John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
Stanford concluded the 2024 Paris Olympic Games with a school-record 39 medals, surpassing its previous best and solidifying its status as the nation's top collegiate program. The university's contingent included a record 59 Olympians with Cardinal ties, exceeding its previous medal benchmark of 27 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Stanford athletes won at least 20 medals for the sixth time in school history, contributing to a total of 128 medals over the last five Summer Games. The haul of 39 medals (12 gold, 14 silver, and 13 bronze) is the highest by any school at one Olympics. Counting collective medals from relays or teams as single event medals, Stanford athletes accounted for 27 event medals at the Paris Games. If Stanford were considered a country, it would have tied with Canada for 11th place.
For the third consecutive Olympics, Stanford had more Team USA selections (37) than any other school, amassing 36 Team USA medals. Overall, Stanford affiliates have captured 335 Olympic medals (162 gold, 93 silver, and 80 bronze) from 196 medalists since their first participation in the Games.
Cardinal student-athletes medaled in various sports including artistic swimming, women’s basketball, women’s fencing, men’s gymnastics, sailing, men’s rowing, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, men’s track and field, men’s volleyball, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo and women’s water polo.
Of Stanford's total medals in Paris, 17 came from women's swimming and diving. Katie Ledecky secured four medals (2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze), becoming the most decorated American female Olympian with a total of 14 overall. She joined Michael Phelps as one of only two swimmers to win the same event at four consecutive Olympics. Ledecky now holds nine career gold medals.
Torri Huske emerged as a standout among current student-athletes with five medals (3 golds and 2 silvers), while Regan Smith also contributed five (2 golds and 3 silvers).
In team sports success: eleven current and former student-athletes helped their respective countries secure medals in women's basketball (bronze), women's soccer (gold), men's volleyball (bronze), women's volleyball (silver), men's water polo (bronze) and women's water polo (silver). Additionally contributed to team-event wins in artistic swimming (silver) and men's gymnastics (bronze).
Nineteen Cardinal athletes secured their first career Olympic medal in Paris—the second-highest number in school history behind the Beijing Games' tally of twenty-one first-time medalists. Notably among them was Grant Fisher who became the first U.S. male distance runner to medal in both the 5k meters and10k meters events.
The Cardinal's representation included fourteen current student-athletes among fifty-nine Olympians representing fourteen countries across twenty varsity sports. Additional representatives included five alternates alongside one national team head coach and three assistant coaches. Injuries led Cameron Brink (3x3 women's basketball), Catarina Macario (women's soccer), Ali Riley (women's soccer) along with non-varsity sport participant Nayel Nassar withdrawing from competition after his horse sustained an injury.
Stanford leads historically with136 NCAA team championships spanning seventy-one men's titles sixty-five women's titles; adding up to167 national championships overall—having clinched at least one NCAA title annually over forty-eight seasons since1976-77 campaign while producing562 NCAA individual champions totaling645 overall alongside winning Learfield Directors’ Cup26 times out thirty seasons including twenty-five year streak1995-2019
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