USC Olympic Tidbits

Most career medals: 9 (Allyson Felix)

Most career gold medals: 6 (Allyson Felix)

Most medals in one Olympics: 5 (John Naber, 1976)

Most gold medals in one Olympics: 4 (John Naber, 1976)

Most medals in individual events in one Olympics: 4 (Katinka Hosszu, 2016)

Most Olympic appearances: 6 (Janice Lee York Romary)

• USC's first Olympian (and first medal winner) was Emil Breitkreutz, who won a bronze in the 800-meter run at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.
• USC's first gold medalist was Fred Kelly in the 110-meter high hurdles in the 1912 Stockholm Games. High jumper Alma Richardsalso won a gold medal in those 1912 Games.
• USC’s first female Olympians were discus thrower Lillian Copeland (gold and silver for the U.S.) in the 1928 and 1932 Games and fencer Helene Mayer (gold for Germany) in 1928. Of USC’s 512 Olympians, 174 are female.
• USC’s first double gold-medalist was Charles Paddock (100-meter dash and 400-meter relay) in the 1920 Games, when he also won a silver in the 200-meter dash.
• Clarence “Bud” Houser was the first Trojan to win double gold medals in individual events at a single Olympics (shot put and discus in 1924).

• USC’s oldest surviving Olympian is U.S. swimmer Iris Cummings Critchell (born Dec. 21, 1920) from the 1936 Berlin Games, followed by William Ross (born July 6, 1928), a U.S. water polo player in the 1956 Melbourne Games.
• USC's oldest surviving Olympic medalist is U.S. pole vaulter Ron Morris (born March 27, 1935), who won silver in the 1960 Games.
• USC's oldest surviving Olympic gold medalist is Australian swimmer Jon Henricks (born June 6, 1935), who won two golds in the 1956 Games.

IN THE FAMILY
A number of Trojan relatives have competed in the Olympics, including father/daughter, brother/sister and brother/brother.
• Track sprinters Lennox (silver and bronze for Jamaica) and daughter Inger (gold for U.S.) Miller.
• William Sr. and daughter Joyce Horton, yachting in 1952 Helsinki Games.
• Swimmers Klete (5 medals, 2 golds) and sister Kalyn Keller.
• Volleyballers Carolyn (silver in 1984) and brother Nick (bronze in 1992) Becker.
• Swimmers and brothers Dan (gold, bronze) and Lars Jorgensen.
• Brothers Byron and Wayne Black in the 1996 Olympics for Zimbabwe in tennis singles and doubles.
• Swimmers and brothers Joe and Mike Bottom (Mike was part of the U.S. team that boycotted the 1980 Games).
• Swimmers and brothers Bruce (2 golds in 1976) and Steve (a bronze in 1972) Furniss.
• Canadian swimming brothers Allen and Sandy Gilchrist, along with Sandy’s daughter, Kaleigh (water polo gold in 2016 for U.S.).
• Water polo brothers Blake and Lachlan Edwards for Australia in 2020.

DOUBLE DUTY
Six Trojans appeared in the Olympics in two sports: Ira Courtney (track and baseball), Howard Drew (track and baseball), Conn Findlay (yachting and rowing), Robert Hughes (water polo and swimming), Fred Kelly (track and baseball) and Wallace Wolf(swimming and water polo).
Findlay won two golds and a bronze in rowing and a bronze in yachting while appearing in four Olympics; Kelly won a gold (USC’s first ever) in track in the 1912 Stockholm Games, and Wolf won a gold in swimming in the 1948 London Games.  Courtney, Drew and Kelly played on the U.S. baseball team that finished first in the 1912 Olympics, but it was a demonstration sport and medals were not awarded.

Four Trojans competed for two countries: volleyballer Terry Place Brandel (for the U.S. in 1980 and West Germany in 1984), swimmer Bjorn Zikarsky (for West Germany in 1988 and Germany in 1996, winning a bronze), water poloist Aniko Pelle (for Hungary in 2004 and 2008 and Italy in 2012) and swimmer Santo Condorelli (for Canada in 2016 and Italy in 2020).

MORE FIRSTS
Ous Mellouli of Tunisia became the first African male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual swimming event when he captured gold in the 1500-meter freestyle in 2008 (it was just the second gold medal his country had ever earned). He got another gold, this time outdoors, when he won the open water 10K in 2012.

Swimmer Jeff Float was the first legally deaf U.S. athlete to win an Olympic gold medal (1984 in the 800-meter freestyle relay).

Sammy Lee was the first male to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in platform diving (1948 and 1952) and the first Asian-American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S.
In the 1960 Games, Paula Jean Myers Pope-Irwin became the first woman to attempt a double-twisting one-and-a-half somersault and an inward two-and-a-half somersault from the high platform in a diving competition (she won silver).

FLAG BEARERS
Seventeen Trojans have carried their delegation’s flag in the Olympics’ opening ceremonies, including five for the U.S.  The Americans include four in the Summer Games — track thrower Clarence “Bud” Houser in 1928 (the first Trojan to ever carry a flag in an opening ceremony), shot putter Parry O’Brien in 1964, fencer Janice Lee York Romary in 1968 (she was the first woman to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies and the first Trojan female to carry a flag) and canoeist Cliff Meidl in 2000 — and biathlete Lyle Barber Nelson in the 1988 Winter Games (the only Trojan to do so in a Winter Olympics).  Other Trojan flag bearers (all in the Summer Olympics) were high jumper Simeon Toribio for the Philippines in 1936, hurdler Peter Ronson for Iceland in 1960, track thrower Les Mills for New Zealand in 1960 and 1972 (the first Trojan to carry a flag twice), sprinter Lennox Miller for Jamaica in 1972, sprinter Don Quarrie for Jamaica in 1976, sprinter James Gilkes for Guyana in 1980, hurdler Sau Ying Chan for Hong Kong in 1996, sprinter Natasha Mayers for St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2004, hurdler Felix Sanchez for the Dominican Republic in 2008, swimmer Orn Arnarson for Iceland in 2008, swimmer Ous Mellouli for Tunisia in 2016 and swimmer Robert Glinta for Romania in 2020.

Four Trojans were bearers of the ceremonial Olympic Flag at opening ceremonies: Sammy Lee, John Naber and Parry O’Brien in 1984 and Murray Rose in 2000.

Four Trojans have carried their delegation’s flag in the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games.  Sprinter Bryshon Nellum was chosen by the U.S. athlete delegation to carry the American flag in the 2012 Summer Games’ closing ceremony after winning a silver medal just four years removed from being shot in the leg and told he would never run again.  Other Trojans who carried their delegation’s flag in closing Summer Games ceremonies were Dominican Republic hurdler Felix Sanchez in 2004 and 2012, Tunisian swimmer Ous Mellouli in 2012 and Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu in 2016.

Five Trojans were Winter Olympians (Lyle Nelson, Randy Gardner, Mike Gonzales, Jung-Hwa Seo, Don Young).

PARALYMPIANS
USC swimmer Ian Silverman, who has mild cerebral palsy, won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Cindy Ouellet, who received her doctorate in biomedical engineering from USC after receiving a scholarship from USC’s Swim With Mike Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund, plays wheelchair basketball for Canada (she competed in the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games, finishing sixth the first time and fifth in the others).  Robert Tanaka, who is legally blind, competed in judo for the U.S. in the 2020 Paralympics as a USC senior (placing ninth). Current USC track and field athlete Dallas Wise is a 2020 Paralympian who earned a silver medal in the T46/47 high jump and took fourth in the T46/47 long jump with Team USA.

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