Los Angeles isn't just full of pretty people, it's also full of super buff people. The Atlantic Cities shares data crunched by UCLA urban planning doctoral candidate Patrick Adler, who has found that LA earned the most Olympic medals of any US city in the just-finished London summer games: 45 in total (that counts individual athletes who won team medals). San Francisco comes in a distant second with 11. The LA Weekly talks to Adler, who says that LA also had the most medals per hometown: "35 winners were born in and/or grew up in L.A.," making it "pretty much the only big city where there isn't this sort of 'draining' going on."
Why do Olympians love LA? A lot of it has to do with USC and UCLA, which Adler says "are likely to draw athletes, and promote the development of younger athletes into olympians (or NFL players)." This year, USC was responsible for more medals at the Olympics than any other school in the US (25 total). The year-round training-friendly weather helps too, as does "the city's athlete-friendliness, from our 'culture around fitness and nutrition' to our 'critical mass of athletes, training facilities and a lot of coaches.'"
· Which American Cities Won the Most Medals? [The Atlantic Cities]
· Los Angeles Took Home 4 Times More Olympic Medals Than Any Other U.S. City [LAW]
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