Michigan in the Olympics
Introduction
From the second modern Olympic Games held in Paris in 1900 to the 2024 games in Paris, the University of Michigan has made its mark in Olympic competition. Including the 2024 games, 324 U of M students (281 varsity athletes), coaches, and staff members have participated in the Olympics, representing the US and 42 other countries. A total of 91 individual athletes have qualified for multiple Olympic games: one athlete has participated in six Olympics, two in five, four athletes have qualified in four Olympiads, 23 have made three appearances, and 61 have been two-time Olympians. They have won 203 medals: 88 gold, 52 silver, and 55 bronze. Michigan has had medal winners in every Summer Olympics except 1896 and gold medalists in all but four Summer Olympiads. (Medal totals include six swimmers who swam only the qualifying races in a a realay event. Before 1976 they were not awarded medals.)
Five athletes (4 U-M students, one staff member) have competed in the Paralympic Games, winning two gold, six silver, and one bronze. (through 2020)
Michigan's Track Gold Medalists
Dvorak, Schule, Rose, Hahn, Craig, Hubbard, Tolan
Thirty-three U of M coaches, former athletes, and administrators have served as coaches or managers of national teams. The University's Ferry Field was the site of the Midwest trials for the 1924 US track team. U of M athletes have been prominent, at times dominant, in track, swimming, and diving, but have also won medals in baseball, basketball, Greco-Roman wrestling, kayaking, soccer, softball and fencing.
Michigan Individual Swimming Gold Medalists
Davies, Robie, Barrowman, Dolan, Malchow, Ketchum, Phelps, Clary
This exhibit provides what we believe is a complete roster of University of Michigan students, alumni, coaches and administrators who have participated in the Olympics as athletes, coaches, managers or Olympic Committee officials.
Michigan Diving Gold Medalists
Degener, Webster, King, Boggs
The exhibit is organized by Olympiad. You can follow U of M athletes in several ways:
- by Olympic year using the Table of Contents
- by individual athlete using the Name Index
- list of UM Olympic medal winners
- list of UM by Olympians by sport
- list of UM Olympic coaches and administrators
The "page" for each Olympic year includes text, images and statistics.
Michigan Gold Medalists
Clawson, Hubbard, Fraser, Barton, Abbott, Gorski, Armstrong
* Most of the images included in this exhibit are from the collections of the Bentley Historical Library. Some images have been obtained from other archives or printed sources. Most of the images are from the athletes' U of M career rather than their Olympic performances. A list of photo credits and citations is included at the bottom of each exhibit "page." The exhibit and most of the images are copyrighted and should not be downloaded, redistributed or reproduced in any way without permission from the Bentley Historical Library.
"Michigan in the Olympics" was researched and prepared by Greg Kinney. Send comments or questions about the exhibit to: gkinney@umich.edu.