250 Funnest Facts for USA's 250th Birthday - Part 4: Olympics & the World Cup

'Twas the night before the Fourth
and all through the States,
Not a single Canadian
was winning Gold on ice skates. 

The sparklers were lit
with reckless abandon,
While my uncle swigs a Bud heavy
and yells "Let's go Brandon."

In hopes that Uncle Sam
would win the World Cup,
While "Free Bird" blares from
the speakers of a Ford pick-up truck.

Part four of five, 250 Funnest Facts for 'Merica's 250th birdday: the Olympics & the World Cup. Let's dive into how much we dominate other loser countries...

1). Despite their pompous air of superiority around the sport, England has the same amount of Top 3 World Cup finishes as the United States of America (1).

2). Tug of War was an official Olympic sport in each of the five Olympiad held from 1900-1920. USA competed three times in 1904, 1908, and 1920, medaling only in 1904 St. Louis when Milwaukee Athletic Club won Gold by defeated South African Boers, a church group from St. Louis, and the New York Athletic Club.
    - This isn't a fun fact list about those perverts in England but it's kind of cool that the London Police Force won the 1908 gold medal in Tug.

3). The US Women's National Soccer Team once went 51 consecutive matches without conceding a loss from December 8, 2004 (my mom's birthday) until September 22, 2007. The streak started with a 5-0 win over Mexico after dropping their previous friendly 3-1 to Denmark and ended with a 4-0 loss to Brazil.

4). The United States holds Olympic records in 15 of 35 swimming events: eight men's, six women's, and the mixed 4x100 medley relay. Caeleb Dressel is the only American man and Katie Ledecky is the only American woman who holds multiple solo Olympic records.

5). The United States has had three athletes act as flagbearer at Olympic opening ceremonies multiple times:
    - Jim Bickford: Bobsledder that carried the flag at 1952 Oslo and 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo who was known by one of two nicknames, "No Brakes Bickford" for his fearless riding style and "Smiling Jim" for his jovial demeanor
    - Pat McDonald: A burly shotputter that presented the Stars & Stripes at 1920 Antwerp and 1924 Paris and worked as a traffic cop in Times Square when not hurling weights
- Norman Armitage: A fencer, patent lawyer, and chemical engineer who competed in six Olympic Games but walked out our national banner at both of 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne

6). Rafer Johnson, a decathlete from suburban Dallas, was the first African American athlete to play flagbearer for the United States at a Summer Olympic Games at 1960 Rome. Janice Romary, a fencer from Palo Alto, was the first female to do so at 1968 Mexico City and Dawn Staley, a hooper from Norf Philly, was the first athlete from a team sport to introduce the Stars & Bars at 2004 Athens.

7). With three Golds as a player at 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, and 2004 Athens and a Gold as a coach at 2020 Tokyo, Dawn Staley is the only American to win an Olympic gold medal both on the court and the sideline. She's also the only person to win the Naismith Award as both a coach and player.

8). The only other time that the United States has hosted the World Cup was in 1994 when a record was set for highest total attendance at a World Cup at a few ticks over 3.5 million attendees. That record remained unbroken until this year's Cup despite the expansion of competition from 24 to 32 teams from '94 to '98. The '94 Final between Brazil & Italy was played in front of 94,000 onlookers at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

9). In order for the United States to host the 1994 World Cup, FIFA imposed a condition that they must establish a Top Division professional soccer league. Major League Professional Soccer was chosen at the time which led to the founding and creation of Major League Soccer (the MLS) as a 10-team league that started play in 1996.

10). Shaun White is the lone American snowboarder to compete in five different Olympics and win three gold medals. Before the Olympic and X Games fame, before meeting Tony Hawk at a skatepark when he was 9 years old, White had to make it through a pair of open-heart surgeries before the age of one to mend a tetralogy of Fallot.

11). The USA has hosted the Summer & Winter Olympics four times each. Summer: 1904 in St. Louis, 1932 &1984 in LA, and 1996 in Atlanta; Winter: 1932 & 1980 in Lake Placid, NY, 1960 in Squaw Valley, CA, and 2002 in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics are set to be hosted in Los Angeles and 2034 Winter Games will return to SLC in 2034.

