Stanford Leads The Tokyo 2020 Medal Count By NCAA Program

The American collegiate system has long been known for producing and developing some of the top swimming talent in the world and every Olympic Games we see a number of past, present, and future NCAA swimmers reach the podium in the pool. According to the NCAA, roughly 75% of the United States Olympic athletes in Tokyo across all sports have competed or will compete collegiately. In addition to that 75% of the American contingent, NCAA athletes represented more than 100 countries at the Games.

• Check out a full list of NCAA athletes who competed in Tokyo here.

At Tokyo 2020 over 200 medals were distributed in pool swimming to 124 different swimmers. Of those 124 swimmers, 43 (roughly one-third) have either competed within the NCAA, are currently on an NCAA swimming roster, or have committed to swim for an NCAA school in the coming years. Those 42 swimmers represent 19 different schools and, while the majority represented the USA at the Olympics, come from 5 different countries including Canada, Switzerland, Italy, and Hong Kong.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medalists By NCAA School

• Zach Apple swam for Auburn for 3 years but more recently competed for the University of Indiana and is thus listed as a former Indiana swimmer.
• Annie Lazor competed for Ohio State in her freshman year but raced for Auburn after that for the remainder of her NCAA career and is thus listed as a former Auburn swimmer.
• While Taylor Ruck raced for Stanford during the 2018-2019 season, she has taken 2 straight redshirt years but is still expected to make a return to the Cardinal and is thus listed as a current swimmer.
• Note: “current” status refers to an athlete who was a member of the varsity program at the school during the 2020-2021 season and is projected to return for the 2021-2022 season.

Of the 19 schools whose past, present, or future swimmers collected an Olympic medal in Tokyo, the school with the most representatives on the list as well as the most total Olympic medals in Stanford. There were a total of 6 Stanford swimmers at the Olympics this year who came away with hardware in Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Regan Smith, Taylor Ruck, Brooke Forde, and Torri Huske. Of those 6, Manuel and Ledecky are the only 2 who have completed their collegiate career while Ruck and Forde are current members of the team and Regan Smith and Torri Huske are expected to begin repping the Cardinal in Fall 2021.

Should Forde, who just completed her 4th year at Stanford and will be taking advantage of the 5th year offering, Ruck, Smith, and Huske all race for Stanford in 2021-2022, that would place 4 Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalists on 1 NCAA team.

While 6 women represented Stanford’s medal haul at the Games, it was 3 men and 1 woman who amassed a total of 9 Olympic medals for Florida. Caeleb Dressel and Natalie Hinds have both completed their collegiate swimming careers, having represented Florida, and won 5 golds and 1 gold, respectively. Dressel won 3 individual gold medals (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly) and 2 relay medals (men’s 4×100 freestyle, men’s 4×100 medley), while Hinds earned gold as a member of the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. In terms of current Florida swimmers, Bobby Finke picked up 2 individual golds in Tokyo in the men’s 800 and 1500 freestyle while Kieran Smith won bronze in the 400 free.

After Stanford’s 12 medal haul and Florida’s, the University of California, Georgia, and Indiana are all tied with 7 medals from their respective Olympic swimmers. Notably, all 7 of each schools’ medals come from former members of their roster meaning that none of their current or future athletes made the podium. While no current Cal, Georgia, or Indiana swimmers made it onto the podium, Indiana did have 1 swimmer on the roster in Michael Brinegar who is expected to be making a return to Indiana in the fall.

If we want to take a look at Olympic medals per school while only counting current or future members of the team, the list will look a bit different. By only including those swimmers who are expected to compete during the 2021-2022 season or later, Stanford still ranks in the top spot with 7 medals, followed by Michigan with, Texas, and Virginia with 3 each.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medals From Current/Future NCAA Students

Of all current or future NCAA athletes racing at Tokyo 2020, Maggie MacNeil who represents Canada internationally, and Michigan collegiately and Regan Smith who represents the USA internationally, and Stanford collegiately had the highest medal count. Both won 3 medals overall at the Games as MacNeil won individual gold in the 100 butterfly, silver in the 4×100 freestyle, and bronze in the 4×100 medley, and Smith individual silver in the 200 fly, bronze in the 100 back, and silver in the 4×100 medley.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medals From Current/Future NCAA Students