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In full: Usain St. Leo Bolt
Born: August 21, 1986, Montego Bay, Jamaica (age 37)
Awards And Honors: Olympic Games
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Usain Bolt (born August 21, 1986, Montego Bay, Jamaica) Jamaican sprinter who won gold medals in the 100-metre and 200-metre races in an unprecedented three straight Olympic Games and is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time.
Bolt, the son of grocers in Jamaica’s rural Trelawny parish, excelled as a cricket fast bowler in his preteen years. He developed a deep affection for the European football (soccer) teams Real Madrid and Manchester United, but his school coaches steered him toward track and field. Bolt first marked himself as a track prodigy at the 2002 world junior championships. In that meet, racing before a crowd of 36,000 in Jamaica’s National Stadium in Kingston, Bolt—just 15 years old at the time—won gold in the 200 metres, becoming the youngest-ever male world junior champion in any event. At age 16 Bolt cut the junior (age 19 and under) 200-metre world record to 20.13 sec, and at 17 he ran the event in 19.93 sec, becoming the first teenager to break 20 seconds in the race. However, hampered by a hamstring injury, he failed to advance beyond the 200-metre heats at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and placed last in the 2005 world track-and-field championships final.
Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsledder Steven Holcomb, front, is greeted at the finish line after teaming with Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz to win the first Olympic bobsleigh gold medal in 62 years for Team USA ,(cont)
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At 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 metres), Bolt defied the conventional wisdom that very tall sprinters are disadvantaged as fast starters. In 2007 he appeared newly dedicated to his training and earned a silver medal in the 200 metres at the world championships. He also persuaded his coach to let him try the 100 metres, and he ran 10.03 sec in his first professional race at the distance. On May 3, 2008, he lowered his best time to 9.76 sec, then the world’s second fastest mark. Four weeks later in New York City, Bolt broke the world record, running 9.72 sec to defeat world champion Tyson Gay.
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt, 2008.
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt holding the Jamaican flag after setting a world record in the 100-metre race at the Beijing Olympics, August 2008.
At the 2008 Olympic Games, Bolt became the first man since American Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100-metre relay in a single Olympics and the first ever to set world records (9.69 sec, 19.30 sec, and 37.10 sec, respectively) in all three events. (However, a failed drug test by one of his 4 × 100 teammates led to Bolt’s having his gold medal in that event stripped.) His 0.66-sec winning margin in the 200-metre race was the largest in Olympic history, and his 0.20-sec edge over the second-place finisher in the 100 metres, despite beginning his victory celebration about 80 metres into the race, was the largest since Lewis won by the same margin. At the 2009 world championships, Bolt shattered his 100-metre record, winning the event final in 9.58 sec. Four days later he broke his own 200-metre record by the same 0.11-sec margin to win a second gold medal at the world championships.
Bolt was the heavy favourite in the sprint events heading into the 2011 world championships, but a false start disqualified him from the 100-metre final. Despite failing to medal in his signature race, Bolt recovered to capture golds in the 200 metres and the 4 × 100-metre relay, helping to set a new world record in the latter event. At the 2012 Olympics in London, Bolt defended his titles in the 100-metre and 200-metre events (setting an Olympic record in the former) to become the first person to win both races in consecutive Olympiads. In 2013 he won three gold medals at the world championships (100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100-metre relay).
Usain Bolt
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Usain Bolt of Jamaica winning the men's 100-metre sprint final ahead of Justin Gatlin of the United States at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
At the 2015 world championships Bolt again won gold medals in his three signature events (100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100-metre relay), and his fourth career 200-metre gold extended his record for most wins in that race at the world championships. He cemented his role as the best sprinter in history at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, where he captured golds in the 100-metre, 200-metre, and 4 × 100-metre relay events, becoming the first person to win golds in the two individual sprints in three straight Olympics. He retired from athletics after the 2017 world championships, where he won a bronze medal in the 100-metre sprint and finished in eighth place as a member of the 4 × 100-metre relay team after injuring a hamstring during the final.
