The United States is the most successful country in Summer Olympics history, with a total of 2,667 medals, including 1,061 gold medals. They are unmatched in their Olympic achievements and will aim to continue this success at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The sports where the USA has won the most medals include athletics, swimming, wrestling, shooting, diving, artistic gymnastics, and boxing. In the 2024 Paris Olympics, they will also have a chance to win medals in breaking, a new event making its debut.
Even with their impressive record, there are a few traditional sports where the USA has not yet won a medal. Based on their recent performances, it seems unlikely that they will change this record in the upcoming 2024 Games.
Here are the 5 Olympic Sports where the USA has never won a medal:
5. Trampoline
Trampoline first appeared in the Olympics at the 2000 Sydney Games and will be featured for the seventh time at the Paris Games. Since 2000, 19 countries have won a total of 36 medals, but the USA hasn’t won any.
Savannah Vinsant and Nicole Ahsinger had the best results for Americans, finishing sixth in 2012 and 2020, respectively.
For the 2024 Olympics, Aliaksei Shostak and Jessica Stevens will represent the USA as they aim to win the country’s first trampoline medal.
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4. Rhythmic gymnastics
Rhythmic gymnastics first appeared in the Olympics as an individual event in 1984 and added a team event in 1996. Europe has been the main force in this sport, with only China, Canada, and Israel winning medals from outside Europe over the 10 Olympics.
The best result for the United States in rhythmic gymnastics is 11th place. Valerie Zimring achieved this during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and Laura Zeng did the same in the 2016 Rio Games. The US team also finished 11th out of 14 teams at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This was their first appearance since 1996. In Rio, they finished last among 14 teams.
Despite the US’s strong performance in artistic gymnastics, they haven’t been as successful in rhythmic gymnastics. At the 2024 Paris Games, the US will only have one athlete, Evita Griskenas, competing in the individual event.
3. Handball
It’s surprising that the United States, with over 1000 gold medals, hasn’t qualified for the men’s or women’s Olympic handball events since 1996, when they hosted the Atlanta Games. France, South Korea, and Norway have the most medals in Olympic handball history.
The men’s team has played in six Olympics, with their best result being sixth place in 1936, when there were only six teams. They’ve only won four games in total across these appearances.
The women’s team has been to the Olympics four times, between 1984 and 1996. Their best result was fifth place out of six teams in 1984. The USA handball team won’t be competing in the 2024 Paris Games, so their poor record in the sport will likely continue.
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2. Table Tennis
Since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, America hasn’t won a medal, even though it has been one of the 16 countries competing in every Olympics since then.
China has dominated the sport, winning 16 medals. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite sending six athletes, China didn’t win any medals in table tennis.
Chen Wang has the best Olympic result for American table tennis, reaching the women’s singles quarter-finals in Beijing 2008. Juan Liu had the best performance for American players in Tokyo, reaching the fourth round of the women’s singles as the No. 68 seed.
For the 2024 Paris Games, the USA will send four players: Kanak Jha, Amy Wang, Lily Zhang, and Rachel Sung.
1. Badminton
America has had a hard time making progress in badminton at the Olympics. Since badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992, it has included men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles (added in 1996).
In eight Olympics, the U.S. has never reached the final. Their best result was reaching the quarter-finals. In the 2008 Beijing Games, the men’s doubles team of Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong made it to the quarter-finals, which was their best performance.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Beiwen Zhang won two matches in women’s singles but lost in the Round of 16. Timothy Lam (singles) and brothers Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew (doubles) did not win any matches.
Seven U.S. badminton players have qualified for the Olympics based on the BWF Race to Paris Rankings: Howard Shu, Vinson Chiu, Joshua Yuan, Beiwen Zhang, Annie Xu, Kerry Xu, and Jennie Gai.
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