American Women's National Soccer Team / Olympic Games

United States of America
United States of America

OS record goal scorer :	Abby Wambach (9)
OS record player:	Christie Rampone (22)
Rank :	1
Balance sheet
32 OS games 25 wins 35 draws 2 defeats 64:26 goals
statistics
First OS game USA 3-0 Denmark Orlando ( USA ); July 21, 1996
Biggest OS win USA 4: 0 New Zealand Shenyang ( CHN ); August 12, 2008
Biggest OS defeat USA 0: 2 Norway Qinhuangdao ( CHN ); August 6, 2008
successes
Olympic games:
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Gold medal ( 1996 , 2004 , 2008 , 2012 )
(As of August 20, 2016 )

The article provides a detailed account of the US women's national soccer team in the Olympic Games . The USA was the only North American team to qualify for all women's soccer tournaments at the Olympic Games and is in first place in the medal table and the all-time table . The USA became the first women's Olympic champion and is a record Olympic champion with four titles. The USA were the only team to reach the finals five times and played the most games (32 of 34 possible games).

The national team at the Olympic Games

Overview

Olympic Games in	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
Atlanta 1996	final	People's Republic of China	gold medal	Tony DiCicco
Sydney 2000	final	Norway	Silver medal	April Heinrichs
Athens 2004	final	Brazil	gold medal	April Heinrichs	1. Victory of a trainer
Beijing 2008	final	Brazil	gold medal	Pia Sundhage	1. Victory of a foreign coach
London 2012	final	Japan	gold medal	Pia Sundhage
Rio de Janeiro 2016	Quarter finals	Sweden	-	Jill Ellis	Defeat on penalties
Tokyo 2020	qualified		-		CONCACAF qualification winner

The tournaments

Olympia 1996 in Atlanta

In the bid for the Olympic Games of the Century, Atlanta surprisingly prevailed against Athens , which hosted the first modern games in 1896 and entered the race for this reason alone and had long been considered the favorite. The USA were thus automatically qualified as hosts but also qualified for the first Olympic women's football tournament by reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 1995 . The USA started the tournament with two wins against Denmark and Sweden , but a 0-0 in the last group game against the People's Republic of China only took second place in the group, as the Chinese had scored more goals against the two European teams. In the semi-final against world champion Norway , the US girls then needed extra time, in which Shannon MacMillan, who had been substituted four minutes earlier , scored the winning goal with a golden goal to advance to the final against group opponents China. Here MacMillan was back in the starting line-up and scored the first goal of the 2-1 win, which Tiffeny Milbrett secured after the interim equalization.

Olympia 2000 in Sydney

The USA had qualified for the second Olympic tournament by reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 1999 . As the reigning world champions, they met their predecessor, the Norwegians, in their first game and won 2-0. Against China there was a draw in the group game like four years before, but this time with one goal each for both teams. With a 3-1 win against Nigeria and the simultaneous defeat of the Chinese against Norway, the group win was made perfect. Opponents in the semi-finals were Brazil , which were defeated 1-0, so that the final was reached again. Here the opening game against Norway was repeated, but this time with the better end for the northern Europeans, who won the game 3-2 in extra time.

Olympia 2004 in Athens

For the tournament in Beijing , the USA had to play special qualifying games for the first time, as the individual confederations were now allocated starting places. At a tournament in Costa Rica they won the group stage 7-0 against Trinidad & Tobago , then 8-0 against Haiti and then 2-0 against Mexico . With a 4-0 win against hosts Costa Rica in the semi-finals, they qualified for the Olympic football tournament. They then won the final, which was no longer decisive for qualification, 3-2 against Mexico.

At the third Olympic women's football tournament, the USA started in the only group of four and won 3-0 against hosts Greece , for whose women it was the first game in a major tournament. After a 2-0 win against Brazil, a 1-1 draw against Australia was enough to win the group. In the quarter-finals, which were held for the first time, Japan was defeated 2: 1, in the semifinals they managed to take revenge for the semi-final defeat at the 2003 World Cup against world champions Germany with a 2-1 after extra time . In the final, as in the two previous editions, it was again against a group opponent, this time Brazil and again the extension had to ensure the decision. With the 2-1 Abby Wambach made the decision in the 112th minute.

