United States at the 1996 Summer Olympics


The United States of America was the host nation for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. 646 competitors, 375 men and 271 women, took part in 263 events in 31 sports.
The team finished first in the overall medal rankings for the first time since 1984, and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics.

Medalists

The following U.S. competitors won medals at the games. In the by discipline sections below, medalists' names are bolded.
MedalNameSportEventDate
SwimmingMen's 400 meter individual medley

Josh Davis
Joe Hudepohl
Jon Olsen*
Brad Schumacher		SwimmingMen's 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter butterfly
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter backstroke

Lisa Jacob*
Angel Martino
Jenny Thompson
Melanie Valerio*
Amy Van Dyken		SwimmingWomen's 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay

Amy Chow
Dominique Dawes
Shannon Miller
Dominique Moceanu
Jaycie Phelps
Kerri Strug		GymnasticsWomen's artistic team all around
ShootingWomen's double trap
SwimmingMen's 100 meter backstroke

David Fox*
Gary Hall Jr.
Jon Olsen
Brad Schumacher
Scott Tucker		SwimmingMen's 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay

Beth Botsford
Catherine Fox*
Whitney Hedgepeth*
Angel Martino
Kristine Quance*
Jenny Thompson*
Amy Van Dyken		SwimmingWomen's 4 × 100 meter medley relay
SwimmingWomen's 800 meter freestyle
*
Trina Jackson
Annette Salmeen*
Sheila Taormina
Cristina Teuscher
Jenny Thompson
Ashley Whitney*		SwimmingWomen's 4 × 200 meter freestyle relay
AthleticsMen's shot put
SwimmingMen's 200 meter backstroke
*
Kurt Grote*
Gary Hall Jr.
John Hargis*
Mark Henderson
Jeremy Linn
Jeff Rouse
Tripp Schwenk*		SwimmingMen's 4 × 100 meter medley relay
SwimmingWomen's 50 meter freestyle
AthleticsMen's triple jump
AthleticsWomen's 100 meters
AthleticsMen's high jump

Kent Steffes		VolleyballMen's beach volleyball
AthleticsMen's 400 meters
AthleticsMen's 110 meter hurdles
AthleticsMen's long jump
GymnasticsWomen's balance beam

SoftballWomen's tournament
WrestlingFreestyle –57 kg
WrestlingFreestyle –100 kg

SoccerWomen's tournament
ArcheryMen's individual
AthleticsMen's 200 meters
AthleticsMen's 400 meter hurdles
AthleticsMen's decathlon
WrestlingFreestyle –62 kg

Richard Johnson
Rod White		ArcheryMen's team

Tammy Cleland
Becky Dyroen-Lancer
Emily LeSueur
Heather Pease
Jill Savery
Nathalie Schneyder
Heather Simmons-Carrasco
Jill Sudduth
Margot Thien		Synchronized swimmingTeam
TennisWomen's singles

Anthuan Maybank
Derek Mills
Jason Rouser*
Lamont Smith		AthleticsMen's 4 × 400 meter relay

Chryste Gaines
Carlette Guidry*
Inger Miller
Gwen Torrence		AthleticsWomen's 4 × 100 meter relay

Maicel Malone
Jearl Miles
Rochelle Stevens
Linetta Wilson*		AthleticsWomen's 4 × 400 meter relay

BasketballMen's tournament
TennisMen's singles

Mary Joe Fernandez		TennisWomen's doubles

BasketballWomen's tournament
BoxingLight middleweight
SwimmingMen's 100 meter breaststroke
SwimmingWomen's 400 meter individual medley
WrestlingGreco-Roman –57 kg
ShootingMen's trap
SwimmingMen's 400 meter individual medley
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter breaststroke
SwimmingMen's 100 meter freestyle
SwimmingMen's 200 meter butterfly
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter backstroke
WrestlingGreco-Roman –52 kg
WrestlingGreco-Roman –130 kg
SwimmingWomen's 200 meter breaststroke
CyclingMen's 1000 meter time trial

Jill Henneberg
David O'Connor
Karen O'Connor		EquestrianTeam eventing
SwimmingMen's 50 meter freestyle
SwimmingWomen's 200 meter backstroke
AthleticsMen's shot put
SwimmingMen's 200 meter backstroke
CanoeingWomen's slalom K-1

