared to their 1960 results. The Soviets, however, continued to dominate Olympic weightlifting, and, with the American program falling apart, the USSR produced four golds and three silvers. The Soviet Union hoped to replicate that success in gymnastics and wrestling, the sports that, together with weightlifting, were strongly associated with their athletic prowess. However, they encountered a zealous resistance from the Japanese, who used their home-field advantage to stun the Soviets, beating them five to three in wrestling golds, and winning five gymnastics championships to their four. Thus, Japan had a major influence on the US–USSR medals race, and most certainly helped the Americans edge their biggest rivals, while also managing to produce its best ever medal output and finishing in third place. For the Americans, despite their dismal performance in boxing where they achieved only one gold, the 1964 Olympics were a definite success, with the nation winning 36 gold and 90 total medals compared to the Soviet tally of 30 gold and 96 total medals. Therefore, the US topped the gold medal count, finishing second in the total medal count, while the USSR topped the total medal count, finishing second in the gold medal count. The US basketball team won its sixth consecutive gold, beating the Soviets in the final, 73–59.[10]

The 1968 Mexico Olympics became the most successful summer games for the US in the post-war era. American athletes amassed 45 gold and 107 total medals, 16 gold and 16 total medals more than the second-placed Soviets. The US swimming team dominated the competition, winning a staggering 51 medals and sweeping the podium on five occasions. The Americans also managed to medal in every single of 29 swimming events, thus achieving a unique feat. The US track and field team pulled off a stellar performance as well with 15 gold and 28 total medals. Overall, swimming and athletics accounted for more than 70% of all US medals, and ensured the first place in the medal table for the Americans, their second consecutive first-place finish in terms of gold medals, and their first finish at the top of the overall medal table since 1952. In other sports, however, the performance of American athletes was less convincing. The US weightlifting team continued to fade away, winning just one medal (compared to 7 in 1956), American boxers won 7 medals, though only two of them gold, US divers won 6 medals, and the men's volleyball team managed to stun the defending champions from the Soviet Union, beating them in five sets, but still finished out of medals; Soviets ultimately won gold, with their lone loss being to the US. In gymnastics, Japan continued to frustrate the Soviets, once again surpassing them in the medal standings. Last but not least, the US basketball team won its seventh consecutive gold medal, a feat not matched by any other Olympic team in ball sports. Very few would have assumed that this was the last time that the US finished first in the medal table in a fully attended Summer Olympics until 1996 (the Americans would top the medal standings in 1984 with the Soviet Union and its satellites boycotting).[11]

