The SEC has 152 athletes in the Beijing Olympics.....

[Jack from Charlotte]

24 went to Auburn and 34 went to Florida.

If The University Florida was a country it'd probably come in the top 10 in medals in the olympics.

Just a fun fact for all today.... awaiting the college football season.

[joeybee12]

1. The Securities and Exchange Commission?

I know government jobs are cushy, but are they that easy where you can take off so much time to train? :shrug:

[Awsi Dooger]

2. Don't bother

http://www.beloblog.com/Pe_Blogs/collegesports/2008/07/39-usc-olympians-8-coaches-in.html

LOS ANGELES-USC will be represented by 39 past, present and future athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

USC has sent more athletes to the Olympic Games than any other university. From 1904 to 2004, there have been 363 athletes who attended USC before, during or after their Olympic appearance. They have collected 236 medals (112 gold, 66 silver and 58 bronze), including at least one gold medal in every summer Olympics from 1912. If USC competed as a country, its 236 medals would rank 19th most in the world, while its 112 gold medals would be tied for 12th most.

[Tektonik]

3. No conference comes even close to the sports legacy the Pac10 has

They're the best all around sports wise, and with USC, Stanford, and UCLA one can understand why.

[Jack from Charlotte]

4. I'd guess that is correct.....however,

I'd also guess that most of that USC Olympic hardware was collected years ago. I'd be fairly certain that UCLA would be higher and perhaps much higher than USC in recent (say the last 20 to 30 years) Olympic participation and medals. I'm sure USC is still good in Olympic participation but based on the Director's Cup results which measures all college sports.... UCLA blows USC away. I doubt that USC has finished ahead of UCLA in The directors Cup, ever. Perhaps not ahead of Florida either. Never mind Stanford, which wins it every single year. I think UCLA and Florid and Stanford are the only 3 schools to finish in the top 10 ever since they started the overall college athletic award called The Directors Cup.

The SEC might.... and I'm just not certain.... but it might have more schools rank high in Olympic Sports participation. The Pac 10 has UCLA and Stanford which I'd be fairly sure are #1 & #2 and perhaps USC in the top 10 to 15. The SEC has Florida, Auburn, which dominates swimming, Arky, which has dominated track and UGA has a very comprehensive athletic program, as well....

Regarding winning medals back in 1904... that's great but has little to do with the present. Minnesota used to win football championships, too.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. Flub

"Perhaps not ahead of Florida either."

USC finished ahead of Florida in that Director's Cup thing last year, 5th to 7th. USC had Top 10 national finishes in 11 of its 19 sports in '06-'07.

And that's the key number, 19 sports. USC doesn't even field teams in many of those sports. I've read about this many times on the USC message boards. Schools are allowed to total the points in 20 sports and USC doesn't even participate in several of them. So no kidding the point total will be lower than a Stanford or UCLA which can use their best 20 efforts among a sample of 24 or 25.

USC is a private school with absurdly high tuition and relatively small urban campus. The scholarships are limited in the so-called minor sports and USC doesn't get the high caliber walk-ons or non-scholie athletes due to tuition cost. Quality not quantity.

The Pac 10 schools dominate Olympic rosters in sports like volleyball, water polo, swimming, rowing, track and field, and softball. That's the bulk of the Olympic athletes from those schools.

As far as USC's success not being modern day, that's laughable. I'll paste the sentence again: "including at least one gold medal in every summer Olympics from 1912."

USC sent 35 athletes to the 2004 Athens Olympics and won 17 medals: eight golds, five silvers and four bronzes.

[Jack from Charlotte]

6. USC finished ahead of UF....ONCE... in 10 years, never ahead of UCLA and never ahead of Stanford...

They aren't in those three schools class re comprehensive athletic achievement in college sports. Yes, they finished ahead of Florida..... one year by one position. More often they finish 5 or 10 or even 15 spots behind Florida, never mind UCLA and Stanford.

And remember... USC doesn't do basketball. UCLA has and still does. Stanford has usually been on the national scene, Florida has been to the Final Game 3 times in 7 years, winning twice.

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. Read that The Pac 10 has sent 220 athletes to Peking. (nfm)

*

[pokerfan]

9. Go Pac-10!

The Conference of Champions!

[dbackjon]

8. My alma mater, Northern Arizona has three athletes

Including the U.S. Flag bearer, Lopez Lomong.

[doublethink]

10. By Birthplace, Home, Residence ...... BY STATE .....

The State Of CALIFORNIA baby!! Not even close.

Here's the map http://www.nbcolympics.com/teamusa/browser/map.html :)

Might want to look this over too by School ..... http://www.nbcolympics.com/teamUSA/browser/index.html yep Stanford, USC, UCLA .... Pac 10.

[Capt. America]

11. ...and none of them can spell olympics.

[Awsi Dooger]

12. Rebecca Soni extends USC's streak of at least one gold medal since 1912

Great upset win in the 200 meter breaststroke, in world record time.

Actually, the streak was already extended via former Trojan swimming greats Erik Vendt and Klete Keller, members of the U.S. 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. They swam the prelims which counts as a gold. But I was glad Soni got one on her own tonight.

Keep in mind USC's Olympic excellence is primarily a thing of the past. :rofl: