Stanford, Cal, USC to Top US Olympic Medal Count

Pac-12 Olympians: California universities top London Olympic medal hopes.

USC is sending 40 athletes to the London Olympics, more than any other university in the world. UC Berkeley is second with 38 Olympians, followed closely by Stanford with 37.

Stanford, Cal and USC will each end up with 15 medals in London, according to a Sports Illustrated projection. Stanford is expected to reap 7 golds, 7 silvers and a bronze in men’s tennis, women’s water polo, women’s volleyball, and women’s beach volleyball. USC is likely to snag 6 golds, 8 silvers and a bronze, mostly in swimming and track, while Cal is favored to win 5 golds, 9 silvers and a bronze, mostly in swimming and rowing.

As a conference the Pac-12 tops all other college leagues in the world. UCLA is expected to contribute 4 golds and 3 silvers, and the University of Washington, 2 golds and 7 silvers. Collectively, the Pac-12 is projected to win 69 medals in London, placing it 7th behind Australia and Japan if ranked as a nation.

As a perennial Olympic powerhouse USC alone would be ranked 12th in total gold medals if ranked alongside the world’s nations with 122, having won at least one gold in every Olympics since 1912. Include its 76 silvers and 60 bronzes, its 258 medals would rank it 18th among all nations.

Diver Sammy Lee is USC’s most famous Asian American Olympians. For the London Games Tumua Anae, goalie for the US women’s water polo team, is its sole Asian/Pacific Islander American Olympian. Lynette Lim of Rancho Mirage will be swimming distance freestyle events for Singapore’s Olympic swim team.

Cal’s presence may be felt even more than USC’s at this year’s Olympics. Among the delegation of 45 it’s sending to the games, one is Dr. Cindy Chang, the US team’s chief medical officer. Asian Americans are likely to be keeping an eye on freestyle sprinter Nathan Adrian in both the individual and team relay 100-meter events.

Five of the US Olympic team coaches will be from Cal as well. Cal has consistently been a prominent part of the US Olympic team. It sent 46 athletes and coaches to the 2008 Beijing games where it won 17 medals. Over the years it has won 159 medals in all, with 91 golds, 40 silvers and 28 bronzes.

Stanford has had the longest Olympic tradition of the Pac-10 universities, having sent athletes since 1908 and having won at least one medal since 1912 and as many as 17 in a single games. Over the years Stanford athletes have won 206 medals at the summer games. In the 2008 Beijing Games they won 8 golds, 12 silvers and 4 bronzes. In London Stanford’s contingent of 37 athletes and one coach will include Asian American indoor volleyballer Logan Tom of Hawaii.

UCLA has had athletes in every Olympics since 1920, winning a total of 230 medals — 110 gold, 64 silver and 56 bronze. A Bruin has won a gold medal in every Olympics since 1932 with the exception of 1980 Moscow Games which the US boycotted.

From the 2008 Beijing Olympics 41 Bruins came home with 19 medals — 6 gold, 11 silver and 2 bronze, including two golds and a silver for coaches. In the 2004 games in Athens UCLA ranked first among all universities in the number of different medalists, with 19, and the total number of Olympians, with 57 representing the United States and 13 foreign countries. If UCLA were ranked among nations, it would have been 14th in medal count.

In the London Games Asian American undergrad Rena Wang will represent UCLA on the US badminton team, while Anna Li will be the alternate on the US women’s gymnastics team. The US volleyball delegation will be headed by alumnus Al Lau. UCLA pole vaulter Yoo Kim will compete for South Korea and Peng Peng Lee will be the honorary captain of the Canadian gymnastics team.