The Munich Olympics saw the Soviet Union begin its streak of topping the medal count at five consecutive summer games in which they participated (1972–1992, though in 1992 they would compete as the Unified Team as the USSR dissolved half a year prior to the games, and the newly independent countries decided to compete together). The sporting nature of the event was largely overshadowed by the Munich massacre in the second week, in which eleven Israeli athletes and coaches and a West German police officer at Olympic village were killed by Black September terrorists. There were multiple calls to cancel the games after the terrorist attack, but the IOC declined. From a sporting standpoint, these games were one of the most controversial in history, with many accusing the organizing committee of anti-Americanism and trying to appease the Soviet Union and East Germany. Indeed, these were one the strangest Olympics ever for American athletes. US world record holders in the 100 meters were given the wrong starting time and were unable to compete in the event, thus paving the way for a Soviet to win. In swimming, the US gold medal winner in the 400 meters freestyle was stripped of his medal for using his prescription asthma medication, also depriving him of a chance at multiple medals. US boxers complained that they were judged unfairly in the bouts against their communist counterparts. In shooting, a US athlete initially won the 50 meters rifle only to be relegated to silver after a "review". Finally, in the most controversial event of the games, and one of the most controversial events of all time, the US basketball team was denied gold after apparently winning the final match against the Soviet Union. The final three seconds of the game were replayed three times until the Soviets came out on top. The Americans did not accept the silver medals, believing that they were robbed. This was the first US loss in Olympic basketball history and it ended the Americans' 63-game winning streak in Olympic basketball. In general, the US team greatly underperformed at these games, winning only 6 gold medals in track and field to the East Germans' 8 and Soviets' 9, though the Americans still won the most total medals, 22. In boxing, the Cubans and Soviets dominated, winning three and two championships, respectively, while the US won only one gold and four medals overall (compared to the Soviets' two and Cubans' five). In diving, the Americans won three medals; in soccer, the USSR and GDR fixed a bronze medal game, playing a tie, so both teams received bronze; in gymnastics, the Soviets edged their old rivals Japan to top the medal count; in weightlifting, the Soviets and Bulgarians won three golds each; in wrestling, the US team surprised with three golds in freestyle, yet the Soviets still dwarfed their medal tally with nine golds in freestyle and Greco-Roman (14–6 in total medals). In water polo, the Americans struck bronze, tying the eventual gold medalists the Soviet Union in the final round. Swimming was the only sport where the American team did not disappoint, winning 17 gold and 43 total medals, a good result, but still less than four years earlier. American women dominated swimming for the last time until 1992, as by 1976 they would be overtaken by East German dopers.[12] The Americans did their best to challenge the Soviets, but the playing field wasn't level. The Soviet athletes were funded by the state and trained full-time, while the US strictly obeyed the amateur rules and its athletes were primarily self-financed students who were significantly younger and less experienced than the Soviet veterans. In addition to that, the Soviets developed a state-sponsored doping system, and supplied performance-enhancing drugs to the vast majority of their athletes.[13] Furthermore, they heavily invested in the development of a similar system in their satellite nation, East Germany, with a specific goal of making East Germans highly competitive in swimming and track and field, so that they can reduce the number of medals the Americans win in their signature sports. Unfortunately for the US, the Soviet strategy worked, and the gap between the USSR and US widened every four years until the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1972, the Soviets won 50 gold and 99 total medals to the Americans' 33 and 94; in 1976, the USSR amassed 49 gold and 125 total medals to the Americans' 34 and 94; 1980 Olympics were boycotted by the US and its allies, the Soviets retaliated in 1984 by boycotting the LA Olympics together with their satellites; finally, in 1988, the USSR won 55 gold and 132 total medals to the Americans' 36 and 94 (the US finished third at those games, losing even to the East Germans). In 1992, the Soviets still fielded a team despite the dissolution of their state, yet the margin of their victory over the Americans became narrower: 45 gold and 112 total medals to the Americans' 37 and 108. By 1996, every former Soviet republic formed its own National Olympic Committee, and the countries participated as independent nations, with Russia assuming the Soviet place in the IOC and inheriting Soviet achievements as by far the largest of the former Soviet republics. So, in 1996, the Americans finally managed to return to the top spot in the medal rankings, winning 44 gold and 101 total medals compared to 26 gold and 63 total medals won by the second-placed Russians, thanks to the partial abolition of the amateur rules in the early 1990s (the American athletes still weren't state-sponsored, unlike their foreign counterparts, but they were now eligible for prize money and sponsorships). They were still disadvantaged by these rules in those sports where they weren't abolished (i.e. boxing, baseball, where Cubans continued to field state-sponsored pros against American amateurs), but the situation started improving.

