Which country has won the most Olympic gold medals in track and field?

Which country has won the most Olympic gold medals in track and field? The answer is the United States.

The United States has historically led the Olympic medal table for athletics, the sport commonly called track and field. American success spans sprinting, hurdling, jumping, throwing, and distance events, and began at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. The country has won more athletics gold medals than any other nation across the modern Games.

Several generations of stars built that record. Jesse Owens won four athletics gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, while Carl Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals across four Games. More recently, Allyson Felix became the most decorated U.S. track-and-field Olympian by total Olympic medals, showing that the country's strength includes both men's and women's events.

The comparison can be confusing because Olympic medal counts depend on whether one includes discontinued events, mixed-team results, or the 1906 Intercalated Games. Standard historical athletics tables still place the United States first in gold medals. Russia, Great Britain, and Kenya are major athletics powers, but none has surpassed the U.S. total.