Qualifying for the Olympics is not an easy process. It’s not even easy to read about it. I’m tired, and I didn’t even get on a bike and try to rack up the points I needed to make it in omnium or whatever. (I also don’t live near a velodrome. I’m also old and unathletic.)
But the USA did a pretty good job getting spots in the 2012 Games. Some things are givens — no swimmer is going to make the U.S. team in the pool without beating the Olympic qualifying standard. Others are more difficult.
If you haven’t read the saga of how every single U.S. athlete qualified for the Games, please give it a look.
If you prefer things more easily summarized, check this table:
Sport | Maximum | IN: USA | OUT: USA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | 8 | 8 | 8 | Six individuals, then they combine for two teams |
| Athletics (track/field) | 133 | 122 | 11 | All 4 relays in; missing spots in men's individual events: triple jump, hammer, decathlon, 20k walk (2), 50k walk (2); women's events: triple jump (2), 20k walk (2) |
| Badminton | 12 | 2 | 10 | Got men's doubles and women's singles. Only China has full team. |
| Basketball | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Beach volleyball | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| Boxing | 13 | 12 | 1 | No country, not even Cuba, got all 13. |
| Canoe/kayak | 16 | 6 | 10 | USA got all four slalom, but only two sprint. Germany has the most boats with 15. |
| Cycling (BMX) | 5 | 5 | 0 | Three men, two women |
| Cycling (road) | 13 | 12 | 1 | One of two possible places in men's time trial |
| Cycling (track) | 10 | 4 | 6 | Men's sprint and omnium; women's team pursuit and omnium |
| Cycling (mountain bike) | 5 | 4 | 1 | Two of three men; two women |
| Diving | 12 | 11 | 1 | Got all but the one spot in women's synchronized platform |
| Equestrian | 13 | 13 | 0 | |
| Fencing | 20 | 20 | 0 | 16 individuals; 4 team events |
| Football (soccer) | 2 | 1 | 1 | Men didn't qualify |
| Gymnastics (artistic) | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 athletes max; gymnasts qualify for specific events at Games |
| Gymnastics (rhythmic) | 3 | 1 | 2 | Got one of two individual spots; didn't get team |
| Gymnastics (trampoline) | 4 | 2 | 2 | One of possible two in each gender |
| Handball | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| Hockey (field) | 2 | 1 | 1 | Men didn't qualify |
| Judo | 14 | 5 | 9 | |
| Modern pentathlon | 4 | 3 | 1 | Both women's places; one men's place |
| Rowing | 14 | 12 | 2 | Missing men's double sculls; men's lightweight double sculls |
| Sailing | 10 | 10 | 0 | |
| Shooting | 30 | 25 | 5 | None in men's trap, one of possible two in each women's pistol event. Addl spot in women's trap; one in women's skeet |
| Swimming (pool) | 58 | 58 | 0 | In each gender: 26 individual places, 3 relay teams |
| Swimming (open water) | 4 | 2 | 2 | No country earned all four |
| Synchronized swimming | 2 | 1 | 1 | Duet only; not team |
| Table tennis | 6 | 4 | 2 | One men's singles, no men's team; two women's singles, one women's team |
| Taekwondo | 4 | 4 | 0 | Sport has more events, but each country limited to four |
| Tennis | 14 | 14 | 0 | Not officially confirmed for two mixed doubles spots but quite likely |
| Triathlon | 6 | 5 | 1 | Two of three men; all three women |
| Volleyball | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Water polo | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| Weightlifting | 10 | 3 | 7 | Team sizes based on overall team performance at various championships. 15 events, but limit 10 per country. |
| Wrestling | 18 | 17 | 1 | No country earned all 18 |
| TOTAL | 485 | 405 | 80 | That's 83.5% |
xxx
As a housekeeping note: Now that I’ve done this, I’m diving back into the 2012 medal projections. Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha …
I think you meant 2 0 0 for handball, if you’re saying USA didn’t qualify.
Nah, it’s 2-0-2, but I may need to adjust the column headers somehow. It’s MAX – USA – NO USA.
In other words, the third column is the amount the USA did NOT get.
I’ll adjust.
Gotcha. Thanks for the work to put this together!
Hi,
Shouldn’t archery be 8-8-0, ie. 6 individual spots and 2 team spots? Also, isn’t the missing spot in the road race team in the men’s time trial rather than road race? Finally, doesn’t weightlifting have similar restrictions to taekwondo, ie. 15 gold medal events but a maximum of 10 competitors per NOC? Sorry I know I’m being pedantic!!
Yep — you’re right on archery. I accidentally went with number of athletes rather than number of spots. I’ll fix it — thanks!
You’re right on cycling, too. I wrote “one of two,” which is correct for the time trial, but then wrote “road race” instead.
It looks like I did write 10 for weightlifting, so are you saying I should add more explanation? I’ll do that.
Thanks! Love to get feedback.
Yep, spot on re the weightlifting and thanks for all the info!