The Eastern Bloc utterly dominated the 1976 Montreal Olympics, with seven communist countries placing in the top ten of the medal table. The United States team was relegated to a third place in the medal standings for the first time in its history, courtesy of Soviet and East German doping systems and their use of professional athletes. This was the Olympics of contrasts: the US men's swimming team, despite a generally dismal showing of the delegation, completely obliterated their sport, sweeping 12 gold and 27 total medals in the 13 events that were on the program and shattering 11 world records in the process (this was arguably the most dominant performance of any swimming team in history),[14] while the US women's swimming team, on the other hand, fell victim to the unbeatable East German dopers. They still managed to win a gold medal, in a shocking upset against East Germans in the 4x100 freestyle relay. The event was held on the last day of the swimming program, and the American women were risking to get shut out of gold for the first time in the US Olympic history. The victory was somewhat overlooked at the time, but since the early 1990s, when the crimes of the Soviet Bloc started to unravel, their gold medal is often considered to be one of the most improbable and heroic upsets of all time.[15] In track and field, both the US men's and women's team were overwhelmed by East Germans who, as their Soviet masters expected, stole away a bulk of medals from the US in its signature sports, thus allowing the Soviets to win the medal table virtually unchallenged. The US boxing team surprised everyone, advancing to six gold medal bouts and winning five of them, drawing parallels to a stellar 1952 team that also took 5 golds. The achievement was even more momentous due to the fact that the American boxers were significantly younger and less experienced than their Cuban and Soviet counterparts.[16] In other sports, US divers won 5 medals, including two golds; the US equestrian team took home 4 medals; American shooters won three medals, including a historic silver by a woman in the mixed 50 meters rifle three positions; US freestyle wrestlers advanced to four gold medal bouts, yet won only on of them (all four were against the Soviets), concluding the meet with 6 medals overall. The US men's basketball team reclaimed the gold medal, while the women's team won a surprising silver, being ranked no higher than sixth prior to the start of the tournament. The Soviets and East Germans were unstoppable in canoeing, gymnastics, rowing, weightlifting and wrestling, going 1–2 in the medal standings (49 gold and 125 total medals for the Soviets, and 40 gold and 90 total medals for East Germans). The US won medals in 14 sports, finishing third with 34 gold and 94 total medals. The most successful day for the Americans was July 31 when they won 8 gold and 18 total medals.[17]

The 1980 Summer Olympics marked another first for the United States, as the nation led by far the largest and most significant boycott in the Olympic history. The boycott was motivated by the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, as well as by flagrant human rights violations in the USSR, and the regime's anti-Semitic policies.[18][19][20][21][22] The Soviet state-run media ridiculed the Americans as sore losers who couldn't get over the fact that they were no longer a perennial Olympic power, and simply didn't want to be embarrassed by the Soviets who would thrash them in the medal count. Indeed, all medal predictions pointed to an inevitable Soviet victory with 55–60 gold medals. East Germans were forecast to win 40–45 gold medals, while the Americans would wind up in third place with 30–35 golds. However, the world will never know what would have happened, as the United States and 65 other countries chose not to attend the Moscow Games, leaving them with the smallest attendance since 1956. Predictably, the great majority of the medals were taken by the host country and East Germany in what was the most skewed medal tally since 1904.[23] The Soviets amassed 80 gold (all-time record) and 195 total (second-best result after the US in 1904) medals in their anticlimactic performance.[24]

In 1984, Los Angeles witnessed what was considered a retaliatory boycott by the Soviets and their satellites, although the Soviets cited security concerns and "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria being whipped up in the United States." However, no threat to Eastern Bloc athletes was ever discovered, and the athletes from the Eastern Bloc country that did attend the 1984 games in Los Angeles—Romania—encountered no problems, and in fact were widely cheered above all other visiting nations at the Opening Ceremonies when they marched into the Coliseum (Romania ended up finishing third in overall medal count at the Games). The move by the Soviets left many "dumbfounded", as it was expected that they would try to thrash the US on their soil, thus achieving a significant propaganda victory. The forecasts again heavily favored the Soviet Union, with the Soviet athletes being expected to rack up 60–65 gold medals compared to 35–45 by the second-placed Americans. That didn't happen. Furthermore, despite the Soviet boycott, a record 140 nations (including China that participated for the first time since 1952) attended the games.[25]

Modern period (1994–present)

Russia–United States rivalry

Russia (in all its incarnations) and the United States have won more Olympic medals than any other nation.[26] Russia topped the overall medal count at 7 Summer Olympics and 9 Winter Olympics, while the United States placed first at 17 Summer Olympics and 1 Winter Olympics. The countries developed a strong rivalry during the Cold War, and while the tensions eased in the 1990s, the relations deteriorated in 2014 and 2016, and the rivalry became even more heated.[27]

Since the 1952 Summer Olympics, Russia has won 1902 Summer and Winter Olympics medals, the most in that period, while the United States has won 1873 medals, the second most in that period. Detailed comparison is presented below.