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Bolt published a memoir, My Story: 9:58: The World’s Fastest Man (written with Shaun Custis), in 2010. It was expanded and reissued as The Fastest Man Alive: The True Story of Usain Bolt in 2012.
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Sprint, in athletics (track and field), a footrace over a short distance with an all-out or nearly all-out burst of speed, the chief distances being 100, 200, and 400 metres and 100, 220, and 440 yards.
The course for sprint races is usually marked off in lanes within which each runner must remain for the entire race. Originally sprinters used a standing start, but after 1884 sprinters started from a crouched position using a device called a starting block (legalized in the 1930s) to brace their feet (see photograph). Races are begun by a pistol shot; at 55 to 65 metres (60 to 70 yards), top sprinters attain maximum speed, more than 40 km per hour (25 miles per hour). After the 65-metre mark the runner begins to lose speed through fatigue.
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All important international races at 200 metres and 220 yards, as well as 400 metres and 440 yards, are run on an oval track. The starts are staggered (the lanes farther from the centre begin progressively farther forward on the track) so that each runner will cover an equal distance. As a result, the competitors, particularly in the 400 metres and 440 yards, have no exact knowledge of their respective positions until they have completed the final turn. Great emphasis is therefore placed on an athlete’s ability to judge his own pace, as well as upon his speed and endurance.
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Running, footracing over a variety of distances and courses and numbering among the most popular sports in nearly all times and places. Modern competitive running ranges from sprints (dashes), with their emphasis on continuous high speed, to grueling long-distance and marathon races, requiring great endurance. See also athletics; cross-country; hurdling; long-distance running; marathon; middle-distance running; relay race; sprint; steeplechase. For walk racing, see walking.
Running is also a popular noncompetitive recreation that can produce important physiological benefits. See jogging.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica reacts after breaking the world record with a time of 19.30 to win the gold medal as Churandy Martina (left) of Netherlands Antilles and Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe come in after him in the Men's 200m Final at the National Stadium during Day 12 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 20, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Summer Olympics, track and field, athletics)
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Sports, physical contests pursued for the goals and challenges they entail. Sports are part of every culture past and present, but each culture has its own definition of sports. The most useful definitions are those that clarify the relationship of sports to play, games, and contests. “Play,” wrote the German theorist Carl Diem, “is purposeless activity, for its own sake, the opposite of work.” Humans work because they have to; they play because they want to. Play is autotelic—that is, it has its own goals. It is voluntary and uncoerced. Recalcitrant children compelled by their parents or teachers to compete in a game of football (soccer) are not really engaged in a sport. Neither are professional athletes if their only motivation is their paycheck. In the real world, as a practical matter, motives are frequently mixed and often quite impossible to determine. Unambiguous definition is nonetheless a prerequisite to practical determinations about what is and is not an example of play.
There are at least two types of play. The first is spontaneous and unconstrained. Examples abound. A child sees a flat stone, picks it up, and sends it skipping across the waters of a pond. An adult realizes with a laugh that he has uttered an unintended pun. Neither action is premeditated, and both are at least relatively free of constraint. The second type of play is regulated. There are rules to determine which actions are legitimate and which are not. These rules transform spontaneous play into games, which can thus be defined as rule-bound or regulated play. Leapfrog, chess, “playing house,” and basketball are all games, some with rather simple rules, others governed by a somewhat more complex set of regulations. In fact, the rule books for games such as basketball are hundreds of pages long.
As games, chess and basketball are obviously different from leapfrog and playing house. The first two games are competitive, the second two are not. One can win a game of basketball, but it makes no sense to ask who has won a game of leapfrog. In other words, chess and basketball are contests.
A final distinction separates contests into two types: those that require at least a minimum of physical skill and those that do not. Shuffleboard is a good example of the first; the board games Scrabble and Monopoly will do to exemplify the second. It must of course be understood that even the simplest sports, such as weightlifting, require a modicum of intellectual effort, while others, such as baseball, involve a considerable amount of mental alertness. It must also be understood that the sports that have most excited the passions of humankind, as participants and as spectators, have required a great deal more physical prowess than a game of shuffleboard. Through the ages, sports heroes have demonstrated awesome strength, speed, stamina, endurance, and dexterity.
