History

The Ivy League's tradition in the Olympics is unparalleled. Since the first Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, in 1896, Ancient Eight athletes have thrived on the international stage every four years in both the Summer and Winter Games.

 

 

With memorable performances that live in the Olympics lore, athletes from Ivy League schools have amassed an amazing total of 475 medals. If the Ivy League were a country, its 475 Olympic medals would rank 16th behind Japan (497) & ahead of Finland (470). In the past two Olympics, current & former Ivy League student-athletes added 15 medals to the count.

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Ivy League athletes have enjoyed great success in the most recent Games with 35 athletes bringing home nine medals (eight silver and one bronze) from the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.

 

Now Ivy athletes are focused on the 2020 Tokyo Games to once again uphold and represent the rich and storied tradition of Ivy League athletes in international competition.

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During the 2020 Games, Ivy League student-athletes will be representing all eight institutions from 22 countries in ten disciplines.  

 

The Ivy League footprint on Team USA for the 2020 Games is as follows: 

• 34 Ivies will compete on Team USA and is one of three conference in the country to have all of its schools represented on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team (Ivy League, Big 12 and SEC). 

• 10 Ivies will be returning Olympians, including two medalists. 

• Harvard is the only non-power Five school in the top-15 list of contributors to Team USA with nine U.S. Olympians. 

• All eight institutions will have representation on the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, composing nearly 45% of Team USA's roster. The only other conference with this milestone is the SEC in athletics. 

• One-third of Team USA Fencing competed at Columbia, Harvard or Princeton.