Each Olympic and Paralympic cycle, hundreds of current and former NCAA student-athletes represent their nations on the world stage. At the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, over 1,300 athletes with ties to nearly 300 NCAA schools across all three divisions competed for 125 countries. Together, they brought home more than 380 medals, including 148 golds. In total, over 300 NCAA-affiliated athletes stood on the podium at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
For Team USA, the NCAA’s influence is profound. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, 67% (397 of 592) of the U.S. athletes had connections to an NCAA championship or emerging sport.
The NCAA footprint was again visible at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics, where college sports continued to shape athlete development in sports such as ice hockey and skiing.
At the Winter Olympics, 84 Team USA athletes had NCAA roots, while 161 other NCAA-affiliated Olympians represented 20 additional countries. Together, 86 medalists from 32 NCAA schools helped four countries win 12 medals. The Paralympics told a similarly strong story, with five medalists from five NCAA schools combining to win eight medals for Team USA, including seven of its 13 gold medals.
Behind those numbers is an ongoing collaboration focused on supporting athletes and strengthening Olympic and Paralympic sports on college campuses. NCAA programs help athletes pursue excellence in competition while also providing opportunities for academic growth, personal development and long-term success beyond sport.
The relationship is strengthened by a cooperation agreement between the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee established in 2019. Through that agreement, the Olympians & Paralympians Made Here campaign was created to build awareness of Olympic and Paralympic opportunities within college sports and to celebrate the role NCAA schools play in athlete development.
The college footprint on the U.S. Paralympic team is larger than you think.
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, more than 50% of the U.S. Paralympic team competed collegiately en route to representing our country in Japan. And, in 2022, this collaboration led to the launch of the Para-College Inclusion Project, designed to foster greater awareness and participation in adaptive sports across the collegiate landscape. This initiative evolved into an awareness committee and three tactical teams dedicated to wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, and para track and field. These teams identified key areas for improving para sports infrastructure, such as shared operations, formal partnerships and increased cooperation.
Learn more about the USOPC Paralympic Sport Development program and Olympians & Paralympians Made Here campaign or explore the journey to becoming an NCAA student-athlete.
