Rugby union at the Summer Olympics Rugby union at the Summer Olympics Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924. The United States is the most successful nation in Olympic rugby tournaments, having won the gold medal in both 1920 and 1924; France has the most medals, one gold (in 1900) and
Belarus at the Olympics Lillehammer, Norway. Since 1994, Belarus has won medals at each Winter and Summer Olympics it has participated in. Athletes from the Soviet Union began participating in the Olympic Games in 1952, winning 194 total medals in the Winter Games and 1010 at the Summer Games for a total of 1204 medals. Of those medals, 473 were gold, 376 were silver and 355 were bronze. The Belarusian collection of medals began with Mikhail Krivonosov winning silver in the hammer throw at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The Soviet Republic's first gold medal was won by Leonid Geishtor and Sergei