2008 Olympics in Beijing

For the tournament in Beijing , the USA had to play qualifying games again. They first prevailed at a tournament in Mexico with wins against Jamaica and the host in the group and then won in the semifinals against Costa Rica , which meant they were qualified for the Olympic football tournament. The final against Canada was then won on penalties.

At the start of the tournament they lost 2-0 to Norway, which also inflicted the second of the only two defeats at the Olympic Games so far. Against Japan and New Zealand , however, the group win was made perfect with two wins, as the Norwegians lost against Japan with 1: 5. In the quarter-finals, neighboring Canada was the opponent, who had reached the knockout round as one of the two best thirds in the group. In a game that had to be interrupted for 1:40 an hour due to heavy rain, the USA only prevailed 2-1 in extra time. The winning goal was scored by Natasha Kai , who was only substituted for extra time . Opponents in the semifinals were group opponents Japan, the second best group third. The USA prevailed 4-2 and met Brazil in the final like four years before, against whom they lost 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2007 World Cup and were looking for revenge. After 90 goalless minutes, Carli Lloyd scored the winning goal for the USA in the 96th minute and thus the successful revenge.

Olympia 2012 in London

The winning US team at the award ceremony

New York City had also applied for the 2012 Olympic Games , but the award to London had failed. Therefore, the USA had to play qualifying games again. At the tournament in Canada, the highest international win was achieved in the first international game against the Dominican Republic with 14-0. And also in the 13-0 win against Guatemala and 4-0 against Mexico they remained clean. Like four years before, they qualified in the semifinals against Costa Rica for the Olympic football tournament and then also won the final 4-0 against hosts Canada.

At the start of the Olympic football tournament, they won against the French women, who were traded as secret favorites, 4-2, then defeated Colombia 3-0 and North Korea 1-0. They beat New Zealand 2-0 in the quarter-finals and then faced Canada in the semi-finals. After 80 minutes it was 3-2 for the Canadians when the referee gave the Canadians an indirect free kick in the penalty area for the USA because the Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod had held the ball in her hand for more than six seconds - an offense that in the international football is hardly punished. Since a Canadian player blocked the free kick with her hand, there was a hand penalty, which Abby Wambach converted to 3: 3. Since no more goals were scored in regular time, it came to extra time, in which Alex Morgan scored the winning goal for the USA in the third minute of stoppage time. In the final came the revenge for the lost World Cup final of 2011 against world champion Japan. Like four years before, Carli Lloyd was successful again, this time with two goals, so that the USA could return the favor for the World Cup final defeat.

Olympia 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

Chicago had also applied for the 2016 games , but was eliminated in the first round of the vote. For the tournament in Rio de Janeiro , the USA had to play qualifying games again. They prevailed at a tournament on home soil in February 2016 with five wins, this time Trinidad and Tobago being the opponent in the semifinals, but the Canadians again in the final. The USA took part as reigning world champion for the second time . The US-Americans, along with hosts Brazil and European champions Germany, were placed in pot 1 for the draw, so that they could not face these two teams in the group stage. As in 2012, France and Colombia as well as New Zealand, the quarter-final opponent from 2012, were drawn as opponents. After victories against New Zealand and France and a draw against Colombia, the US girls reached the quarter-finals as group winners, where they met Sweden, one of the two best thirds in the group. Against the Swedes trained by their ex-trainer Pia Sundhage, they had to go to penalties in which they lost 3: 4 and thus missed the final for the first time. Goalkeeper Hope Solo caused a stir by commenting on the Swedish team after the lost quarter-finals: "You are a bunch of cowards!" The International Olympic Committee described Solo's outburst as disappointing but will not take any formal disciplinary action against them. However, the US association found their statements "unacceptable" and banned them for six months. Swedish team coach Pia Sundhage said of the incident: .. I don't give a damn. I'm going to Rio, she's going home. After the ban by the US federation, she was not nominated again for the national team.

