Women's football at the Olympics has an illustrious history as international heroes are born and bred at the renowned athletic competition.
Debuting in 1996, with the United States winning on home soil in Atlanta, the gold medal has been a highly sought-after award, considered one of the two pinnacle achievements of the sport alongside the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Yet individuals can submit star performances without leading their team to the ultimate glory, building themselves into giants of the sport even if their team ultimately falters. Nothing is more evident of such a dichotomy than the all-time career hat-trick list at the competition.
As Zambia superstar Barbra Banda puts herself atop the standings despite not winning any of the three matches in which she scored a trio, the all-time gold medal leaders United States have never had a single player score three goals in an Olympic match.
The Sporting News brings you a complete list of every hat-trick scored in Olympic women's history, all 10 of them, including three in which four goals were scored.
MORE: Full schedule, standings, and results for men's and women's soccer at the 2024 Olympics
Most career hat-tricks in Olympic women's soccer history
| Player | Nation | Hat-tricks | Year(s) |
| Barbra Banda | Zambia | 3 | 2020, 2024 |
| Cristiane | Brazil | 2 | 2004, 2008 |
| Birgit Prinz | Germany | 1* | 2004 |
| Vivianne Miedema | Netherlands | 1* | 2020 |
| Wang Shuang | China | 1* | 2020 |
| Christine Sinclair | Canada | 1 | 2012 |
| Ellen White | Great Britain | 1 | 2020 |
* Scored four goals in a single match
The first-ever Olympic women's hat-trick was scored in 2004, the third edition of the competition. Incredibly, as Birgit Prinz scored three in an Olympic match for the first time, she would go on to add a fourth, becoming the first to do as much as well.
Just six days later, Cristiane of Brazil would find a hat-trick as well, and Olympic football was well and truly exploding to the forefront of the global stage. Cristiane's triple four years later against Nigeria would make her the first player to do so twice at the competition.
It would take 13 years for someone to match that, as Barbra Banda of Zambia would get two triples in the same competition. She would bag three in the 10-3 defeat to the Netherlands, a match in which Vivianne Miedema became the second-ever player to score four goals in a single match. Incredibly, as Banda got her second hat-trick in the following game against China, it resulted in a 4-4 draw as Wang Shuang also scored four against Zambia, the third player to do so.
Banda would get her third hat-trick in the 2024 Olympics as they lost to Australia 6-5 in group play.
Barbra Banda is the all-time leader with three hat-tricks in Olympic women's football.
— Kyle Bonn (@the_bonnfire) July 28, 2024
Banda has scored 10 goals herself in those three games.
Zambia, incredibly, have conceded 20 in those three games (L 10-3 vs. NED, D 4-4 vs. CHI, L 6-5 vs. AUS).
Barbra Banda sets all-time record with three goals vs. Australia
Star Barbra Banda, 24, has become the all-time leader with three career Olympic hat-tricks, scoring three first-half goals against Australia in the 5-6 loss.
Banda found the net just 39 seconds into the match, making her the second-fastest goal-scorer in Olympic women's football history, behind only Janine Beckie's 20-second strike for Canada against Australia in 2016.
She would double her side's lead in the 33rd minute, before scoring a third in the opening minute of first-half stoppage time.
Her most recent hat-trick against Australia gives her nine all-time in her Olympic career, which is just five behind the all-time leading women's Olympic goal scorer Cristiane of Brazil, who had 14 across four Olympic tournaments from 2004-16.
Banda has quickly become a rising star in global women's football, breaking the all-time transfer fee record with her 2023 move to the Orlando Pride (which has since been broken by her fellow Zambia teammate Rachael Kundananji).
