Canoe/Kayak


Greg Barton won four Olympic medals across three Games. He claimed two golds at the 1988 Seoul Games in K1 1000m and K2 1000m to go along with the K1 1000m bronze medals he earned in both 1984 and 1992.

Wrestling


Jeff Blatnick's gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling provided the perfect cap to one of the most courageous stories of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Two years earlier, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, and treatment consisted of radiation and the removal of his spleen. Blatnick became only the second American to win a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Track and Field


Valerie Brisco-Hooks took up track in honor of her brother, Robert, and sprinted into American hearts with three gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Not only did she become the first Olympian, male or female, to win the 200m-400m double, but she also helped the U.S. 4x400m team claim victory and set Olympic records in all three events.

Basketball


Former Team USA basketball team captain Teresa Edwards is the only American player - male or female - to compete in five Olympics. Over the course of an impressive career in which she played professionally all over the world, Edwards earned four gold medals and a bronze and was selected to take the Olympic Oath at the Opening Ceremony at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Swimming


Three-time Olympian Gary Hall, Sr. (1968, '72, '76) set 10 world records in his career and earned three Olympic medals: two silvers and a bronze. Hall, who also set 23 American records, carried the U.S. flag at the 1976 Games, for which he trained while attending medical school. His son, Gary Hall, Jr., also is a three-time Olympic swimmer.

Track and Field


A four-time Olympic gold medalist, eight-time world champion and twelve-time national champion, Dallas long sprinter Michael Johnson was golden on every stage. His 200m victory in world-record time wearing golden spikes at the 1996 Atlanta Games remains one of the defining Olympic moments of all time.

Swimming


Still considered one of the best butterfly swimmers ever, Mary Meagher won three gold medals at the 1984 Games and added a silver and bronze in 1988. 'Madame Butterfly,' as she was known, likely would have won at least two more golds at the 1980 Moscow Games if not for the U.S. boycott. Meagher set seven world records in her career in the 100m and 200m butterfly.

Archery


A four-time Olympian, Darrell Pace broke five Olympic records in archery at the 1976 and 1984 Games and won two individual titles. Pace was so dominant in 1984 that he had the title wrapped up after the third of four days of shooting. He was so confident, in fact, that he took a lunch break midway through the final day of shooting to meet the press. In 1988, Pace was on the silver medal-winning U.S. team.

Water Polo


Terry Schroeder was the captain of the U.S. squad that finished second to Yugoslavia at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games and placed fourth at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In 2008, Schroeder coached the U.S. men to an unexpected silver medal in Beijing.

Freestyle Wrestling


Raised in a family of wrestlers in Del City, Okla., John Smith won the featherweight division in freestyle wrestling at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In Barcelona in 1992, he became the only U.S. wrestler to defend his Olympic title in the same weight class. At the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996, Smith was named one of the 100 Greatest Olympians of All-Time.

Alpine Skiing


Picabo Street burst onto the international skiing scene when she captured a surprise downhill silver medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Four years later in Nagano, after recovering from a severe knee injury, the Triumph, Idaho, native claimed gold, winning the women's super-G by only one-hundredth of a second.

Synchronized Swimming


One of the first Olympic stars in synchronized swimming, Tracie Ruiz-Conforto won two gold medals in 1984 in the solo and duet (with Candie Costie) events. Ruiz-Conforto, who won six U.S. titles in solo and four in duet, returned to the Olympics in 1988 and earned silver in the solo.

Fencing


A 13-time national sabre champion, Westbrook won bronze in the individual sabre at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He was a member of five U.S. Olympic teams (1976, '84, '88, '92 and '96) and was the United States' flagbearer in the Closing Ceremony at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

Track and Field


Willye White won a silver medal as a 16-year-old long jumper at the 1956 Melbourne Games, her first of five consecutive Olympic appearances. The Money, Miss., native, who later founded the Willye White Foundation to foster athleticism and teamwork in the nation's largest housing project, won a second silver medal as the first-leg runner on the U.S. 4x100m relay team at the 1964 Tokyo Games. She died in 2007.

Speedskating


Sheila Young Ochowicz won three medals in speedskating at the 1976 Innsbruck Games: a gold in the 500m, a silver in the 1500m and a bronze in the 1000m. Those feats made her the only American woman to win three medals at a single Winter Games. A two-sport athlete, the Detroit native also won world and U.S. titles in cycling.

Team


Shirley Babashoff, Wendy Bogliolo, Kim Peyton and Jill Sterkel combined to win the only gold medal for the U.S. women's swim team at the 1976 Games with a world record-setting performance in the 4x100m freestyle relay. The win was a victory over the East German machine, whose success is now attributed to the use of illegal drugs.

Team


When the IOC changed its eligibility rules -- allowing NBA players to compete at the Olympics -- the U.S. assembled arguably the greatest team ever, including 11 NBA All-Stars and the 1992 college player of the year. Predictably, the Dream Team, as it came to be known, cruised to gold in what's considered the most commanding performance in history, winning all eight games by an average of 43.75 points and never calling a time-out in the process.

Team


Leading after the technical routine, the U.S. team captivated the audience and the judges with its free routine set to "Fantasia on an Orchestra." Nine of the 10 judges gave the U.S. a perfect score of 10.0, placing the Americans a dominant 1.353 points ahead of second-place Canada.

Team


The U.S. women's ice hockey team won the sport's inaugural Olympic gold medal by going undefeated in the tournament and outscoring opponents 36-8 in the process. The Americans twice defeated the favored Canadians (who had won all four world championships dating back to 1990), including 3-1 in the gold medal game.

Team


The Salt Lake City bobsled competition included women for the first time in Olympic history, and Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers of the United States won the inaugural gold medal - the first U.S. bobsled gold medal since 1952. Flowers also became the first black athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games.

Paralympic Track and Field


Born with spina bifida, Champagne, Ill., native Jean Driscoll won 12 medals (five gold, three silver and four bronze) in four Paralympic appearances between 1988 and 2000. She owns the current world record in the 10,000 meters and also won the women's wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon eight times, more than any other athlete in any division.

Paralympic Track and Field


Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of two, David Larson found wheelchair racing to be his athletic calling as a teenager. The Plymouth, Mich., native competed at three Paralympics between 1988 and 1996, with his peak performance coming in 1992 at Barcelona. He swept the C3-4 division on the track, winning the 100-meter, 200m, 400m and 800m races.

Paralympic Alpine Skiing


After losing his left leg in an electrical accident at the age of 17, Greg Mannino went on to win six gold, four silver and two bronze Paralympic medals during his skiing career. The first Paralympic skier to be on the cover of Skiing magazine became an unstoppable force in the downhill and super-G following his debut at the 1988 Winter Games.

Paralympic Track and Field


Born without hands or feet, Tony Volpentest made his international debut a 17-year-old, winning three golds at the 1990 World Championships. Two years later at the Barcelona Paralympic Games, Volpentest won gold medals in the 100m and 200m, a feat he repeated four years later in Atlanta.

Paralympic Alpine Skiing


A lifelong skier, Sarah Will's Olympic aspirations were dashed after a serious skiing accident in 1988 left her paralyzed from the waist down. Just four years later, Will won her first of 12 Paralympic gold medals in the mono-ski. She also won a silver medal and is the most decorated female mono skier in U.S. history.