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USC vs. UCLA at the Rio Olympics
TOPSHOT - Hungary's Katinka Hosszu poses with her gold medal on the podium after she won the Women's 200m Individual Medley Final during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 9, 2016. / AFP / Odd Andersen (Photo credit should read ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Second place runner Meb Keflezighi, who graduated from UCLA in 1998, celebrates as he approaches the finish line during the U.S Olympic Marathon Team Trials on February 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
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DeMar DeRozan, #10 on the Toronto Raptors, during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. DeRozan attended USC. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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Madison Kocian competes on the balance beam during day 1 of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics Team Trials on July 8, 2016 in San Jose, California. She will attend UCLA after the Games.
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Nia Ali, who attended USC, celebrates winning the gold medal in the Women's 60m Hurdles Final at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2014.
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Tori Pena, who graduated from UCLA in 2010, will compete for Ireland competes in the Women's Pole Vault at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
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Kami Craig, who graduated in 2010 from USC, goes for the ball in the Women's Water Polo Gold Medal match between the United States and Spain on Day 13 of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.
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Mallory Pugh controls the ball against Colombia on April 10, 2016. She will attend UCLA after the Olympic Games in Rio are over.
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Oussama Mellouli, who earned an undergraduate degree in 2007 and a graduate degree in 2013 from USC, celebrates after winning the Open Water Swimming Men's 5K race at the FINA World Championships in 2013.
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Iris Wang (R), currently a student at UCLA, in action during the women's doubles Badminton Semi Final match at the Pan American Games in 2011.
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April Ross, who graduated from USC in 2005, dives for the ball during the Women's Beach Volleyball preliminary round Pool C match against an Australian team on Day 1 of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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Nirra Fields, who graduated from UCLA in 2016, plays for the Canadian basketball team on Day 3 of the Rio 2016 Olympics.
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Micah Christenson, who graduated from USC in 2015, attempts to block during the match between USA and Iran on the FIVB World League 2016.
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Giulia Sergas, who attended UCLA, plays a shot during the Pro-Am prior to the start of the Evian Championship in 2014 in France.
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UPDATE: We've done the math. Current and former UCLA students students took home nine medals: six gold, one silver and two bronze. Current and former USC students took home 19 medals: nine gold, five silver and five bronze.
What if Olympic athletes, instead of representing the nations of the world, were assembled according to some other unifying bond?
In response to the massive global refugee crisis, the International Olympic Committee created a Team of Refugees, with fans tracking their medal count the way they'd follow any other team.
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That got us thinking about other, less noble ways to slice up the Olympic medal pie.
Crosstown Los Angeles rivals UCLA and USC have both bragged about their Olympic prowess, releasing rosters of past, present and future students competing in the 2016 Summer Games.
UCLA boasts 29 athletes while USC claims 44 — but not all of them are competing for Team USA.
Eleven athletes from UCLA and a whopping 28 from USC (nearly two-thirds of its roster) are competing for other countries. Between the two schools, these athletes represent 26 nations including Venezuela, Jamaica, Canada, Singapore and Hungary.
USC touts that this is the fifth straight Summer Games in which more than 40 of its athletes will compete.
UCLA proclaims that Bruins have brought home 253 medals over the years, including 128 gold medals.
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Don't even get us started on the Northern California rivalry between UC Berkeley, which is sending 50 athletes to the Games, and Stanford, which is sending 29 athletes to compete on Team USA.
One athlete is being claimed by both schools: Beach volleyball player Lauren Fendrick received her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her law degree from USC.
Which university will come out on top? Use the rosters below to follow the Olympic action and see who wins the medal count.
After the Games, we’ll update this story for the curious — and the competitive.