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Sports, then, can be defined as autotelic (played for their own sake) physical contests. On the basis of this definition, one can devise a simple inverted-tree diagram. Despite the clarity of the definition, difficult questions arise. Is mountain climbing a sport? It is if one understands the activity as a contest between the climber and the mountain or as a competition between climbers to be the first to accomplish an ascent. Are the drivers at the Indianapolis 500 automobile race really athletes? They are if one believes that at least a modicum of physical skill is required for winning the competition. The point of a clear definition is that it enables one to give more or less satisfactory answers to questions such as these. One can hardly understand sport if one does not begin with some conception of what sports are.
History
No one can say when sports began. Since it is impossible to imagine a time when children did not spontaneously run races or wrestle, it is clear that children have always included sports in their play, but one can only speculate about the emergence of sports as autotelic physical contests for adults. Hunters are depicted in prehistoric art, but it cannot be known whether the hunters pursued their prey in a mood of grim necessity or with the joyful abandon of sportsmen. It is certain, however, from the rich literary and iconographic evidence of all ancient civilizations that hunting soon became an end in itself—at least for royalty and nobility. Archaeological evidence also indicates that ball games were common among ancient peoples as different as the Chinese and the Aztecs. If ball games were contests rather than noncompetitive ritual performances, such as the Japanese football game kemari, then they were sports in the most rigorously defined sense. That it cannot simply be assumed that they were contests is clear from the evidence presented by Greek and Roman antiquity, which indicates that ball games had been for the most part playful pastimes like those recommended for health by the Greek physician Galen in the 2nd century CE.
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The Summer Olympic Games (known in French as "Jeux olympiques d'été"), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years on leap years (except 1900 and 2021). The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the most recent Games were held in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for organising the Games and for overseeing the host city's preparations.[1] The tradition of awarding medals began in 1904; in each Olympic event, gold medals are awarded for first place, silver medals for second place, and bronze medals for third place.
The Winter Olympic Games were created out of the success of the Summer Olympic Games, which are regarded as the largest and most prestigious multi-sport international event in the world.
The Summer Olympics have increased in scope from a 42-event competition programme in 1896 with fewer than 250 male competitors from 14 nations, to 339 events in 2021 with 11,420 competitors (almost half of whom were women) from 206 nations. The Games have been held in nineteen countries over five continents: four times in the United States (1904, 1932, 1984, and 1996); three times in Great Britain (1908, 1948, and 2012); twice each in Greece (1896 and 2004), France (1900 and 1924), Germany (1936 and 1972), Australia (1956 and 2000), and Japan (1964 and 2020); and once each in Sweden (1912), Belgium (1920), the Netherlands (1928), Finland (1952), Italy (1960), Mexico (1968), Canada (1976), the Soviet Union (1980), South Korea (1988), Spain (1992), China (2008), and Brazil (2016).
London was the first city to host the Summer Olympic Games three times. As of 2022, Paris, Los Angeles, Athens and Tokyo have each hosted twice; Paris will host for the third time in 2024, followed by Los Angeles which will host the Games in 2028.[2] Only five countries have participated in every Summer Olympic Games: Australia, France, Great Britain, Greece, and Switzerland. Australia, France and Great Britain have won at least a medal at every edition of the Games, with Great Britain as the only one to win gold each time. The United States leads the all-time medal count at the Summer Olympics, and has topped the medal table on 18 separate occasions—followed by the USSR (six times), and France, Great Britain, Germany, China, and the ex-Soviet 'Unified Team' (once each).
Hosting
Map of Summer Olympic Games locations – countries that have hosted one Summer Olympics are shaded green, while countries that have hosted two or more are shaded blue.