12). The United States has never finished lower than third in gold or total medal counts at any Summer Olympics. We've won the most gold medals 19 times and the most total medals at 17 Games, including each of the last eight. America has led the Summer Games in both golds and total medals 16 times, including each of the last four and each of the four times we've hosted. 

13). The Red, White & Blue's most impressive showing at the Olympics, in terms of medal count, was the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Keeping 83 Golds, 61 Silvers, and 30 Bronzes, the USA won more bronze medals than any other country won Golds (Belgium 2nd most, 20) and more silver medals than any other nation won total medals (West Germany 2nd most, 59).

14). Over 11,000 athletes have won the Stars & Stripes at the Summer Olympics and The most athletes that the USA sent to any single Summer Games was 646 at 1996 Atlanta. The fewest we've ever sent was 14 at 1896 Athens, the first modern olympiad. Those 14 athletes took home 20 total medals, pretty high hit rate.

15). Herb Drury holds the American hockey record for most Olympic goals scored with 28 which trails just Harry Watson (37 for Canada) for most goals among all countries. He scored 6 goals at 1920 Antwerp and 22 goals at 1924 Chamonix and his Olympic goal count was more than he scored in his 15-year domestic amateur & professional career (24).

16). The United States has won Gold in baseball at the Olympics just once in Sydney 2000, winning eight of their nine games with a +33 run differential. Tommy Lasorda managed the squad to a gold medal win over Cuba 4 to zip with Milwaukee Brewer legend and future Hall of Pretty Gooder Ben Sheets spinning a complete game shutout, striking out 5 Cubans without a walk and only allowing 3 hits across 9 toiling innings.

17). Baseball wasn't an official Olympic sport until 1992 when Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, and the Americans finished 4th behind Cuba, Chinese Taipei, and Japan. However, the US had an 11-2 record in Olympic "demonstration matches," beating Sweden at 1912 Stockholm, Australia at 1956 Melbourne, Japan at 1964 Tokyo, then going 4-1 at each of 1984 LA and 1988 Seoul.

18). There have been seven athletes in Olympic history to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, three of which are American:
    - Eddie Eagan: Gold medal boxer at 1920 Antwerp // Gold medal winner in bobsled at 1932 Lake Placid
    - Lauryn Williams: Gold + Silver medal winner in track & field at 2004 Athens and 2012 London // Silver medal winner in bobsled at 2014 Sochi
    - Eddy Alvarez: Silver medal winner in speed skating at 2014 Sochi // Silver medal winner in baseball at 2020 Tokyo

19). USA has made it to each of the five gold medal games in Olympic Softball history, winning each of the first three in 1996, 2000, and 2004 and taking home silver in 2008 and 2020 (lost to Japan both times).

20). Perhaps the most dominating team effort in Summer Olympic history was the 2004 USA Softball squad who won all 7 of their matchups by a total score of 41 runs to zero. Lisa Fernandez went 4-0 (including both knockout round wins), Jennie Finch & Cat Osterman went 2-0, and Lori Harrigan went 1-0, shutting out every opponent along the way.

21). The United States has won two medals ever in men's soccer at the Olympics, a Silver and a Bronze that were both won at the 1904 St. Louis Games. Three teams competed in those Games:
    - Galt FC from Ontario, Canada who won 7-0 and 4-0 to be named default Gold Medal winners
    - Christian Brothers College from St. Louis who won the Silver Medal game 2-0 over...
    - St. Rose Parish also from St. Louis who didn't score a single goal in four matches but took home Bronze

22). The US Women's National Team has finished Top 3 at eight of nine Women's World Cups that have been held, with four World Championships in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019.

23). There have been three Americans to win the Golden Ball for best overall player at the Women's World Cup: Carin Jennings (1991), Carli Lloyd (2015), and Megan Rapinoe (2019). And there have been two Americans to win Golden Boot for top goalscorer at the WWC: Michelle Akers (10 goals in 1991) and Megan Rapinoe (6 in 2019).

