Expanded ACC Led All Leagues,
Many Nations At 2024 Olympics


By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network

Thanks in large part to newcomers Stanford and California, the Atlantic Coast Conference had more success than any other collegiate league — and even more than most nations — at the recently completed Summer Olympics in France.

According to statistics compiled by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, ACC athletes collectively earned 91 medals (the NCAA-provided graphic below is missing two golds) at the 2024 Olympic Games. The only other collegiate leagues anywhere near that total were the Southeastern Conference (80) and the Big Ten Conference (78).

Three of the four most prolific universities this year were ACC members, with Stanford and California officially leaving the Pac-12 for the ACC on Aug. 2, as the Olympic Games were being contested (July 26-Aug. 11) in and around Paris.

Twenty-two current, former and incoming athletes at Stanford collectively won 34 Olympic medals: 12 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze. American swimmers Torri Huske (three gold, two silver), Katie Ledecky (two gold, one silver, one bronze) and Regan Smith (one gold, three silver) led the way for the Cardinal.

Thirteen representatives of Cal collectively captured 17 Olympic medals: four gold, six silver and seven bronze. American swimmer Ryan Murphy (one gold, one silver, one bronze) led the way for the Bears.

Eight participants from Virginia collectively earned 15 Olympic medals: seven gold, five silver and three bronze. American swimmers Kate Douglass (two gold, two silver) and Gretchen Walsh (two gold, two silver) led the way for the Cavaliers.

When the United States captured the gold medal in women’s soccer on Saturday, with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in the championship match, five ACC schools were represented by 10 athletes.

Florida State (Casey Krueger, Jenna Nighswonger, Emily Sams), Stanford (Tierna Davidson, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith) and North Carolina (Crystal Dunn-pictured above, Emily Fox) each had multiple representatives on Team USA. Notre Dame (Korbin Albert) and Virginia (Emily Sonnett) had one player each.

It may look as if only one country collected more medals at the Summer Olympics than ACC athletes (91) did, although that is not the case.

The NCAA numbers listed above count medals individually, whereas the Olympic Games count team champions as only a single medal. For example, the NCAA numbers give the ACC 10 gold medals for the United States’ winning performance in women’s soccer, whereas the Olympics numbers count that accomplishment as only a single (collective) gold medal for the USA.

In the final Summer Olympics tally, the United States led the way with 126 total medals: 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze.

The other top-10 performers in France were China (91), Great Britain (65), France (64), Australia (53), Japan (45), Italy (40), the Netherlands (34), Germany (33) and South Korea (32).

Nevertheless, athletes representing ACC schools collectively were responsible for medals in more than 30 individual and team events at this year’s Summer Olympics, underlining the league’s amazing representation in Paris this summer.