Athletes from 87 different countries left Rio de Janeiro with Olympic medals this summer. The United States dominated the 2016 Rio Summer Games, tallying 121 total medals: 46 gold, 37 silver and 38 bronze.
The United States won 51 more medals than China, which finished second in the overall count. The 46 gold medals won by team USA bested Great Britain’s gold total by 19. And, as expected, the United States won big over the last two weeks in the pool, on the track and on the courts.
But the dominance by Team USA in the medal count by country doesn’t even tell the whole story. USA Basketball won gold in both the men and women’s tournament, for example, but the total tally only counts each of those as one gold medal.
In total, there were 1,913 athletes in Rio this summer who won an Olympic medal and the United States brought 214 of them. From Michael Phelps and his five golds and a silver to Kerri Walsh Jennings and her lone bronze, Team USA brought home a total of 267 Olympic medals.
TeamUSA.org lists each American Olympian by home state — it’s not an exact science, as Carmelo Anthony, for example, was born in New York but famously grew up in Baltimore, and is listed in New York not Maryland — and California led the nation with 124 Olympians.
Pennsylvania was fourth on the list with 31 Olympians. New Jersey was sixth with 29. Delaware was tied for 36th, with two.
While Pennsylvania had more total Olympians than its neighbor across the Delaware River — thanks in part to the likes of Ajeé Wilson being listed under PA, not NJ — it was the Garden State that boasted more medalists, as New Jerseyeans won 11 medals in Rio to Pennsylvania’s 10.
Californians won 58 medals by 47 different Olympians, including individual medals for team events, which would have placed them fourth among all nations in the official medal count, ahead of Russia. (Note: the total number of Russian athletes who won medals was 104 competitors.)
Florida finished second in Olympians and total medals in the United States, with 39 and 23, respectively. Texas had 33 Olympians and that group left Rio with 22 medals. Maryland had just 11 Olympians in Rio, but thanks to Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, that state went home with 17 medals, 13 of which were gold.
New York actually had fewer Olympians than Pennsylvania, but of their 30 participants, they earned a collective 15 medals. Indiana tied with New Jersey with 11 medals, though by just 13 athletes, and Illinois rounded out the states with double-digit medals, tying Pennsylvania with 10, though with just 17 competitors.
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Of the nine medalists from Pennsylvania, only swimmer Leah Smith, from Pittsburgh, won multiple medals. Philadelphia was well-represented on the medal stand in Rio, however, with Taylor Ellis-Watson winning gold in the 4×400 meter relay for her early-round runs, Kyle Lowry winning basketball gold and Nia Ali winning silver in the 100 meter hurdles.
Nearby Pennsylvanians did well in Rio, including Cierra Runge, from Cochranville, who won gold in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, Phillip Dutton, from West Grove, who won an equestrian bronze and Nazareth’s Joe Kovacs, who won silver in the shot putt.
It’s safe to say the United States “won” the Olympics, though California seemed to do most of the work. Still, the Olympians from the Delaware Valley did pretty good for themselves as well this summer.
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