24). American goalies have won the Golden Glove for top goalkeeper at the Women's World Cup three times: Briana Scurry (shared title in 1999) and Hope Solo (twice in 2011 & 2015). Scurry allowed just 3 goals in 6 matches, putting together four shutouts. Solo allowed 3 goals across 7 matches in each of the 2015 and '19 tournaments, shutting out the entire group stage and Final in 2019.

25). The US Women's National Soccer Team has won 613 of its 781 international matches in organization history since its first match against Italy in 1985, an ungodly 78.5% winning percentage.

26). America has won the gold medal in women's soccer 5 times and has medaled seven times in eight Olympic tournaments. The only two-time gold medal-winning American captain is Christie Rampone and the team's overall goal differential is +50 in all Olympic play.

27). Abby Wambach holds the American record for top international goalscorer with 184 net-finders in 255 career caps for the USWNT and Mia Hamm has the title for most goals accounted for, scoring 158 herself and assisting on 147 more for a total of 305.

28). The US Men's & Women's National Basketball Teams have medaled in all 32 Olympic Games in which they've competed. The Men's team has won 17 Golds, 1 Silver, and 3 Bronzes while the Women's team has won 10 Golds, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze.

29). Kevin Durant holds the record for most career points (518) and rebounds (137) in American Men's Olympic history while LeBron James has the most assists (139). Lauren Jackson has the most points scored (581) and rebounds recorded (285) in American Olympic basketball history and Teresa Edwards holds the record for most assists (143).

30). USA's most dominant basketball effort in a single Summer Olympics by the Men's team was the 1956 team led by collegians Bill Russell & K.C. Jones when we won all 8 games with a +428 point differential. The women's best tournament was 1996, winning all 8 games by a total of 590 points with a team led by Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, and Dawn Staley.

31). America has won 265 Golds and 607 total medals in swimming events at the Olympic Games, by far the most of any country in both. USA has more gold medals in swimming than the next six countries combined (Australia, 76; China, 40; East Germany, 38; Hungary, 30; Japan, 24; Great Britain, 21 [248 altogether]).

32). Own goals by opponents account for 10% of the United States'  total goals scored at the Men's World Cup. They've scored 50 total goals and opponents own goals account for 5 of those.

33). USA hasn't had an Olympic gold medalist in boxing since 2016 when Claressa Shields of Flint, MI won her second consecutive middleweight gold medal; she's America's only two-time gold medalist in boxing. The last men's Gold came in 2004 when Anthony Ward from San Fran took home the light heavyweight championship. Neither boxer lost a fight in their career, Shields 18-0 and Ward 32-0.

34). Set to square off again on Monday, USA and Belgium played against each other in the very first match held in World Cup history. The US came out on top 3-0 on that Uruguayan July afternoon in 1930.

35). There are six Olympic sports that the USA has never medaled in, one in the Winter: biathlon; five in the summer: badminton, handball, table tennis, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline gymnastics.

36). The United States has won the most medals in Athletics at the Summer Olympics in 27 of the 33 Games its competed in and has won 100+ track & field athletes compete in each of the last 10 iterations of the Summer Games.

37). The longest standing track & field record at the Summer Olympics is Bob Beamon's 8.90 meter long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Games. Beamon's first jump at the games obliterated the previous Olympic record, beating it by nearly two feet.

38). The USA has only led the Winter Olympics in gold medals once, the 1932 Lake Placid Games, and the Winter Games in total medals twice, 1932 and 2010 in Vancouver. We own the Gold and total medal count title in three Winter sports: figure skating, snowboarding, and freestyle skiing.

39). Paraguay is the only country that the USA men's team has won multiple matches against at the World Cup with a 3-0 win at Uruguay 1930 and a 4-1 win last month in Inglewood. Paraguay is also the only country that USA has scored more than 5 goals against in WC matches.

40). Skeleton was first held at the Winter Olympics in 1928 in St. Moritz and the Gold & Silver were won by a pair of American brothers, Jennison and Jack Heaton of New Haven, Connecticut.

