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When Team USA athletes have the opportunity to compete, it is our job to empower them through comprehensive support, including world-class training, competition opportunities and resources.
Amidst the extraordinary circumstances of the Beijing Games, we remained acutely focused on preserving Team USA athletes’ opportunity to compete as they demonstrated continued heart and spirit.
Winter Games Beijing 2022
Team USA’s 225 competing Olympic athletes earned 25 medals (eight gold, 10 silver, seven bronze), finishing fourth in medal count and beating our 2018 total medal count. Fifty-seven American athletes contributed to this medal count with 34 athletes making it to the podium for the first time.
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Julia Marino
earned Team USA’s first medal in Beijing, winning the silver in snowboard slopestyle.
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Jessie Diggins
won silver in the cross-country skiing women’s 30-kilometer mass start free and became the first American woman to medal in an Olympic long-distance cross-country race.
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Erin Jackson
won in the women’s 500-meter and became the first Black woman ever to win a gold medal in an individual event in the Winter Games.
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Nathan Chen
set a world record score of 113.97 in the men's short program, en route to becoming only the seventh American, and first since 2010, to win the men's figure skating title.
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Elana Meyers Taylor
raced to silver and bronze in women’s monobob and the two-women event to become the most-decorated Black athlete at a Winter Games with a combined five medals.
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Shaun White
finished fourth in his final competitive snowboard half-pipe contest, capping off a remarkable career that includes three gold medals, never finishing lower than fourth place.
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Nick Baumgartner
became the oldest snowboarder to win a medal at an Olympic Winter Games (40 years, 57 days) with a win in the mixed team snowboard cross event.
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Lindsey Jacobellis
(36 years, 177 days) became the oldest woman and second oldest Olympic snowboard medalist with wins in the mixed team and women’s snowboard cross events.
At the Paralympic Games, Team USA was awarded 20 medals (six gold, 11 silver, three bronze), finishing fifth in medal count. With 67 athletes competing, Team USA had the second-most athletes of any nation represented. Nine athletes took home their first Paralympic medal, with 27 athletes, including one guide, contributing to the total.
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Oksana Masters
became the first American to win seven medals at a single Paralympic Winter Games.
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The U.S. sled hockey team
won a fifth Paralympic title – its fourth consecutive – to remain the sport’s most-decorated team in Paralympic history.
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Brenna Huckaby
claimed her second consecutive gold medal in banked slalom – her third Paralympic snowboarding gold medal – and won a bronze medal in snowboard cross.
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Kendall Gretsch
snapped into her cross-country skis to add three medals – gold, silver and bronze – to her collection.
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Sydney Peterson
first-time Paralympian secured a gold medal in the mixed relay squad, silver in the women's 15-kilmoter classical standing event and a bronze in the 1.5-kilometer sprint standing event.
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Josh Pauls
U.S. sled hockey defenseman helped his squad to a fourth straight Paralympic gold medal, which was his 19th career appearance at the Paralympic Games for Team USA.
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Mike Schultz
once again captured a silver medal in the men’s snowboard-cross event, making him a three-time Paralympic medalist (one gold, two silvers).
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Jake Adicoff
and his guide Sam Wood secured a gold medal in the 4 x 2.5 mixed team relay in skiing.
A Unique Games Environment
Team USA’s stellar performances took place against an unparalleled Games backdrop – including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a diplomatic boycott of Beijing, conversations around anti-doping, COVID-19 anxiety and all man-made snow for the first time at a Winter Games. Despite the circumstances, Team USA impressed the world with its performance, and shared positive feedback on their Games experience and satisfaction with USOPC’s services and support.
When the threat of a boycott of the Beijing Games surfaced, we voiced our belief to Congress and the Biden Administration that this would not solve any geopolitical issues and would only place athletes training under a “cloud of uncertainty.” Ultimately, we avoided a complete boycott and applauded the decision by Congress and the Biden Administration for a diplomatic boycott – signifying that an athlete delegation would be sent. Although an official U.S. presidential delegation would not be sent, both Congress and the Biden Administration gave Team USA its full support.
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At the Beijing Games, Elana Meyers Taylor, Team USA bobsledder and USOPC Board member, was elected by Team USA members as the Opening Ceremony flag bearer. While unable to participate due to a positive COVID-19 test upon arrival in China, Team USA athletes elected her to carry the flag in the Closing Ceremony instead.
Summer Highlights
Team USA’s successes did not stop at the Beijing Games. For the first time, the United States hosted the World Athletics Championships, held at a newly reimagined Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. At the championships, Team USA’s successes continued with 33 medals, the most of any nation in the history of the event.
At the FINA World Championships, Team USA won a record 45 swimming medals, and at the World Para Swimming Championships, finished second overall in the gold medal standings with 24 world titles and 40 medals overall. Team USA also topped the medal table for the first time at the World Wrestling Championships, earning 15 medals, seven of which were gold, and earned a total of 12 medals at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships.
When the IPC issued a re-entry proposal that would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under neutral flags and symbols, we swiftly responded. We partnered with the Team USA Athletes' Commission to acknowledge that Team USA wants to compete against all the world’s best athletes, but only if that can happen in a way that ensures safe and fair play.
PERFORMANCE RESOURCES
The USOPC directs more than half of our resources to foster athlete excellence and well-being – from high-performance grants and sports medicine to Games operations and training facilities.
Fueled by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) and donors, our Technology and Innovation Fund puts the USOPC at the forefront of competitive excellence and athlete well-being, supporting the development of groundbreaking technology, analytics and human performance for Team USA athletes.
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Performance Innovation Fund Grant Stats
$20.8M
total funds raised for fund projects since project inception
40
NGBs impacted
69
grants awarded
33% / 22%
Olympic / Paralympic athletes who competed at the Beijing Games were directly impacted by fund projects
“ The [program] is imperative; you can’t compete without it. In biathlon, if you are 2% off, you might as well stay home. You can have a 55-minute, 20-kilometer race that comes down to 0.1 seconds. Every little thing matters – and you cannot do it without tech and innovation; you cannot do it without competitive skis. ”
Lowell Bailey, High Performance Director, U.S. Biathlon
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