At least three U.S. Olympic athletes with Missouri ties are competing in Sochi this month. But they represent only a small part of the Show-Me State’s Olympic heritage. Nearly 100 medalists since the 1900s were born in Missouri, as shown by the interactive map below.
On the map: Yellow means the athlete won a gold medal, white means the athlete won a silver medal, orange means the athlete won a bronze medal, blue means the athlete won multiple medals. Click the points for details.
There have been gold medalists in basketball. Silver medalists in track and field. Bronze medalists in water polo. And there have been nearly 20 multi-medal athletes, including Shannon Miller, the Rolla-born gymnast who earned seven medals competing in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996).
The birthplace records come from sports-reference.com.
You’ll see on the map that St. Louis boasts a swath of Olympians. That’s largely because it was the site of 1904 Games, becoming the first city outside Europe to host the modern Olympics. The U.S. cleaned house in the medal count, largely because more than three-fourths of the athletes were Americans. Only 12 countries competed.
It should be noted that the 1904 Games were held in tandem with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, making it "difficult to know which sports and events were definitely on the Olympic program,” according to sports-reference.com.
And who are the three 2014 athletes hearkening from Missouri?
- Men’s hockey player Paul Stastny. He was born in Canada but grew up in St. Louis.
- Short track speed skater Emily Scott. She was born in Springfield.
- Paralympic hockey player Steve Cash. He calls Overland home.
