What do you want, a medal?

Apparently, Cal swimmers do.

The swimming competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics will forever be remembered for the performance of the Golden Bears. Future, present and past Cal swimmers hauled in a staggering 19 medals, including eight golds. They broke world records, continued their dominance in the 100 backstroke and even turned back time.

In all, Cal athletes took home 21 medals from the Rio Games, with former volleyball star Carli Lloyd securing the bronze with Team USA and former rower Olivier Siegelaar taking the bronze in the Men's Eight competition in rowing.

But it was at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium where the Golden Bears truly made their mark – a development that is becoming an Olympic mainstay. Rising senior Ryan Murphy became the fifth Golden Bear to win three gold medals at one Olympic Games – joining Mary T. Meagher, Matt Biondi, Missy Franklin and Dana Vollmer.

Murphy dominated the backstroke competition in Rio, taking the gold medal in both the 100 and 200 back events. He capped off the performance by breaking the world record during his 100 backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay, finishing his leg in a time of 51.85.

Cal alum Nathan Adrian reminded the world of his prowess in the freestyle sprints with bronze medal finishes in both the 50 and 100 free. The gold medalist in the 100 freestyle in 2012, Adrian also capped off two gold-medal winning relay races for Team USA with impressive freestyle legs.Adrian took home home four medals and now has eight in his career, including five golds.

Adrian's third-place finish in the 50 free also ended up being the second-best time by a Cal swimmer in the race. In one of the great stories of the 2016 Games, former Golden Bear Anthony Ervin became the oldest individual swimmer in history to win a gold medal when the 35-year old won the 50 free in a time of 21.40. After winning the gold medal in the 50 free in the 2000 Summer Olympics, Ervin also set the mark for the longest period of times between gold-medal swims in the same event.

While Ervin turned back time on the men's side, former Cal star Dana Vollmer made a comeback for the ages by winning three medals to give her seven in her career. After winning three gold medals at the 2012 Olympics (and one in 2004), Vollmer got married and gave birth to her son, Arlen. She was ready to move on from swimming, but could never completely shake her competitive urges. Eighteen months ago, she decided to make another run at the Olympics. It turned out to be a pretty good idea, as Vollmer won gold in the 400 free relay, silver in the 400 medley relay and bronze in the 100 butterfly.

Rising sophomore Kathleen Baker introduced herself to the rest of the world by picking up a pair of medals, including a silver in the 100 backstroke. She also won gold by swimming the backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay.
Other Cal swimmers to pick up gold medals were former Golden Bear Missy Franklin and incoming freshman Abbey Weitzeil, who swam the prelims for winning U.S. relay teams. Recently graduated Josh Prenot won the silver medal in the 200 breaststroke.

Lloyd's bronze medal was bittersweet, as the U.S. entered the Olympics as the No. 1 team in the world and favored to win the gold. But when star middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo went down with a knee injury in the semifinals, it changed Team USA's fortunes. But after losing to Serbia in five sets, the Americans rebounded to defeated The Netherlands in four sets to capture the bronze.

Siegelaar's medal was the culmination of a 12-year process in which the former Golden Bear got close to the medal stand in each of his first two Olympics. After a fourth-place finish in 2008 and taking fifth in 2012, The Netherlands finally reached the medal stand in the men's eight competition with a time of 5:31.59. It marked the fifth straight Olympics a Cal athlete has won a medal in rowing.

The 21 total medals marked the second-most all time in a single Olympics for the Golden Bears, trailing only the 2012 Summer Olympics in which they amassed 23.

The Bears had 41 athletes and nine coaches or support staff in Rio.