A history of Yale in the Olympics
With 16 athletes scheduled to compete in the Tokyo Olympics who have Yale ties, and three more to potentially receive confirmation later this month, the university will continue its presence as one of the top schools consistently represented at the Olympics. Yale’s 2021 Olympic athletes, which include 11 in the rowing events, are made up of former, current and soon-to-be student-athletes and will be the school’s largest contingent since 1964.
Here’s a quick look at Yale’s history in the Olympics
By the numbers:
1: Yale’s Edward Egan remains the only athlete to ever win a gold medal in both the summer and winter Olympics. The 1921 graduate won gold in boxing in the 1920 summer Olympics and won his second gold medal as part of the four-man U.S. bobsledding team in the 1932 Winter Games.
6: Following the 2016 Rio Olympics, Yale ranked No. 6 in colleges who have sent the most athletes to the Olympics according to Olympicstats.com. Per the study, and not including the 2018 or 2021 Olympics, Yale has sent 149 athletes and has won 113 medals. Stanford University was the No. 1 school in the study, sending a total of 289 athletes and winning 282 medals.
11: Following Tokyo, Yale athletes will have represented a total of 11 different countries throughout the university’s history in the Olympics. In Tokyo, athletes will represent USA, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, New Zealand, Greece and Israel.
23: Yale sent its biggest contingent of athletes, 23, at the 1932 Olympics. Both the Winter and Summer Game were hosted that year across Los Angeles and Lake Placid, New York. John Bent (class of 1930), John Cookman (1931), Franklin Farrel III (1931), Frank A. Nelson Jr. (1931), and W. Hale Palmer (1930) helped Team USA win silver in ice hockey, while John Madden (1932) helped the “Big Three” (Yale, Harvard and Princeton) win silver in football as a demonstration sport. Karl Warner won gold in the 4 x 400-meter relay for Team USA as it set a then-world record of 3 minutes and 8.2 seconds.
101: According to Olympicstats.com, Yale has won a total of 101 medals, including 52 gold, at the Summer Games.
1924: Twice the school’s men’s eight crew boat has represented Team USA at the Summer Olympics. In 1924 the team won the gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
Notable names:
Edward Egan (1921) Boxing, Bobsled : only athlete to ever win gold at both the Summer and Winter Olympics
Don Schollander (1968) Swim: the first athlete to win four gold medals in the same Olympics. Schollander won a total of five gold medals in the sport across the 1964 and 1968 Games. He was one of the first athletes inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Dr. Benjamin Spock (1925) Men’s Crew: before becoming one of the country’s most successful pediatricians, he was a member of the Yale Gold-medal-winning men’s crew team that represented Team USA at the 1924 Olympics.
Steve Clark (1965) Swim: the two-time Olympian helped the U.S. win three gold medals in relay swim events in the 1964 Olympics. He is also a five-time individual NCAA Champion.
Sarah Hughes (2008) Figure Skating: won gold at the 2002 Olympics as a 16-year-old, making her at the time the third-youngest American woman to win the singles event.
Frank Shorter (1969) Marathon: the long distance runner won the Olympic Gold in the marathon at the 1972 Games and the silver medal in the event at the 1976 Games.
Anne Warner (1976) Women’s Crew: the first Yale woman undergraduate to win an Olympic medal after winning bronze as part of the U.S. women’s eight boat in the 1976 Olympics.
James Stillman Rockefeller (1924) Men’s Crew: Won a Gold medal with Team USA as a part of the Yale men’s eight boat in the 1924 Olympics.
Bob Brooke (1983) Ice Hockey: The former NHL forward played on Team USA at the 1984 Winter Games.