How men, women have fared

For the first time since the 2000

Olympics

in Sydney, both the men’s and women’s USA Olympic soccer teams are in the 2024 tournament quarterfinals, just one step away from the medal rounds. And each side has an opportunity to make history in different ways.

The U.S. men’s soccer team has never won an Olympic medal and a breakthrough in 2024 would serve to showcase the meteoric rise of the men’s game in the United States.

Meanwhile, the U.S. women have dominated the Olympic tournament since the first edition was introduced in 1996. They have a chance to add to their record haul of four Olympic gold medals across seven editions of the competition.

What follows below is a brief summary of the USA’s history in both the men’s and women’s soccer tournaments, including the highlights and lowlights, in the hope of providing some context for what we are witnessing in 2024.

USMNT Olympic Soccer History

The USA men’s soccer team is looking to finally make its medal breakthrough

There has been a men’s Olympic soccer event held since 1900, before there was ever a World Cup. But soccer’s world governing body FIFA does not recognize those early editions because club teams represented countries instead of national teams. (In fact, at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, two U.S.-based club teams from that city technically won the silver and bronze, and only three teams participated in the event.)

While the men’s FIFA World Cup was launched in 1930 and quickly became the most prestigious championship for professional players, the Olympics continued to be exclusively for amateurs, as per the rules of the Games. In due time, the Eastern European countries in the Soviet Bloc came to dominate the Olympics, including men’s soccer, with state-sponsored elite athletes who technically preserved their amateur status.

Then things changed when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowed the participation of professional players beginning in 1984, though FIFA added conditions in order to avoid competition between the Olympics and its own men’s World Cup. That led the IOC and FIFA to agree that only Under-23 men’s teams would compete in the Olympics beginning in 1992 (with three overage exceptions). And that’s been the format ever since.

Below is a rundown of how the USA’s Under-23 national team (with three permitted overage exceptions) has fared since 1992.

It’s worth noting that in the 64 years between 1924 and 1988, the USA men’s soccer team qualified for the Olympic soccer tournament nine times. Fielding mainly amateur players, those participations prematurely ended in the group stage (three times), Round of 32 (once in 1952), Round of 16 (four times) and in the quarterfinals (once in 1956).

USA Men’s Under-23 Team at the Olympics since 1992

1992: With an Under-23 squad that featured future U.S. national team legends Brad Friedel, Alexi Lalas, Claudio Reyna, Joe-Max Moore, and Cobi Jones, the men battled valiantly in Spain. After a narrow 2-1 loss to Italy, they beat Kuwait, but couldn’t do better than a 2-2 draw in the group finale against Poland. That result left the Americans in third place and eliminated from the tournament.

1996: At the Atlanta Olympics, it was nearly an identical story to what happened four years prior. The Americans, under manager Bruce Arena, lost against the best team (Argentina, 3-1), beat the weakest team (Tunisia, 2-0), but couldn’t get past the other contender in the group (Portugal, 1-1). That combination of results once again left the USA in third place and unable to advance.

2000: With Major League Soccer (MLS) having kicked off four years prior, the USA’s Under-23 team showed an improved talent level at the Sydney Olympics, topping their group and winning a knockout match (on penalties vs. Japan). The run came to an end against Spain in the semifinals (below), and Chile’s world-class striker Ivan Zamorano was the difference in the bronze medal match.

The likes of Americans Landon Donovan, Ben Olsen, Tim Howard, Chris Albright, and Josh Wolff were only the first samples of the talent that was about to be unleashed from the MLS pipeline as the men’s professional game grew in the States.

2004: The USA failed to qualify after getting plastered by Mexico in the regional qualifying semifinals 4-0. The Americans watched the two finalists from the North American qualifying tournament — Mexico and Costa Rica — head to Athens instead.

2008: The Americans returned to the Games in 2008 (team photo below), but the script from 1992 and 1996 played out again as the Americans fell just short of advancing from their group. The USA beat the group doormat (Japan, 1-0), they tied the other contender (Netherlands, 1-1), and lost against the best team in their group and eventual finalist Nigeria (2-1).

2012: In one of the debacles of the modern American men’s game, the USA failed to get out of their regional qualifying group, losing to Canada (photo below) and allowing a stoppage-time equalizer to El Salvador that knocked out the Americans earlier than anyone would have imagined. There would be no London Olympics for the USA men’s team.

2016: A loss to Honduras in the regional qualifying semifinals kept the USA from qualifying directly for the 2016 Rio Games. But this time they had a lifeline: a two-leg playoff against a South American side. That didn’t go well for the Americans either, as a Colombian team with Juan Fernando Quintero, Yerry Mina, Davinson Sanchez, Rafael Santos Borre, and Roger Martinez outdid the USA over two legs by a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.

2021: Another shock semifinal loss to Honduras in the regional qualifying tournament (video below) once again kept the USA men’s team from a spot in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. It was Honduras and Mexico once again making it through as the North American representatives.

USWNT Olympic Medals History

The USA women’s team has set the standard

There have been seven women’s Olympic soccer tournaments, and the U.S. women’s team has won the gold medal in four of them. But the last one came back in 2012 at the London Olympics.

Below is a brief rundown of the way each of the seven tournaments went down for the USWNT.

1996: Who else? The USWNT won the first Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer, downing China 2-1 in the final held on home soil in Athens, Georgia. It was a preview of what would take place in 1999, when the USA beat China for the World Cup in a memorable penalty shootout that ended with the Brandi Chastain kick.

2000: The U.S. women suffered heartbreak in an epic gold medal game against Norway, battling back to send the match into extra time thanks to a late Tiffeny Milbrett goal. But a sudden-death golden goal in the extra period gave the gold to Norway (video below).

2004: On this occasion, the extra-time goal in the Olympic final went the USA’s way against Brazil. USWNT legend Abby Wambach scored on a header with eight minutes left in the extra period (watch below) to give the American women another gold medal. And the USA only reached that final after outlasting Germany in an extra-time semifinal affair.

2008: What is it with the USWNT and extra-time thrillers? After losing their opening group-stage match to Norway at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the USA rebounded and advanced to the final and a rematch against Brazil. This time the hero was Carli Lloyd with the only goal of the match in the extra period.

2012: The USA won all of their matches en route to another gold medal with some magical goals along the way by their star-studded squad. USWNT fans will not soon forget the Alex Morgan semifinal stoppage-time winner against Canada (video below) or the Carli Lloyd brace in the final against Japan.

2016: The USWNT bowed out at the quarterfinal stage in a heartbreaking penalty shootout against Euro powers Sweden. For the first time in program history, the U.S. women’s team would head home without a medal.

2021: In the post-COVID Tokyo Olympics, the USWNT was never really at its best, and they were eventually knocked out in the semis by rivals Canada. But veterans Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe still managed to lift the USA to a 4-3 win in the bronze medal match against Australia (below) in their final Olympic appearance.

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