Missy Schwen		RowingWomen's pair
AthleticsMen's hammer throw
CyclingMen's sprint
GymnasticsWomen's uneven bars

Lindsay Burns		RowingWomen's lightweight double sculls

Mike Whitmarsh		VolleyballMen's beach volleyball
AthleticsMen's 110 meter hurdles
GymnasticsMen's parallel bars

Brian Jamieson
Eric Mueller
Tim Young		RowingMen's quadruple sculls
WrestlingFreestyle –68 kg
AthleticsWomen's 400 meter hurdles

Anne Kursinski
Peter Leone
Michael Matz		EquestrianTeam jumping

Tim Harden
Michael Marsh
Dennis Mitchell
Tim Montgomery*		AthleticsMen's 4 × 100 meter relay
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter freestyle
ShootingMen's trap
SwimmingWomen's 100 meter butterfly
JudoMen's –71 kg
EquestrianIndividual eventing
AthleticsWomen's 100 meters
DivingWomen's 10 meter platform

Michelle Gibson
Steffen Peters
Guenter Seidel		EquestrianTeam dressage

David Collins
Jeff Pfaendtner
Marc Schneider		RowingMen's lightweight four
AthleticsMen's long jump
DivingMen's 3 meter springboard
GymnasticsWomen's floor
CyclingWomen's cross-country
AthleticsWomen's 400 meter hurdles
AthleticsMen's 400 meter hurdles
WrestlingFreestyle –130 kg
AthleticsWomen's long jump

BaseballMen's tournament
SailingWomen's Europe

Jeff Madrigali
Kent Massey		SailingSoling
BoxingFeatherweight
BoxingLightweight
BoxingMiddleweight
BoxingLight heavyweight
BoxingHeavyweight

* - Indicates that the athlete competed in preliminaries but not the final.

Archery

The United States claimed both of the gold medals in the men's archery competitions, with Justin Huish claiming the individual medal and the three-man team claiming the team medal. The American women were not as successful.
;Men
;Women

Athletics

;Key
;Men
;;Track & road events
Notes:
;;Field events
;;Combined events – Decathlon
AthleteEventPointsRank
Steve FritzResult10.907.7715.312.0450.1313.9749.845.1065.704:38.2686444
Steve FritzPoints883100280984080997886794182469186444
Chris HuffinsResult10.477.4915.572.0448.8314.1048.724.7060.625:14.36830010
Chris HuffinsPoints982932825840869962844819747480830010
Dan O'BrienResult10.507.5715.662.0746.8213.8748.785.0066.904:45.898824
Dan O'BrienPoints9759528308689679918459108426448824

;Women
;;Track & road events
;;Field events
;;Combined events – Heptathlon

Badminton

Baseball

Baseball was open only to male amateurs in 1992 and 1996. As a result, the Americans and other nations where professional baseball is developed relied on collegiate players, while Cubans used their most experienced veterans, who technically were considered amateurs as they nominally held other jobs, but in fact trained full-time. In 2000, pros were admitted, but the MLB refused to release its players in 2000, 2004, and 2008, and the situation changed only a little: the Cubans still used their best players, while the Americans started using minor leaguers. The IOC cited the absence of the best players as the main reason for baseball being dropped from the Olympic program.
;Summary
;Roster
;Round robin
TeamWLTiebreaker
70-
61-
431-0
430-1
252-0
251-1
250-2
16-

;Semifinal
;Bronze medal game

Basketball

;Summary

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
----
----
----
----
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Gold medal game

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
TeamWLPFPAPDPtsTie
50507339+16810
32354358−481W–0L
32369319+5080W–1L
23365377−1271W–0L
23347389−4270W–1L
05287447−1605

----
----
----
----
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Gold medal game

Boxing

Canoeing

Slalom

;Men
;Women

Sprint

;Men
;Women
Key: QF - Qualified to medal final; SF - Qualified to semifinal; R - Qualified to repechage

