The United States has won more golden medals at the Summer Olympic Games than any other nation. They joined the first Olympic Games in 1896, and have attended in all of the Summer Olympic Games except the one organized in 1980 in Moscow when the country spearheaded a boycott which was participated by numerous nations especially its allies. The USA have also organized the Olympic Games on several times: St Louis in 1904, Los Angeles in 1932 and 1984, and Atlanta in 1996, and they will organize the event again in LA 2028.
The US is a dominant country in the Olympics in the overall medal as well as specific sports such as athletics, swimming, shooting, gymnastics, rowing, basketball, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, cycling, tennis, wrestling, diving, archery and equestrian.
The first representative athlete of the US was Thomas Burke, who won the gold medals in the 100-m sprint and 400-meter run competition. In the inaugural 1896 Athens Olympic Games, James Connolly was the first modern Olympic champion when he succeed in the triple jump in athletics during the opening day of the Olympic Games. Swimmer Michael Phelps is the most notable athlete in the history of Summer Olympic Games as he won totally 28 medals (23 of which are gold) from 2000 to 2016.
The US athletes has won gold medal at every Olympic games that they participated and won more gold and overall medals than any other country even in the Olympiad. From the 1950’s to the late 1980s, the United States was closely battled by the Soviet Union at the Summer Games in medal-dominant sports and in overall medal tally. But after the USSR has disintegrated, China has emerged as the new force that go against the United States.
The US 2016 Olympics were the third most productive Olympic Game for the United States in terms of total medals won.
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