<
>

What are the longest U.S. medal droughts at the Olympics?

Team USA put an end to several Olympic medal droughts in France. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

With another dominant showing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the United States became the first nation to win 3,000 career Olympic medals across Summer and Winter Games.

Team USA put an end to several Olympic medal droughts in France, including the men's 100 meters, which Noah Lyles won gold in for the first time in two decades.

The U.S. will look to capture more medals during the next Olympic cycles, as the world's top athletes set their sights on the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games and 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.

Here's a current view of some of Team USA's longest Olympic medal droughts.

Note: This list doesn't include the five sports in which the U.S. has never won a medal.

Women's 100 meters

Gail Devers won gold in the women's 100 meters at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, with a time of 10.94 seconds. Marion Jones won the event in 2000, but was later stripped of her medal because of doping. No American woman has won the event since. The 28-year (and counting) drought is the longest the U.S. women have endured in the event. At the 2024 Olympics, Sha'Carri Richardson (10.87) won silver and Melissa Jefferson (10.92) won bronze in Paris, behind winner Julien Alfred (10.72) of Saint Lucia.

Men's hammer throw

Annette Echikunwoke won silver in the women's hammer throw in Paris, becoming the first U.S. woman to medal in the event. Now, it's the men's turn. The last American man to earn an Olympic hammer throw medal was Lance Deal, who earned silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Rudy Winkler (77.92 meters) finished sixth in Paris for Team USA, behind gold medalist Ethan Katzberg (84.12) of Canada.

Men's 400-meter freestyle

It has been 40 years since an American has won the men's 400-meter freestyle at the Olympics. George DiCarlo set a new Olympic record (3:51.23) in a winning effort at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. In Paris, German swimmer Lukas Märtens achieved a gold medal with a time of 3:41.78. Aaron Shackell finished last in the final for the U.S., at 3:47.00.

Women's 200-meter individual medley

In Paris, American Katie Douglass (2:06.92) claimed silver in the women's 200-meter individual medley, to help the U.S. win the most swimming medals (with 28 total pieces of hardware). Douglass' performance wasn't enough to capture gold for Team USA in the event for the first time since Janet Evans in 1984. Canadian Summer McIntosh finished just ahead of Douglass with an Olympic-record time of 2:06.56.

Women's figure skating

The U.S. has produced more Olympic gold medalists in women's figure skating (7) than any other nation. Historical success aside, American women haven't won an Olympic medal of any color in the event since 2006, when Sasha Cohen won silver in Torino, Italy. Twelve Olympic medals have been awarded in women's figure skating over the past 18 years. Five have gone to Russia, including the past two gold and two silver medals. South Korea, Japan and Canada have each scored two, and Italy has the 12th. Team USA looks to end its medal drought when the Winter Olympics return to Italy in 2026 for the Milano Cortina Games.

Check out the ESPN Olympics hub page for the latest news, schedules, results, medal tracker and more.