Summer Olympics

Medal totals of the Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia[28][29][30] and the United States[31] since 1952, when the Soviet Union started to compete.

Overall, the United States (1896–1976, 1984–present) has won 1,022 gold and 2,523 total medals, and Russia (in all of its previous forms) (1900, 1908–1912, 1952—1980, 1988–present) has won 588 gold and 1,548 total medals.

Basketball
See also: 1972 Olympic Men's Basketball Final
Inside view (in 2014) of the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle, where the final was played

The United States and Soviet Union sporting adversary reached its peak during the Cold war. The U.S. men's team was considered a favorite in the run-up to the 1972 Games. Since the first Olympic basketball tournament at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Americans haven't lost a single game, winning seven consecutive gold medals in a dominating fashion. Their record reached an unprecedented 63-0 before the final game. Since the 1952 tournament the Soviet team challenged the Americans, winning silver in 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 and bronze in 1968. Outside of the Olympics, the Soviets had already defeated the U.S. team in the World Championship play. However, the Americans never sent their best collegiate players to that tournament.

It is important to note that the Olympics strictly prohibited any involvement of professional athletes at the time. The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries used that rule to their advantage, listing all its top players as soldiers or workers what allowed them to breach the amateur rules. Western experts classified these athletes as professionals.[32] On the other hand, leading American players were unable to play in the Olympics as they were officially professional and played in the NBA. That disadvantage hadn't prevented the Americans from winning the first seven Olympic basketball tournaments without a single defeat.

The confrontation of the Soviet Union and United States on the basketball court was deeply connected to the confrontation on the political front. Many American viewers assumed that 1972 Games were openly anti-American.[33] There were rumors that the Communist party had bribed the officials because they wanted the USSR to win 50 gold medals at these Olympics in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union.[34]

The United States team was the youngest in history. American players usually participated in the Olympics once before turning pro, and the U.S. team always had new players every four years. The 1972 team didn't have a clear leader. A rising star Bill Walton declined an invitation to participate. Nevertheless, the team was heavily favored featuring such players as Doug Collins or Tommy Burleson (the tallest player among all teams).

The young American team was confronted by a veteran Soviet team, featuring stars Sergei Belov, Modestas Paulauskas, and Alexander Belov. The players had played together for more than seven years. For Gennadi Volnov it was the fourth Olympic appearance.

The Soviets performed strongly at the beginning, winning the first half 26:21. The Soviets kept the Americans 4–8 points behind during the first half.

In the second half Soviets targeted Dwight Jones, as they considered him the leader of the U.S. team. On the 28th minute he was provoked by Mikheil Korkia and responded. Both players were sent off. The Soviets were satisfied, as they deemed Korkia less significant for them than Jones for the Americans. The next minute Alexander Belov hit Jim Brewer during the free-throw, and Brewer was unable to continue playing. According to the Americans, the referees did not notice the foul.