Cycling

Road

;Men
AthleteEventTimeRank
Frankie AndreuRoad race4:55:104
Lance ArmstrongRoad race4:55:2914
Steve HeggRoad race4:56:5193
George HincapieRoad race4:56:4976
Greg RandolphRoad race4:56:5974
Lance ArmstrongTime trial1:06:286
Steve HeggTime trial1:08:2916

;Women
AthleteEventTimeRank
Linda BrennemanRoad race2:40:2736
Alison DunlapRoad race2:41:2137
Jeanne GolayRoad race2:37:0629
Linda BrennemanTime trial38:5211
Jeanne GolayTime trial39:3616

Track

;Points race
AthleteEventPointsRank
Brian McDonoughMen's points race519
Jeanne GolayWomen's points race017

;Sprint
;Pursuit
;Time trial
AthleteEventTimeRank
Erin HartwellMen's 1000 m time trial1:02.940

Mountain bike

AthleteEventTimeRank
David JuarezMen's cross-country2:35:1519
Don MyrahMen's cross-country2:35:5020
Susan DeMatteiWomen's cross-country1:52:36
Juli FurtadoWomen's cross-country1:58:3210

Diving

;Men
;Women

Equestrian

;Dressage
;Eventing
;Jumping
Fifteen fencers, nine men and six women, represented the United States in 1996.
;Men
;Women

Field hockey

;Summary

Men's tournament

The US men's field hockey team competed for the sixth time at the Summer Olympics. On home soil the squad coached by Jon Clark once again finished twelfth and last.
;Roster
Head Coach: Jon Clark
  1. Tom Vano
  2. Steve Danielson
  3. Larry Amar
  4. Marq Mellor
  5. Scott Williams
  6. Steve Jennings
  7. Steven van Randwijck
  8. Mark Wentges
  9. John O'Neill
  10. Eelco Wassenaar
  11. Nick Butcher
  12. Ahmed Elmaghraby
  13. Phil Sykes
  14. Otto Steffers
  15. Ben Maruquin
  16. Steve Wagner
;Preliminary round
----
----
----
----
;9th-12th place semifinal
;11th place match

Women's tournament

The US women's field hockey team competed for the third time at the Summer Olympics. On home soil the team coached by Pam Hixon and finished fifth.
;Roster
Head coach: Pam Hixon
  1. Patty Shea
  2. Laurel Martin
  3. Liz Tchou
  4. Marcia Pankratz
  5. Cindy Werley
  6. Diane Madl
  7. Kris Fillat
  8. Kelli James
  9. Tracey Fuchs
  10. Antoinette Lucas
  11. Katie Kauffman
  12. Andrea Wieland
  13. Leslie Lyness
  14. Barbara Marois
  15. Jill Reeve
  16. Pamela Bustin
;Preliminary round
----
----
----
----
----
----

Football (soccer)

;Summary

Men's tournament

;Roster
Head coach: Bruce Arena
;Preliminary round
----
----

Women's tournament

;Roster
Head coach: Tony DiCicco
;Preliminary round
----
----
;Semifinal
;Gold medal match

Gymnastics

Artistic

;Men
;;Team
;;Individual finals
;Women
;;Team
;;Individual finals
;Individual
;Group

Handball

;Summary

Judo

;Men
;Women

Modern pentathlon

Rowing

;Men
;Women
Qualification legend: FA=Final A ; FB=Final B ; FC=Final C ; FD=Final D ; SA/B=Semifinal A/B; SC/D=Semifinal C/D; R=Repechage

Sailing

;Men
;Women
;Open
;;Fleet racing
;;Mixed racing

Shooting

;Men
;Women

Softball

;Summary
;Roster
;Men
Key: * - Swimmer competed in the heat but not the final; FA - Qualify to A final ; FB - Qualify to B final
;Women
Key: * - Swimmer competed in the heat but not the final; FA - Qualify to A final ; FB - Qualify to B final

Synchronized swimming

Table tennis

Tennis

;Men
;Women

Volleyball

Beach

Indoor

;Summary

Men

;Roster
;Preliminary round

Women

;Roster
;Preliminary round

Water polo

;Summary
;Roster
;Preliminary round
----
----
----
----
;Quarterfinal
;5th-8th classification
;7th place match

Weightlifting

Wrestling

;Freestyle
;Greco-Roman