The United States of America has participated in each edition of the Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1980 Games in Moscow, which it boycotted. It has hosted the Games on four previous occasions, in 1904 in St Louis, in 1932 and 1984 in Los Angeles and in 1996 in Atlanta.

They are by far the most successful nation in the Olympic history, winning almost 2,200 medals in total and almost 900 of them gold, marks that are more than double those of its nearest rival in both categories.

Traditionally, the United States' key sports are athletics and swimming with over half its total number of Olympic medals coming in just these two sports. In terms of Olympic champions, swimming is very marginally the United States' most successful Olympic sport, but both have excellent success rates and it is no surprise that some of its most revered Olympic athletes have made their names in these sports.

Swimmer Mark Spitz won a remarkable Olympic-record seven gold medals at the 1972 Games in Munich, taking titles in the 100m and 200m freestyle, the 100m and 200m butterfly and all three men's relay events. He had already claimed two gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. Also in the pool in Mexico, Debbie Meyer became the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals at a single Games when she completed the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle triple. Today's hero is Michael Phelps, who after competing at the 2000 Games in Sydney without winning a medal, claimed six gold and two bronze medals at the 2004 Games in Athens and is set to become one of the most successful athletes in Olympic history at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

In track and field, legendary competitor Ray Ewry, who contracted polio and was confined to a wheelchair as a boy, was unbeaten in Olympic competition from 1900 to 1908, winning medals in the standing long, high and triple jump events. He won 10 gold medals in all, although two were won at the 1906 Games in Athens which are not recognised by the IOC. Sprinter Carl Lewis' tally of nine gold medals also makes him one the sport's legendary figures. His most notable achievement coming in the long jump where he claimed gold in four consecutive Olympic Games, from 1984 to 1996, matching the feat of discus thrower Al Oerter who did this from the 1956 Games to the 1968 Games. One of track and field's most famous evolutionary steps occurred at the 1968 Games in Mexico City when US high jumper Dick Fosbury won gold with a strange new jumping technique. The 'Fosbury-Flop' revolutionised the discipline and went on to completely displace the old straddle style of jumping.

Medals per sport

Sport	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Archery	13	8	8	29
Athletics	304	229	180	713
Baseball	1	0	1	2
Basketball	17	2	3	22
Beach Volleyball	3	1	1	5
Boxing	48	23	37	108
Canoe/Kayak - Flatwater	4	3	4	11
Canoe/Kayak - Slalom	1	2	2	5
Cycling - Road	3	3	5	11
Cycling - Track	10	11	12	33
Diving	47	40	41	128
Equestrian - Dressage	0	1	7	8
Equestrian - Eventing	6	10	7	23
Equestrian - Jumping	4	8	3	15
Fencing	2	6	12	20
Football	2	1	0	3
Golf	3	3	4	10
Gymnastics - Artistic	27	28	28	83
Hockey	0	0	2	2
Jeu de Paume	1	0	0	1
Judo	0	3	6	9
Lacrosse	0	1	0	1
Modern Pentathlon	0	6	3	9
Mountain Bike	0	0	1	1
Polo	0	1	1	2
Rowing	30	30	21	81
Rugby Union	2	0	0	2
Sailing	18	22	17	57
Shooting	48	27	22	97
Softball	3	0	0	3
Swimming	202	146	110	458
Synchronized Swimming	5	2	2	9
Taekwondo	2	1	0	3
Tennis	16	5	9	30
Triathlon	0	0	1	1
Tug Of War	1	1	2	4
Volleyball	2	1	2	5
Water Polo	0	3	4	7
Weightlifting	16	16	11	43
Wrestling - Freestyle	46	37	25	108
Wrestling - Greco-Roman	3	6	5	14
Total	891	687	599	2177
Medals per year

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1896	11	7	1	19
1900	19	14	15	48
1904	75	79	79	233
1908	23	12	12	47
1912	25	19	18	62
1920	41	26	26	93
1924	45	27	27	99
1928	22	18	16	56
1932	41	32	30	103
1936	24	20	12	56
1948	38	27	19	84
1952	40	19	17	76
1956	32	25	17	74
1960	34	21	16	71
1964	36	26	28	90
1968	45	28	34	107
1972	33	31	30	94
1976	34	35	25	94
1984	83	61	30	174
1988	36	31	27	94
1992	37	34	37	108
1996	44	32	25	101
2000	37	24	31	92
2004	36	39	27	102
Total	891	687	599	2177