If USC were a country, we’d currently be tied for 11th place in Rio 2016
Trojans are currently tied with Brazil for Olympic medals – and broke a world record on the first day
Of the 554 Olympians from the United States who are competing in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, 44 hail from USC.
Not only is that eight more than the amount of athletes from that other school across town, but our Trojan Olympians have also already medalled.
Twice.
With one gold medal and another silver, USC is currently tied with Brazil and Sweden in the 2016 medals table when accounting for prestige. In terms of overall medals, not accounting for rank of gold or silver versus bronze, USC shoots to eighth place in a nine-way tie with Brazil, Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Katinka Hosszú, five-time NCAA champion at USC and four-time Olympian, won gold and broke the world record while swimming in the 400 meter individual medley on behalf of team Hungary.
Three-time Olympian Amanda Weir earned a silver medal for Team USA in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Weir swam for USC in 2006 before going pro.
Maybe it comes from the sunshine, maybe it hails from the Trojan spirit. Maybe the Trojan success is purely a product of hard work, diligence and perseverance.
But whatever Team USC has propelling it, it’s working.