Rugby

Facts

Discipline of Rugby
Participants 155
NOCs 6
Competitions held 4 (Venues)
Distinct events 1

Description

Rugby (rugby union, to be specific, to differentiate it from professional sport of rugby league) has been contested at the Olympics in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924. Amazingly, the defending Olympic champions are the United States – not known for their outstanding rugby teams – who won the gold medals in both 1920 and 1924. Six players have won two gold medals at the Olympics, all representing the United States, with the exception of Dan Carroll, who won a gold medal as part of the American team in 1920 but had already won a gold in 1908 representing Australasia.

World Rugby (WR) governs the sport worldwide and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board, it was renamed to the International Rugby Board in 1996, and to its current name of World Rugby in 2020. It has 110 full member nations, with 19 associate unions as of 2022.

Rugby sevens, or seven-a-side rugby football with shorter periods, was approved for inclusion to the Olympic Program by the IOC Executive Board in 2001. This proposal was tabled by the IOC session, and dismissed at the 2005 IOC session, but it was again brought up in 2009, when the IOC approved it for inclusion in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and the discipline featured again at the program of Tokyo 2020.

All-time medal table

Olympic Games

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
United States USA 2 0 0 2
France FRA 1 2 0 3
Australasia ANZ 1 0 0 1
Great Britain GBR 0 2 0 2
Germany GER 0 1 0 1
Romania ROU 0 0 1 1

Most successful competitors

Olympic Games

Athlete Nat Gold Silver Bronze Total
Dan Carroll ANZ
AUS
USA
2 0 0 2
Charlie Doe USA 2 0 0 2
John O'Neil USA 2 0 0 2
Jack Patrick USA 2 0 0 2
Rudy Scholz USA 2 0 0 2
Babe Slater USA 2 0 0 2
John Barnett ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Frank Smith ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Phil Carmichael ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Bob Craig ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Tom Griffin ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Jack Hickey ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Mannie McArthur ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Arthur McCabe ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Paddy McCue ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Chris McKivat ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Charles McMurtrie ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Syd Middleton ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Tom Richards ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
Charles Russell ANZ
AUS
1 0 0 1
A. Albert FRA 1 0 0 1
Vladimir Aïtoff FRA 1 0 0 1
Léon Binoche FRA 1 0 0 1
Jean Collas FRA 1 0 0 1
Jean-Guy Gautier FRA 1 0 0 1
Auguste Giroux FRA 1 0 0 1
Charles Gondouin FRA 1 0 0 1
Constantin Henriquez FRA
HAI
1 0 0 1
Jean Hervé FRA 1 0 0 1
Victor Lardanchet FRA 1 0 0 1
Hubert Lefèbvre FRA 1 0 0 1
Joseph Olivier FRA 1 0 0 1
Alexandre Pharamond FRA 1 0 0 1
André Rischmann FRA 1 0 0 1
André Roosevelt FRA
USA
1 0 0 1
Émile Sarrade FRA 1 0 0 1
Phil Clark USA 1 0 0 1
Norman Cleaveland USA 1 0 0 1
Dudley DeGroot USA 1 0 0 1
Bob Devereaux USA 1 0 0 1
George Dixon USA 1 0 0 1
Linn Farish USA 1 0 0 1
George Fish USA 1 0 0 1
Jim Fitzpatrick USA 1 0 0 1
Ed Graff USA 1 0 0 1
Lou Hunter USA 1 0 0 1
Dick Hyland USA 1 0 0 1
Caesar Mannelli USA 1 0 0 1
Charles Mehan USA 1 0 0 1
John Muldoon USA 1 0 0 1
Cornelius Righter USA 1 0 0 1
William Rogers USA 1 0 0 1
Norm Slater USA 1 0 0 1
Charles Tilden USA 1 0 0 1
Ed Turkington USA 1 0 0 1
Alan Valentine USA 1 0 0 1
Alan Williams USA 1 0 0 1
Heaton Wrenn USA 1 0 0 1
Frantz Reichel FRA 1 0 0 1
Morris Kirksey USA 1 0 0 1
Dink Templeton USA 1 0 0 1

Event types

Name Gender Still contested? Times held?
Rugby Men 4