The United States in the Summer Olympics
Below is a chart and below that the historical data indicating the number of Summer Olympic medals that the U.S. has won over the years, including the results of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The chart shows the percentage of overall medals won, which is most indicative of how dominant their performance was. So, for example, the United States won the most medals overall (99) and the most gold medals (40) at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. However, measured as a percentage of the total number of medals that were handed out, it was the lowest performance by the United States ever. Note, that the 0% in 1980 is because the U.S. did not attend those games because they were in Moscow. Also note that Russia boycotted the following games in Los Angeles in 1984 which boosted the U.S. numbers.
Percentage of Olympic Medals won by the U.S.

Statistics on the United States Performance at the Summer Olympics
Year | US Gold | US Overall | Games Total | Golds | Total as % | Location |
1896 | 11 | 19 | 122 | 1 | 0.16 | Athens |
1900 | 20 | 53 | 277 | 2 | 0.19 | Paris |
1904 | 80 | 238 | 284 | 1 | 0.84 | St. Louis |
1908 | 23 | 47 | 323 | 2 | 0.15 | London |
1912 | 23 | 61 | 309 | 2 | 0.2 | Stockholm |
1920 | 41 | 96 | 435 | 1 | 0.22 | Antwerp |
1924 | 45 | 99 | 366 | 1 | 0.27 | Paris |
1928 | 22 | 56 | 327 | 1 | 0.17 | Amsterdam |
1932 | 41 | 104 | 348 | 1 | 0.3 | Los Angeles |
1936 | 24 | 56 | 388 | 2 | 0.14 | Berlin |
1948 | 38 | 84 | 413 | 1 | 0.2 | London |
1952 | 40 | 76 | 458 | 1 | 0.17 | Helsinki |
1956 | 32 | 74 | 470 | 2 | 0.16 | Melbourne |
1960 | 34 | 71 | 464 | 2 | 0.15 | Rome |
1964 | 36 | 90 | 498 | 1 | 0.18 | Tokyo |
1968 | 45 | 107 | 525 | 1 | 0.2 | Mexico City |
1972 | 33 | 94 | 600 | 2 | 0.16 | Munich |
1976 | 34 | 94 | 613 | 3 | 0.15 | Montreal |
1980 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Moscow |
1984 | 83 | 174 | 688 | 1 | 0.25 | Los Angeles |
1988 | 36 | 94 | 739 | 3 | 0.13 | Seoul |
1992 | 37 | 108 | 815 | 2 | 0.13 | Barcelona |
1996 | 44 | 101 | 841 | 1 | 0.12 | Atlanta |
2000 | 40 | 97 | 928 | 1 | 0.1 | Sydney |
2004 | 35 | 103 | 929 | 1 | .11 | Athens |
2008 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | Beijing |