With the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro are just around the corner, it's the perfect opportunity to look at how Oregon has represented over the years.
Though our state has never hosted an Olympiad, we're no stranger to winning medals. Seventy-six athletes with ties to Oregon have won 96 medals, if you count the Intercalated games of 1906 in Athens.
Of the 96 medals won, 26 have come from track and field events. Swimming comes next with 16 medals, six of them won by Don Schollander in two Olympiads.
Oregonians have won seven medals in five Winter Olympiads: three bronze, two silver, two gold. Jean Saubert was the first athlete to win a winter medal, winning bronze and silver at the 1964 game in Innsbruck, Austria.
The summer games of 1984 in Los Angeles produced seven winners from Oregon, the highest number of Oregon athletes to win an any single Olympiad. Bill Johnson also won a medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.
Athletes in the 1964 summer games won eight medals, the most medals won by Oregon athletes during any Olympiad, with half of them coming from Don Schollander
Don Schollander won more medals than anyone else with ties to Oregon, winning four gold medals at the 1964 games in Tokyo, and a bronze medal and gold medal at the Mexico City game in 1968. Some of his medals are on display at the Bank of America Financial Center in Lake Oswego, at 400 4th St.
The Intercalated games of 1906 are not recognized by the International Olympic Committee as an official Olympiad, though the the games were touted at the time as the second Olympiad. In those games, Herbert Kerrigan won a bronze medal in the high jump. It was the first medal for an Oregon athlete. Kerrigan was favored to win the event, but an injury he sustained when a wave hit his ship crossing the Atlantic hindered his performance.
Here is the complete list of Oregon Olympic winners. The gallery above contains many of these athletes.