Olympia 2020 in Tokyo

For the tournament in Tokyo , the USA had to play qualifying games again. They prevailed at a tournament on home soil in February 2020 with five wins, this time Mexico being the opponent in the semi-finals, but the Canadians again in the final. This is the third time that the USA is taking part as reigning world champion .

statistics

Record against the Olympic champions at the Olympic Games

• Norway : 4 games - 2 wins, 2 defeats - 6: 6 goals
• Germany : 1 game - 1 win - 2: 1 goals

Games

Christie Rampone , US player with the most games in the Olympics

The US has played 32 games at the Olympic Games so far - more were not possible. 25 of them were won, two lost - both against Norway - and five ended in a draw. Eight games went into overtime because a winner had to be determined. Seven were decided by goals, six won and one lost. One game was decided on penalties that was lost. The US had five home games and played against the hosts once. The USA played twice against the eventual Olympic champion (2000 in the preliminary round and in the final) but never against the defending champion. The USA played the most often (4 times each) against Brazil, Japan and Norway. Most frequent last opponent was Brazil (twice, always in the final). A game was the first (and only) against the respective opponent so far.

The USA have so far played against teams from all six confederations and also against their champions (11 times), most often (3 times each) against the Asian champions and South American champions . The USA met the reigning world champion three times and always won.

Most of the games played Christie Rampone , who was used in the 22 games and has played the second-most World Cup games of all players of both sexes. Most goals (9) were scored by Abby Wambach , who is fifth on the list of top scorer .

No.	date	Result	opponent	venue	occasion	comment
1	07/21/1996	3-0	Denmark	Orlando	Preliminary round
2	07/23/1996	2: 1	Sweden	Orlando	Preliminary round
3	07/25/1996	0-0	People's Republic of China	Miami	Preliminary round
4th	07/28/1996	2: 1 a.d.	Norway *	Athens	Semifinals	Victory of Tournament Rio 2016, 100th international game by Joy Fawcett
5	08/01/1996	2: 1	People's Republic of China	Athens	final	1. Gold medal win, 100th international game by Carla Overbeck , 117th and last international game by Carin Gabarra
6th	09/14/2000	2-0	Norway	Melbourne ( AUS )	OS preliminary round
7th	09/17/2000	1: 1	People's Republic of China	Melbourne ( AUS )	Preliminary round
8th	09/20/2000	3: 1	Nigeria	Melbourne ( AUS )	Preliminary round
9	09/24/2000	1-0	Brazil	Canberra ( AUS )	Semifinals
10	09/28/2000	2: 3 a.d.	Norway	Sydney ( AUS )	final	Golden Goal defeat
11	08/11/2004	3-0	Greece	Heraklion ( GRE )	Preliminary round	Only game so far against Greece 50th away game
12	08/14/2004	2-0	Brazil	Thessaloniki ( GRE )	Preliminary round
13	08/17/2004	1: 1	Australia	Thessaloniki ( GRE )	Preliminary round
14th	08/20/2004	2: 1	Japan	Thessaloniki ( GRE )	Quarter finals
15th	08/23/2004	2: 1 a.d.	Germany *	Heraklion ( GRE )	Semifinals
16	08/26/2004	2: 1 a.d.	Brazil	Piraeus ( GRE )	final	2nd Olympic gold medal 239th and last international game by Joy Fawcett
17th	08/06/2008	0: 2	Norway	Qinhuangdao ( CHN )	Preliminary round
18th	08/09/2008	1-0	Japan	Qinhuangdao ( CHN )	Preliminary round
19th	08/12/2008	4-0	New Zealand	Shenyang ( CHN )	Preliminary round	200th game by Christie Rampone
20th	08/15/2008	2: 1 a.d.	Canada	Shanghai ( CHN )	Quarter finals	100th international match for Shannon Boxx
21st	08/18/2008	4: 2	Japan	Beijing ( CHN )	Semifinals
22nd	08/21/2008	1: 0 a.d.	Brazil	Beijing ( CHN )	final	3rd Olympic gold medal, 100th international by Heather O'Reilly
23	July 25, 2012	4: 2	France	Glasgow ( GBR )	Preliminary round	200th international match in neutral position Alex Morgan scores the 1,500. Gate for the USA
24	07/28/2012	3-0	Colombia	Glasgow ( GBR )	Preliminary round
25th	July 31, 2012	1-0	North Korea	Manchester ( GBR )	Preliminary round	500th international match for the USA
26th	08/03/2012	2-0	New Zealand	Newcastle ( GBR )	Quarter finals
27	08/06/2012	4: 3 n.V. (3: 3, 0: 1)	Canada	Manchester ( GBR )	Semifinals
28	08/09/2012	2: 1	Japan *	London ( GBR )	final	Won the 4th Olympic gold medal
29	08/03/2016	2-0	New Zealand	Belo Horizonte ( BRA )	Preliminary round
30th	08/06/2016	1-0	France	Belo Horizonte ( BRA )	Preliminary round
31	08/09/2016	2: 2	Colombia	Manaus ( BRA )	Preliminary round
32	08/12/2016	1: 1 n.V .; 3: 4 i. E.	Sweden	Brasília ( BRA )	Quarter finals

