Tokyo 2020 and Team USA Close Out A Successful & Unprecedented Olympic Games

Members of Team USA pose at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 on Aug. 8, 2021 in Tokyo.

Notably, of the 257 American athletes who are taking home Olympic medals, two-thirds of them are women — a testament to Title IX and the continued fight for gender parity in sports. An example: the U.S. women won five Olympic gold medals in track & field, the American men claimed two.

“It’s awesome,” said Felix after she helped the U.S. women win the 4x400 women’s relay. “The women showed up, and I think we’ve been showing up on the track and off the track in all of the ways.”

Fueling the American medal haul is a collegiate system that offers world-class sports; 82 percent (210 of 257) of American medal winners competed collegiately. 

Diving is a perfect display of the power of NCAA competition. The five U.S. athletes who won medals in Tokyo all came up through collegiate diving programs. This past year, with most diving competitions canceled or postponed due to the pandemic, college students like Schnell still had access to world-class facilities and regular competitions.

Then there were the new sports and events that made their Olympic debuts in Tokyo — like surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing, plus mixed gender relays. In these new events, U.S. athletes won 10 medals, including two gold. 

Fittingly, Carissa Moore brought gold home to Hawaii in surfing. And the American women competing in the new 3x3 basketball event showed that hoops — no matter the game — belongs in the U.S. (earlier today, the U.S. women’s traditional basketball team won its seventh consecutive gold medal). 

Of the 626 athletes representing Team USA in Tokyo, the ages of the medalists ranged from 17 (Lydia Jacoby, gold and silver medalist in swimming) to 56 (Steffan Peters, an equestrian who won silver in dressage).

“Everyone has overcome so much, and we have been so inspired by all of these dominant performances across the board,” said Felix. “Tokyo has been an amazing host, and I’m grateful to have participated. There are so many young girls and boys looking up to Olympic athletes, it's a very neat cycle to be a part of, and very humbling.”

Beyond records and medals, the Tokyo Games will be remembered for one that took enormous effort and world-wide collaboration to safely hold. 

After the U.S. men’s 4x100 medley relay team won gold and set a world record in the pool, the four men — Dressel, Zach Apple, Ryan Murphy, and Michael Andrew — held up a banner that read, “Thank you, Tokyo.”

“It's just something we wanted to do as a team,” said Apple, who anchored the team to gold. “Eighteen months ago, I don't know if any of us thought we would be here, let alone finishing on a high note. And there's just so many people that put so much work in to make this happen. The games is a huge undertaking, and then to plan it during a pandemic is mind-boggling.”

To recognize the effort involved, Games volunteers were recognized during the Closing Ceremony as the athletes looked on — a symbol that the Games are as much about the people who make them and those who participate as those who win medals.