New Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff is touting the league’s 318 past, present and future athletes competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Wrote Kliavkoff in a tweet: “The @pac12 will have 318 athletes competing at the Tokyo @Olympics — That’s more than all but 11 countries! Our athletes will represent 52 countries across 28 sports! Every Pac-12 school has at least 4 Olympians!”
The total number of Olympic athletes, including representatives from every Pac-12 school, leads all conferences.
According to the Pac-12, the 318 athletes from the Pac-12 is more than all but 11 of the national Olympic committee delegations participating in the Summer Games (United States, Japan, Australia, Germany, China, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Russia, Spain).
Pac-12-affiliated athletes will represent 54 national Olympic committees in 29 sports.
Of the 613 athletes on the U.S. Olympic team, 123 are past, present or future students of Pac-12 member institutions — 20% of the Team USA roster.
In addition to the United States, the Pac-12 will have at least 10 competing athletes on the rosters of three other national Olympic committees, Canada (30), Australia (25) and Italy (10).
Of the 318 Pac-12 Olympians across 29 sports, 53 will compete in track and field, 51 in swimming, 41 in water polo, 39 in rowing, 21 in basketball, 20 in softball, 16 in golf and 11 in soccer.
Softball has returned to the Olympics for the first time since 2008 and it features six teams with 15-person rosters, making the conference responsible for 22.2% of all softball Olympians in Tokyo. In fact, of the Pac-12’s 318 total Olympians, 192 are women (60.4 %).