How Many Summer Olympic Gold Medals Does North Dakota Have?

How many North Dakotans have won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics before?

The answer technically is ZERO.  Yes, a woman who was born in Hannah, North Dakota by the name of Ethel Catherwood, who moved with her family to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, won a gold medal in the Summer Olympics, but it was for another country.

According to NBC Sports, Catherwood participated in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam for Canada and won gold in the women's high jump.

Catherwood never returned to her home state, but she is as close as any North Dakotan to having a gold medal in the Summer Olympics draped around her neck.

North Dakota of course does have a pair of twins who have won gold at the Winter Olympics.

Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux, the superstar hockey twins from my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota, won silver twice in 2010 in Vancouver and 2014 in Sochi, and then brought home a gold, in 2018 in PyeongChang.

I was lucky enough to not only see and touch but also wear one of their gold medals around my neck for a brief moment. 

So proud of the Lamoureux ladies, and you won't find nicer people. Their brother Mario is currently living in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Dave Christian, who played college hockey at the University of North Dakota also won a gold medal in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York in 1980.  He once again is technically, not a North Dakotan, as Dave was born and raised in Warroad, Minnesota.

According to the Sports Geek, North Dakota is one of two states that has never won gold at the Summer Olympics.

New Hampshire is the other. As far as our neighboring states go, South Dakota has won 4, Montana 5, and Minnesota has won 10.