STANFORD, Calif. - A school-record 60 Stanford-affiliated athletes have qualified to compete at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The total of 60 Olympians with Cardinal ties eclipses the previous high of 57 participants from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Stanford will once again showcase its dominance on the world’s biggest stage, three years after claiming a collegiate-best 26 medals in Tokyo and eight years after producing a school-record 27 medals in Rio de Janeiro. Cardinal affiliates have earned at least 20 medals five times in school history (2020, 2016, 2008, 1996, 1924).
The Cardinal’s 60 Olympians (21 male, 39 female) hail from 15 nations and feature representation across 20 varsity sports. Included among Stanford’s contingent are 14 current student-athletes, led by women’s swimmer Torri Huske, who collected a silver medal as part of Team USA’s 400m medley relay team in Tokyo. Also included are 44 former student-athletes and two other institutional affiliates.
For the third consecutive edition of the Games, Stanford boasts more Team USA selections (37) than any other school, easily outpacing UCLA (17), USC (16), Texas (14) and Penn State (14) to round out the NCAA’s top five.
Stanford’s most recognizable name is Katie Ledecky, who has won 10 career Olympic medals overall (nine during her tenure as a Stanford affiliate) and arrives in Paris three shy of becoming the American record-holder for most medals by a female swimmer. One of those pace-setters is Cardinal swimming icon Jenny Thompson, the school’s most decorated Olympian with 12 career medals.
The Cardinal’s nine-time NCAA champion women’s water polo program leads all varsity teams with eight individuals in Paris, highlighted by the quintet of Jenna Flynn, Ryann Neushul, Jordan Raney, Jewel Roemer and three-time gold medalist and all-time Olympic leading goal scorer Maggie Steffens fueling Team USA’s quest for a fourth straight gold medal.
Fencer Alexander Massialas was Stanford’s lone medal winner on the men’s side in Tokyo, earning a bronze in the team foil competition. A three-time Olympic medalist, Massialas also reached the medal stand twice in 2016. A two-time NCAA champion in foil during his playing career on The Farm, Massialas was recently named head coach of the Cardinal fencing program.
Nations represented include the United States (38), Canada (5), Australia (3), Israel (2), Switzerland (2), Egypt (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (1), Hong Kong (1), Nigeria (1), Philippines (1), Singapore (1), Spain (1) and Venezuela (1).
Varsity sports represented include women’s water polo (8), women’s swimming and diving (7), women’s track and field (7), women’s rowing (4), women’s soccer (3), men’s water polo (4), artistic swimming (3), men’s swimming and diving (3), men’s track and field (3), men’s basketball (2), fencing (2), women’s golf (2), men’s gymnastics (2), men’s volleyball (2), women’s basketball (1), field hockey (1), women’s gymnastics (1), men’s rowing (1), sailing (1) and women’s volleyball (1).
In addition to the 60 qualifiers, Stanford’s Olympic representation also includes six alternates, one national team head coach and three national team assistant coaches. Cameron Brink (3x3 women’s basketball), Catarina Macario (women’s soccer) and Ali Riley (women's soccer) were originally named to their respective teams but withdrew due to injury.
Stanford’s affiliates have captured 296 overall medals (150 gold, 79 silver, 67 bronze) from 177 medalists. The Cardinal has produced at least one medalist in every Olympics in which the U.S. has competed since 1912.
Stanford is the all-time leader with 136 NCAA team championships (71 men, 65 women), and 167 national championships overall. The Cardinal owns the most recognizable streak in college athletics, having won at least one NCAA team title during each of the last 48 seasons, dating back to the 1976-77 campaign.
The Cardinal has also produced 562 NCAA individual champions and 645 overall. Meanwhile, Stanford has won the Learfield Directors’ Cup in 26 of the possible 30 seasons, including a 25-year streak from 1995-2019.