41). Billy Fiske was captain of the first bobsled team to medal for USA at the 1928 St. Moritz Winter Olympics, taking home Gold over another American five-man crew. Fiske then played flagbearer and piloted a four-man gold medal winning bobsled squad at the 1932 Lake Placid Games. Later that decade Fiske became part of a group that founded the original ski resorts in Aspen, Colorado. In 1940, Fiske then hopped aboard a ship to England and convinced the Royal Air Force that he was a Canadian in order to enlist in their World War II effort agains the German Luftwaffe. His Hawker Hurricane aircraft was shot down in the Battle of Britain but Fiske managed to get back to the airbase rather than bail and let the plane crash over residential space. Unfortunately he'd pass in surgery attending to his injuries sustained in the plane.

42). The first American man to medal in figure skating was Dick Button at 1948 St. Moritz when he was 18 years old and he continues to be the youngest men's figure skating champion in Olympic history. He's also the only two-time men's single gold medalist in American history, defending his title at 1952 Oslo. In his first Olympic go-around he was the first person to ever land a double axel in competition which he one-upped by becoming the first to land a triple jump of any kind with a triple loop in '52.

43). It's been over 100 years since the USA won its lone medal in ski jumping when Anders Haugen took home the Bronze at 1924 Chamonix, though it took 50 years for him to earn it. In 1974 a Norwegian ski historian discovered a mathematical scoring error that placed Haugen ahead of Thorleif Haug of Norway.

44). America has had three lugists medal in single's events at the Winter Olympics...
    - Chris Mazdzer: 2018 Pyeongchang Silver Medalist out of Pittsfield, Mass. who competed in season 26 of Dancing with the Stars and season 16 of American Ninja Warrior
    - Erin Hamlin: 2014 Sochi Bronze Medalist out of New Hartford, NY who's favorite book is Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and is a spokesperson for the National Headache Foundation
    - Ashley Farquharson: 2026 Milano Cortina Bronze Medalist out of Sacramento who chose to pursue luge over college softball, crafts friendship bracelets for fellow competitors, and maintains a sourdough starter

45). Six players on the 2026 US Men's National World Cup Team roster have hometowns that are within a 2 hour drive of City Hall in Philadelphia: Matt Turner, Auston Trusty, Christian Pulisic, Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, and Matt Freese.

46). Chloe Kim is the only American female snowboarder with multiple gold medals, winning at 2018 Pyeongchang and 2022 Beijing. At 17 years old in 2018, she became the youngest woman to land two 1080-degree spins in a row at the Olympics and the youngest gold medalist in the halfpipe, taking the crown from American Kelly Clark (2002 Salt Lake City).

47). Skateboarding entered the Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo Games and remained in competition at 2024 Paris. USA has the most men's medals (4) with Cory Juneau taking Bronze in park-style in 2020, Jagger Eaton taking Bronze in 2020 and Silver in 2024 in street-style, Tom Schaar winning Silver in 2024 park-style, and Nyjah Huston, the only goofy rider of the bunch, taking Bronze in 2024 street-style competition. 

48). American Apolo Anton Ohno's eight medals in short-track speed skating are tied with Viktor Ahn of Russia (formerly Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea) for most by a male skater in Olympic history. Ohno is the only American to win gold at multiple distances (500m & 1500m) and the only person in the history of Dancing with the Stars to dance to Gwen Stefani in two different seasons ("Cool" in season 4; "What You Waiting For?" in season 15).

49). Landon Donovan has played in the most World Cup matches of any men's player in American history with 12 WC caps. Sergiño Dest and Weston McKennie lead players on the current roster with 8 appearances each and can tie Donovan should the US make this year's Final or 3rd Place match.

50). Art competitions were held at the Summer Olympics every rendition from 1912-1948 with medals awarded in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. The only time USA won multiple medals in a single Olympics in art was 1932 Los Angeles winning three Golds including Mahonri Young's "The Knockdown" (pictured) and four Silvers.