Team UCLA
| ATHLETE | GENDER | SPORT | SCHOOL STATUS | LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brittany Borman | F | Track & Field: Javelin Throw (USA) | attended | 27th place |
| KK Clark | F | Water Polo (USA) | 2012 graduate | Gold medal |
| Rachel Fattal | F | Water Polo (USA) | current student | Gold medal |
| Lauren Fendrick | F | Beach Volleyball (USA) | 2004 graduate | last place, Pool A |
| Nirra Fields | F | Basketball (Canada) | 2016 graduate | lost in quarterfinals to France |
| Jessie Fleming | F | Soccer (Canada) | incoming student | Bronze medal |
| Kelly Griffin | F | Rugby Sevens (USA) | 2008 graduate | 5th place |
| Sami Hill | F | Water Polo (USA) | 2015 graduate | Gold medal |
| Meb Keflezighi | M | Track & Field: Marathon (USA) | 1998 graduate | 33rd place |
| Madison Kocian | F | Gymnastics: Uneven Bars, Beam, Vault, Team All-Around, Floor Exercise, Individual All-Around (USA) | incoming student | Gold: Women's team all-around. Silver: Uneven bars. |
| Karsta Lowe | F | Volleyball (USA) | 2015 graduate | Bronze medal |
| Courtney Mathewson | F | Water Polo (USA) | 2008 graduate | Gold medal |
| Marcin Matkowski | M | Tennis: Doubles (Poland) | attended | Eliminated in round 2 |
| Samantha Mewis | F | Soccer (USA) | 2014 graduate | eliminated in quarterfinals |
| Maddie Musselman | F | Water Polo (USA) | incoming student | Gold medal |
| Tori Peña | F | Track & Field: Pole Vault (Ireland) | 2010 graduate (Ireland) | 27th place |
| Mallory Pugh | F | Soccer (USA) | incoming student | eliminated in quarterfinals |
| Ting Wen Quah | F | Swimming: Women's 100m butterfly (Singapore) | 2014 graduate | 34th place |
| Alex Roelse | M | Water Polo (USA) | current student | eliminated in group play |
| Jean-Julien Rojer | M | Tennis: Men's Doubles, Mixed Doubles (Netherlands) | attended | eliminated in first round in both doubles matches |
| Josh Samuels | M | Water Polo (USA) | 2013 graduate | eliminated in group play |
| Nicholas Scarvelis | M | Track & Field: Shot Put (Greece) | current student | 27th place |
| Giulia Sergas | F | Golf (Italy) | attended | 44th place |
| Howard Shu | M | Badminton: Singles (USA) | 2013 graduate | eliminated in group play |
| Jamie Subandhi | F | Badminton: Mixed Doubles (USA) | 2011 graduate | eliminated in group play |
| Maria Jose Uribe | F | Golf (Colombia) | attended | 19th place |
| Meaghan Volker | F | Rowing: Women's Eight (Australia) | 2014 graduate | 5th place |
| Iris Wang | F | Badminton: Singles (USA) | current student | eliminated in group play |
| Rosie White | F | Soccer | 2014 graduate (New Zealand) | eliminated in group play |
Team USC
| ATHLETE | GENDER | SPORT | SCHOOL STATUS | LINK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nia Ali | F | Track & Field: Women's 100m hurdles (USA) | attended | Silver medal |
| Haley Anderson | F | Swimming: 10km Marathon (USA) | graduated 2013 | 5th place |
| McQuin Baron | M | Water Polo (USA) | current student | eliminated in group play |
| Aaron Brown | M | Track & Field: 100m, 200m (Canada) | graduated 2015 | 11th place, 200m; 31st place, 100m |
| Hannah Buckling | F | Water Polo (Australia) | attended | 6th place |
| Dylan Carter | M | Swimming: 100m Freestyle (Trinidad and Tobago) | current student | 23rd place |
| Victoria Chamorro | F | Water Polo (Brazil) | current student | eliminated in quarterfinals |
| Tiffany Chan | F | Golf (Hong Kong) | current student | 37th place |
| Micah Christenson | M | Volleyball (USA) | graduated 2015 | Bronze medal |
| Santo Condorelli | M | Swimming: 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle Relay, 400m Medley Relay (Canada) | current student | 4th, 100m freestyle; semifinal, 50m Freestyle |
| Kami Craig | F | Water Polo (USA) | graduated 2010 | Gold medal |