Note: Teams marked in bold were continental champions at the time of the game, teams marked with "*" were world champions.

Records

team

• Most gold medals: 4 (1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012)
• Most games: 32
• Most overtime games: 8
• Most wins: 25
• Most wins in a row: 13
• Most goals: 64
• Most goals in a tournament: 16 (2012)
• Most penalties: 4, one of which was not converted
• The oldest team: 2012 with an average of 28 years and 6 months and thus also the oldest gold medal winning team

The US team achieved their highest victories against the following countries at the Olympic Games:

•  Greece 3-0 (2004, preliminary round) - only game against Greece
•  Colombia 3-0 (2012, preliminary round) - also a 3-0 in the 2011 World Cup preliminary round

The team did not suffer their biggest defeat at the Olympic Games against any country.

Players

• Second fastest goal: Heather O'Reilly after 41 seconds in the game against New Zealand on August 12, 2008
• The fastest goal in a final: Tiffeny Milbrett after 5 minutes on September 28, 2000 against eventual winners Norway
• The only golden goal : Shannon MacMillan in the semi-finals in 1996 against Norway in 1996 in the 100th minute to make it 2-1 n.V.
• Oldest medalist: Christie Rampone at 37 years and one month when she won the gold medal in 2012
• Youngest gold medalist: Cindy Parlow at age 18 and two months when she won the gold medal in 1996
• Anniversary goals : Abby Wambach scored 100th and 150th goals in the Women's Olympic Games

Negative records

• Most yellow cards in one game: USA against Brazil in the semi-finals on September 24, 2000 (4 cards each)

Web links

• Women's Olympic Football Tournament - Statistical Kit - Statistics, Facts & Figures 1996 - 2012

Individual evidence

1. ^ Games of the XXVIII. Olympiad - Football Qualifying Tournament
2. ↑ fifa.com: "USA decide rain thriller for themselves"
3. ↑ Hope Solo banned for six months. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . Süddeutscher Verlag , August 25, 2016, accessed on August 31, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Hope Solo: USA goalkeeper suspended for six months for 'cowards' comment. In: BBC Sport. BBC , August 25, 2016, accessed August 25, 2016 . 
5. ↑ [1] (English) Hope Solo - Insults the Swedish team as cowards after USA defeat
6. ↑ [2] (English) Hope Solo - no disciplinary reaction from IOC
7. ↑ ussoccer.com: "US Women Open Achieve Your Gold Tour With 2-0 Win Against Ireland in Philadelphia" ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ fifa.com: "Cristiane and O'Reilly write history"