As the Rio 2016 Olympic Games came to a close on Sunday more than 1,000 incoming, current and former NCAA student-athletes representing 107 countries and 223 member institutions returned home. According to the NCAA, athletes representing 78 different universities won medals.
Athletes from Stanford University won the most medals of any NCAA member institution, collecting 27 total medals in Rio, which put it right behind Italy (28) and Australia (29) in the final rankings. Stanford’s 10 gold medals would have tied the university with France for seventh place in the world.
Cardinal athletes also grabbed their share of global headlines during the Rio Games. USA Swimming stars Katie Ledecky, Maya DiRado, Simone Manuel and Lia Neal accounted for a large portion of the medals, while beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings brought back a bronze medal for the Cardinal. Stanford athletes also won medals in rowing, water polo and fencing.
Ledecky’s five medals ranked as the top Olympic performance for a Stanford athlete ever and the 14 medals won by Stanford swimmers is also a school record.
Athletes from Pac 12 Conference schools fared very well in Rio. The University of California Berkeley’s Golden Bears won 22 medals and the USC Trojans won 21, while UCLA won nine medals to the University of Oregon’s six.
USC remains the all-time university leader with 309 total medals won in Olympic Games since 1904. Stanford is second with 270 medals, followed by UCLA (233) and California Berkeley (207). The University of Michigan rounds out the top five with 144 all-time medals.
Here’s a ranking of 2016 Rio Olympics medals by NCAA school:
1- Stanford: 27 total medals won by Katie Ledecky (5), Maya DiRado (4), Simone Manuel (4), Alex Massialas (2), Eleanor Logan, Makenzie Fischer, Kiley Neushul, Melissa Sideman, Maggie Steffens, Kawika Shoji, Erik Shoji, Lia Neal, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Foluke Akinradewo, Katerina Stefanidi, Lucy Davis
2- California: 22 total medals won by Nathan Adrian (4), Ryan Murphy (3), Dana Vollmer (3), Anthony Ervin (2), Kathleen Baker (2), Abbey Weitzeil (2), Josh Prenot, Olivier Siegelaar, Carli Lloyd, Cierra Runge, Tom Shields, Missy Franklin
3- Southern California: 21 total medals won by Katinka Hosszu (4), Andre De Grasse (3), Allyson Felix (3), Dalilah Muhammad, Kami Craig, Kaleigh Gilchrist, DeMar DeRozan, Murphy Troy, Micah Christenson, Nia Ali, Steve Johnson, April Ross, Aaron Brown, Amanda Weir
T4 – Florida: 13 total medals won by Caeleb Dressel (2), Conor Dwyer (2), Ryan Lochte, Christian Taylor, Kerron Clement, Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, Dan Wallace, Will Claye, Novlene Williams-Mills, Kelly Murphy
T4 – Texas: 13 total medals won by Townley Haas, Joseph Schooling, Michelle Carter, Ryan Crouser, Courtney Okolo, Kevin Durant, Ashley Spencer, Rachael Adams, Clark Smith, Jimmy Feigen, Morolake Akinosun, Jack Conger
6- Georgia: 10 total medals won by Allison Schmitt (2), Shaunae Miller, Chase Kalisz, Gunnar Bentz,Chantal Van Landeghem, Brittany MacLean, Amanda Weir, Olivia Smoliga, Melanie Margalis
7- UCLA: 9 total medals won by Madison Kocian (2), Caroline Clark, Rachel Fatal, Sami Hill, Courtney Mathewson, Maddie Musselman, Jessie Fleming, Karsta Lowe
T8- Indiana: 8 total medals won by Lilly King (2), Cody Miller (2), Derek Drouin, Michael Hixon, Blake Pieroni, Kennedy Goss
T8- Penn State: 8 total medals won by Joe Kovacs, Matthew Anderson, Aaron Russell, Maxwell Holt, Miles Charley-Watson, Christa Dietzen, Alisha Glass, Monica Aksamit
T10- UConn: 6 total medals won by Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Stephanie Labbe
T10- Oregon: 6 total medals won by Ashton Eaton, English Gardner, Matt Centrowitz, Phyllis Francis, Galen Rupp, Brianne Theisen-Eaton
T10- West Virginia: 6 total medals won by Nicco Campriani (3), Ginny Thrasher, Kadeisha Buchanan, Ashley Lawrence
By Eric Mann
Eric Mann is the Communications Assistant at the United States Sports Academy.