| Andre De Grasse | M | Track & Field: 100m, 200m (Canada) | current student | Silver medal, 200m; Bronze medal, 100m |
| Joel Dennerley | M | Water Polo (Australia) | graduated 2011 | eliminated in group play |
| DeMar DeRozan | M | Basketball (USA) | attended | Gold medal |
| Thomas Dunstan | M | Water Polo (USA) | incoming student | eliminated in group play |
| Zsofia Erdely | F | Track & Field: Marathon (Hungary) | graduated 2012 | 52nd place |
| Anni Espar | F | Water Polo (Spain) | attended | 5th place |
| Robert Farah | M | Tennis, Doubles (Colombia) | attended | eliminated in round 2 |
| Allyson Felix | F | Track & Field: 400m, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay (USA) | graduated 2008 | Gold medal, 4x100 relay; Gold, 4x400 relay; Silver, 400m |
| Lauren Fendrick | F | Beach Volleyball (USA) | 2010 graduate (law school) | last place, Pool A |
| Tynia Gaither | F | Track & Field: 100m, 200m (Bahamas) | graduated 2016 | semifinals, 200m; 39th, first round of 100m |
| Stina Gardell | F | Swimming: 200m Individual Medley (Sweden) | graduated 2014 | 20th place |
| Konstantinos Genidounias | M | Water Polo (Greece) | graduated 2015 | 6th place |
| Kaleigh Gilchrist | F | Water Polo (USA) | graduated 2014 | Gold medal |
| Louise Hansson | F | Swimming: 400m Freestyle Relay, 100m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 800m Freestyle Relay (Sweden) | incoming freshman | 5th place, 4x100 relay; 5th place, 4x200 relay; did not advance out of heats in other events |
| Rebecca Heyliger | F | Swimming: 50m Freestyle (Bermuda) | garduated 2013 (undegrad), 2015 (grad) | 52nd place |
| Katinka Hosszu | F | Swimming: 100m Backstroke, 200m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley, 800m Freestyle Relay (Hungary) | graduated 2012 | Gold medal, 100m backstroke; Gold medal, 200m individual medley; Gold medal, 400m individual medley; Silver medal, 200m backstroke |
| Amalie Iuel | F | Track & Field: 400m Hurdles (Norway) | current student | 29th place |
| Steve Johnson | M | Tennis: Singles, Doubles | attended | Bronze medal, men's doubles; quarterfinals, men's singles |
| Candie Kung | F | Golf (Taiwan) | attended | 31st place |
| Dwight Lewis | M | Basketball (Venezuela) | attended | eliminated in group play |
| Victoria Alimonda Lovelady | F | Golf (Brazil) | garduated 2009 | 53rd place |
| Conor McCullough | M | Track & Field: Hammer Throw (USA) | attended | 16th place |
| Oussama Mellouli | M | Swimming: 1500m freestyle, Open Water 10K (Tunisia) | graduated 2007 (undergrad), 2013 (grad) | 21st, 1500m freestyle; 12th, open water 10K |
| Vladimir Morozov | M | Swimming: 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Medley Relay (Russia) | attended | 4th place, 4x100m medley relay; semifinals, 50m freestyle; semifinals, 100m freestyle |
| Dalilah Muhammad | F | Track & Field: 400m Hurdles (USA) | graduated 2012 | Gold medal |
| Cristian Quintero | M | Swimming: 50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle (Venezuela) | graduated 2015 | semifinals; 200m freestyle; eliminated in heats in all other events |
| April Ross | F | Beach Volleyball (USA) | graduated 2005 | Bronze medal |
| Debora Seilhamer | F | Volleyball (Puerto Rico) | graduated 2007 | eliminated in group play |
| Murphy Troy | M | Volleyball (USA) | graduated 2011 | Bronze medal |
| Amanda Weir | F | Swimming: 400m Freestyle Relay (USA) | attended | Silver medal |
| Anna Wierzbowska | F | Rowing: Pairs (Poland) | graduated 2012 | 4th place |
| Katarzyna (Kasia) Wilk | F | Swimming: 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Poland) | current student | 15th place, 4x100 freestyle relay; 29th, 100m freestyle relay |
| Timothy Wynter | M | Swimming: 100m Backstroke (Jamaica) | current student | 34th place |
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