Olympic gold-medalist Katie Ledecky has been called “a speed demon,” “the most dominant swimmer in the pool,” and even “the greatest athlete in the world today.”
But the 19-year-old will have another title when she returns from the Olympic Games this fall – Stanford University freshman.
Joining her in Rio will be 30 other current and former Stanford athletes – among them, swimmers Lia Neal, Simone Manuel and Maya DiRado.
Stanford students and alumni will participate in swimming, diving, water polo, sailing, rowing, soccer, tennis, volleyball, equestrian, rugby, and fencing events this year, according to information provided by the U.S. Olympic Committee. The university has produced at least one medalist in every Olympics in which the U.S. has competed since 1912. Bernard Muir, Stanford’s athletic director, says this achievement is “synonymous with Stanford Athletics’ reputation as the nation’s most successful athletics program.”
Seventy-five percent of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team competed in collegiate athletics at the varsity and club levels.
Here are the 12 U.S. colleges that will be best-represented by athletes on Team USA at the Olympic Games:
Number of athletes: 11
Events: Swimming and track and field
Number of athletes: 11
Events: Rowing, indoor volleyball, soccer, and track and field
Number of athletes: 11
Events: Field hockey, rowing, fencing, water polo, and track and field
Number of athletes: 11
Events: Swimming, golf, and track and field
Number of athletes: 12
Events: Swimming, basketball, golf, indoor volleyball, and track and field
Number of athletes: 12
Events: Rugby and track and field
6. University of North Carolina
Number of athletes: 13
Events: Soccer, basketball, field hockey and track and field
5. Pennsylvania State University
Number of athletes: 13
Events: Indoor volleyball, cycling, soccer, wrestling, fencing, and track and field
4. University of Southern California
Number of athletes: 15
Events: Basketball, tennis, swimming, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, water polo, and track and field
3. University of California, Los Angeles
Number of athletes: 16
Events: Indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, water polo, badminton, soccer, rugby and track and field
2. University of California, Berkeley
Number of athletes: 16
Events: Swimming, soccer, rugby, water polo, indoor volleyball, table tennis, and track and field
Number of athletes: 31
Events: Swimming, diving, water polo, sailing, rowing, soccer, tennis, volleyball, equestrian, rugby, and fencing
A previous version of this article excluded the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Florida, which have 16 and 11 athletes, respectively, competing for Team USA, according to the U.S. Olympics data.
