In which disciplines has the USA never won an Olympic medal?
There is no team more successful in the Olympic games than team USA but there are areas for improvement.
Boasting an impressive haul of 1,022 gold medals at summer Olympics, and 2,523 medals in total, they dwarf their nearest rivals the Soviet Union and Great Britain by a large margin.
And with one of those nations no longer existing, the chances of the USA being caught are virtually non-existent.
But there are some sports in which the glittering US team has never won a medal.
Returning Sports
Badminton
The racket sport has been controlled by China since its Olympic bow in 1992 with the Asian country taking 41 of a possible 106 medals, winning 18 of a possible 34 gold medals.
Medal chances at Tokyo?
The US will be pinning their hopes on women’s world number 14 Beiwen Zhang, who has the greatest chance of finishing on an Olympic podium for the first time in the country’s history.
Table Tennis
Another sport with no US medals dominated by the Chinese. China has won a staggering 28 out of 32 gold medals in the sport since its introduction at Seoul 1988 with only two other countries, South Korea and Sweden, ever winning gold.
The rules were even changed in London 2012 to prevent China taking all three medal places as they did in Beijing 2008.
Medal chances at Tokyo?
Extremely unlikely, considering the strength of the Chinese team.
Handball
Traditionally a sport dominated by European nations, only one of 39 medals has ever been won by a country outside of the continent: a silver medal for South Korea in 1988.
The highest position achieved by the men was 6th in 1936 but since then they have never finished higher than 9th. For the women, the highest position attained was 5th in 1984.
Medal chances at Tokyo?
Tokyo 2020 will offer no chance of a US medal, as neither the men’s or the women’s team managed to qualify.
The debut sports for Tokyo 2020
There will be four new sports at Tokyo 2020: surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding and karate as well as the addtition of two absent sports: baseball and softball, which had their last appearance being in Beijing 2008. Although the US has seen success in baseball and softball, it will be no surprise that they have never won medals in the new sports.
Medal chances at Tokyo?
For surfing, the team has the No.1 ranked woman in the world, Carissa Moore.
Along with France and Japan, the US is the only nation to have a full four-person climbing team.
The US also has a full 12-person team for skateboarding which was announced in the home of skateboarding, California. the team includes four-time world champion Nyjah Huston, a gold medal favourite.
In both the men's and women's karate, the US entertains medal hopes. For men's kata karate Ariel Torres, as well as women's world number four Sakura Kokumai.