With 10 minutes left, the Soviets increased their lead to 10 points. After that Americans finally started to press the Soviets. It helped them to cut the deficit to 1 point. Soviet players started to feel nervous. With less than a minute left, Doug Collins stole a Soviet pass at halfcourt and was fouled hard by Zurab Sakandelidze as he drove toward the basket, being knocked down into the basket stanchion. With three seconds remaining on the game clock, Collins was awarded two free throws and sank the first to tie the score at 49. Just as Collins lifted the ball to begin his shooting motion in attempting the second free throw, the horn from the scorer's table sounded, marking the beginning of a chain of events that left the game's final three seconds mired in controversy. Although the unexpected sound of the horn caused lead referee Renato Righetto to turn away from the free throw attempt and look over to the scorer's table, play was not stopped. Collins never broke his shooting motion and continued with his second free throw, scoring to put the U.S. ahead by a score of 50:49. Immediately following Collins' free throws, the Soviets inbounded the ball and failed to score. Soviet coaches claimed that they had requested a timeout before Collins' foul shots. The referees ordered the clock reset to three seconds and the game's final seconds replayed. The horn sounded as a length-of-the-court Soviet pass was being released from the inbounding player, the pass missed its mark, and the American players began celebrating. Nevertheless, final three seconds were replayed for a third time. This time, the Soviets' Alexander Belov and the USA's Kevin Joyce and Jim Forbes went up for the pass, and Belov caught the long pass from Ivan Edeshko near the American basket. Belov then laid the ball in for the winning points as the buzzer sounded.

The Americans regained the basketball crown in 1976, but their ability to stay competitive with college players against seasoned professionals from the Soviet Union was decreasing. In 1988, the Soviets beat the United States once again, eliminating them in the semifinals. That game was a turning point in international basketball, as FIBA officials started to realize that amateur rules were extremely unfair. In 1989, NBA players were finally allowed in the Olympics.

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gollark: --magic.py await bot.change_presence(status=discord.Status.online, activity=discord.CustomActivity(emoji="🦀", name=f"{bot.command_prefix}help"))
gollark: --magic.py await bot.change_presence(status=discord.Status.online, activity=discord.CustomActivity(emoji="☭", name=f"{bot.command_prefix}help"))
gollark: ++magic.py await bot.change_presence(status=discord.Status.online, activity=discord.CustomActivity(emoji="☭", name=f"{bot.command_prefix}help"))
gollark: ++magic py```pythonembed = discord.Embed(title="Title", description="Desc", color=0x00ff0f).set_thumbnail(url="https://i.osmarks.tk/ferris.png")await ctx.send(embed=embed)```

See also

References
  1. Warren Wofford was the flagbearer in the (Equestrian) parade in Stockholm for the Olympics Equestrian Sports Association events held there because a quarantine imposed on horses prevented equestrian events from taking place in Australia
  2. The first female flagbearer for the United States at the Olympics
  3. Sports Reference
  4. http://blogs.bu.edu/guidedhistory/russia-and-its-empires/tyler-benson/
  5. http://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A005600130009-0.pdf
  6. http://www.processhistory.org/redihan-1952-olympics/
  7. Sports Reference
  8. Sports Reference
  9. Sports Reference
  10. Sports Reference
  11. Sports Reference
  12. Sports Reference
  13. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/sports/olympics/soviet-doping-plan-russia-rio-games.html
  14. https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2016/07/31/docs-boys-story-dominant-us-swim-team-1976/87614856/
  15. https://www.dailynews.com/2016/06/04/40-years-later-story-of-us-east-german-olympic-swimmers-can-be-told-best-in-the-last-gold/
  16. https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/15293108/1976-us-olympic-boxing-team-celebrate-40-year-reunion-boxing-hall-fame-banquet-champions
  17. Sports Reference
  18. U. Tulli, "Bringing Human Rights In: The Campaign Against the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and the Origins of the Nexus Between Human Rights and the Olympic Games", in The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol.33, Issue 16 (2016-2017) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2017.1315104
  19. "The Olympic Boycott, 1980". U.S. Department of State Archive.
  20. Smith, Terence (January 20, 1980). "The President Said Nyet". The New York Times.
  21. "How the Russians break the Olympic rules". The Christian Science Monitor.
  22. "The Soviet Doping Plan: Document Reveals Illicit Approach to '84 Olympics". The New York Times.
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