Calympic Recap: Final Cal Medals Count and how Cal vs. Pac-12/World

Updated on October 21, 2012: With Missy Franklin committing to Cal yesterday (October 20, 2012), we can now add her 5 medals (4 Golds and 1 Bronze - including 2 brand new events) to the Cal London 2012 Medal Count.

Now that the London 2012 games have concluded, we can look back on this Olympics as arguable the best one ever in the long Cal Olympic history. Cal sent 38 athletes to London (not counting coaches and other support staff who do not get medals), 12 [Update: 13] of them (9 alumni, 2 current Bears, and 1 [Update: 2] incoming) gets to go home (11 [Update 12] for USA and 1 for Serbia) with at least one special souvenir of a lifetime, an Olympic medal. Here is your final counts:

Final Cal Medals Count:

By medals:

GOLD	11 [Update: 15]
SILVER	1
BRONZE	5 [Update: 6]

For a total of 17 [Update: 22] medals (tie for most in Cal Olympic History with Beijing 2008 [Update: break Cal record for most medals]).

By events (better comparison to other nations):

GOLD	8 [Update: 10]
SILVER	1
BRONZE	4

For a total of 13 [Update: 15] distinct events with medals. The 8 [Update: 10]Gold medals by distinct events is by the far the best ever in Cal history (second would be 5 from Paris 1924).

With Rugby returning to the Olympics in Rio, look to Cal to possibly improve on these numbers.

Cal vs. Pac-12 rivals:

8 out of the Pac-12 (or more impressively, the traditional Pac-10) medaled in London. In fact, the Pac-12 as a whole earned an impressive 45 distinct medals with 19 of them Gold. Here are the comparison vs. the rest of the Pac (cherry picked for your bragging pleasure, see a more complete list after the jump).

• If you count the number of Gold medals by events from athletes who have competed for those school collegiate only (clearly the truest way to compare), then Cal leads all Pac-12 schools with 8, follow by U$C with 7, Stanfurd with 5, UCLA and Arizona with 3, Arizona State and Washington with 2, and Oregon with 2. There it is, Cal is the #1!
• By the standard (lazier) medals counts (by events): Cal has an impressive 13 [Update: 15] to Stanfurd's 8, Washington's 7, Arizona's 5, UCLA's 5, Arizona's 3, and Oregon's 3. U$C is on top with 20.
  
• By the standard (lazier) medals counts (by total medals): Cal has 17 [Update: 22] to Stanfurd's 16, Washington's 10, UCLA's 8, Arizona's 5, Arizona State's 3, and Oregon's 3. U$C is on top with 24.

Cal vs. the World (if Cal is its own country)

• 8 Gold medals (by events) would be tied for 8th with Italy and Hungary. This is better than powerhouse countries such as Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Ukraine, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, and many many more.

	GOLD MEDAL
USA	46
China	38
Great Britain	29
Russia	24
South Korea	13
Germany	11
France	11
Cal	8 [Update: 10]
Italy	8
Hungary	8
Kazakhstan	7
Netherlands	6
Ukraine	6
Cuba	5
New Zealand	5

• 13 total medals (by events) would be tied for 18th with Kazakhstan, New Zealand, and Belarus. This is better than Mexico, India, North Korea, Argentina, Portugal, etc.

Again, all these counts are for athletes only. Many coaches and supports are also Pac-12 affiliated (such as Cal's Teri Mckeever being the head coach for the high successful Team USA Women's Swimming), and we will have a separate post including their success in the future.

GO BEARS!

List of Cal medals in London 2012:

Men's Swimming
Nathan Adrian (USA) - 400 Free Relay (Silver), 100 Free (Gold), 400 medley relay (Gold)

Men's Water Polo
Aleksa Saponjic (Serbia) current Cal Bear - Bronze

Women's Swimming
Rachel Bootsma (USA) incoming freshman - 400 Medley Relay (Gold, swam in heats)
Natalie Coughlin (USA) - 400 Free Relay (Bronze, swam in heats)
Jessica Hardy (USA) - 400 Free Relay (Bronze), 400 Medley Relay (Gold, swam in heats)
Caitlin Leverenz (USA) current Cal Bear - 200 Individual Medley (Bronze)
Dana Vollmer (USA) - 100 Butterfly (Gold), 800 Free Relay (Gold), 400 Medley Relay (Gold)
Missy Franklin (USA) - 100 Backstroke (Gold), 200 Backstroke (Gold), 800 Free Relay (Gold), 400 Medley Relay (Gold), and 400 Free Relay (Bronze)

Women's Rowing
Kara Kohler (USA) - Quadruple Sculls (Bronze)
Erin Cafaro (USA) - 8 (Gold)

Women's Soccer
Alex Morgan (USA) - Gold

Women's Water Polo
Heather Petri (USA) - Gold
Elsie Windes (USA) - Gold

How the London 2012 Games compares to past Cal Olympic History (source: CalBears.com):

• By events - 1st: Most Gold medals, 8 [Update: 10] (second would be 5 from Paris 1924). Many of the large Gold medals count came from days when the entire Gold winning men's crew came from Cal.
• Tie for 1st: Most total medals, 17 [Update: 22] (with Beijing 2008)
• 2nd: Most Gold medals, 11 (behind the 12 from London 1948) [Update: 1st Most Gold Medals with 15]

Pac-12 vs. the World (source: Pac-12 website):

• Pac-12 as a whole has 19 Golds, 14 Silvers, and 12 Bronzes for a total of 45 medals.
  
• The 19 Gold medals would be 5th most among nations, behind only US, China, Russia, Great Britain. The next closest country would be South Korea with 13.
• The 45 total medals would also be 5th most among all nations, behind only US, China, Russia, Great Britain. Pac-12 would be just ahead of Germany and their 44 medals.
  

Cal vs. the Pac-12 (by events, like each school is its own country)

U$C *	20
Cal	13
Stanfurd	8
Washington	7
Arizona	5
UCLA	5
Arizona State	3
Oregon	3
Colorado	0
Oregon State	0
Utah	0
Washington State	0

*U$C's count includes 3 from Allyson Felix who never ran competitively for U$C due to signing a professional contract with Adidas.

Now if you just look at the Golds (simply who is the best) and you specify the list for athletes who have competed collegiately for that school, so you exclude Felix and for Cal, Rachel Bootsma (incoming freshmen), then the Gold medal count by event becomes:

Cal	8
U$C	7
Stanfurd	5
Arizona	3
UCLA	3
Washington	2
Arizona State	2
Oregon	2
Colorado	0
Oregon State	0
Utah	0
Washington State	0

• Appropriately, California GOLDen Bears alum have the most Gold from London 2012!

Cal vs. the Pac-12 (by total medals)

This list is here since it is the standard list for schools such as Stanfurd to inflate their Olympic success (where their athletes can piggy back on their superior Cal alum teammates such as Alex Morgan or just be the backup goalie and not get on the field at all the entire time).

U$C *	24
Cal	17
Stanfurd	16
Washington	10
UCLA	8
Arizona	5
Arizona State	3
Oregon	2
Colorado	0
Oregon State	0
Utah	0
Washington State	0

*U$C's count includes 3 from Allyson Felix who never ran competitively for U$C due to signing a professional contract with Adidas. By the similar token, Cal's count include 1 from Rachel Bootsma who will matriculate in Berkeley right after the London 2012 games.

London is Bear Territory!