The United States hosted the Summer Olympic Games four times: the 1904 Games were held in St. Louis, Missouri; the 1932 and 1984 Games were both held in Los Angeles, California, and the 1996 Games were held in Atlanta, Georgia. The 2028 Games in Los Angeles will mark the fifth occasion on which the Summer Games have been hosted by the U.S.
In 2012, Great Britain hosted its third Summer Olympic Games in London, which became the first city ever to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times. The cities of Los Angeles, Paris, and Athens (excluding 1906) have each hosted two Summer Olympic Games. In 2024, France will host its third Summer Olympic Games in its capital, making Paris the second city ever to have hosted three Summer Olympics. In 2028, Los Angeles will in turn become the third city ever to have hosted the Games three times.
Australia, France, Germany, Greece and Japan all hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice (with France and Australia planned to host in 2024 and 2032, respectively, taking both countries to three each). Tokyo, Japan, hosted the 2020 Games and became the first city outside the predominantly English-speaking and European nations to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice, having already hosted the Games in 1964;[3] it is also the largest city ever to have hosted, having grown considerably since 1964. The other countries to have hosted the Summer Olympics are Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Soviet Union, Spain, and Sweden, with each of these countries having hosted the Summer Games on one occasion.
Asia has hosted the Summer Olympics four times: in Tokyo (1964 and 2020), Seoul (1988), and Beijing (2008).
The 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the first Summer Olympics to be held in South America and the first that was held completely during the local "winter" season. The only two countries in the Southern Hemisphere to have hosted the Summer Olympics have been Australia (1956, 2000, and upcoming 2032) and Brazil (2016), with Africa having yet to host any Summer Olympics.
Stockholm, Sweden, has hosted events at two Summer Olympics, having been sole host of the 1912 Games, and hosting the equestrian events at the 1956 Summer Olympics (which they are credited as jointly hosting with Melbourne, Australia).[4] Amsterdam, Netherlands, has also hosted events at two Summer Olympic Games, having been sole host of the 1928 Games and previously hosting two of the sailing races at the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Hong Kong provided the venues for the equestrian events, which took place in Sha Tin and Kwu Tung.
History
Early years
The opening ceremony of the first modern Olympic Games in the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was founded in 1894 when Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, sought to promote international understanding through sporting competition. The first edition of The Olympic Games was held in Athens in 1896 and attracted just 245 competitors, of whom more than 200 were Greek, and only 14 countries were represented. Nevertheless, no international events of this magnitude had been organised before. Female athletes were not allowed to compete, though one woman, Stamata Revithi, ran the marathon course on her own, saying "If the committee doesn't let me compete I will go after them regardless".[5]
The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the modern era. About 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games. The athletes came from 14 nations, with most coming from Greece. Although Greece had the most athletes, the U.S. finished with the most champions. 11 Americans placed first in their events vs. the 10 from Greece.[6] Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organised by Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, on 23 June 1894. The IOC was also established during this congress.
Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event.[7] The highlight for the Greeks was the Marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis, a water carrier. He won in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds, setting off wild celebrations at the stadium. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.
Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris.[8]
Four years later the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris attracted more than four times as many athletes, including 20 women, who were allowed to officially compete for the first time, in croquet, golf, sailing, and tennis. The Games were integrated with the Paris World's Fair and lasted over five months. It has been disputed which exact events were Olympic, as some events were for professionals, some had restricted eligibility, and others lacked international competitors.
Francis Olympic Field of Washington University in St. Louis during the 1904 Summer Olympics
Dorando Pietri finishes the modern marathon in 1908 at the current distance.
Tensions caused by the Russo–Japanese War and the difficulty of getting to St. Louis may have contributed to the fact that very few top-ranked athletes from outside the US and Canada took part in the 1904 Games.[9]
The "Second International Olympic Games in Athens", as they were called at the time, were held in 1906.[10] The IOC does not currently recognise these games as being official Olympic Games, although many historians do and credit the 1906 games with preventing the demise of the Olympics. The 1906 Athens games were the first of an alternating series of games to be held in Athens in even non-Olympic years, but the series failed to materialise. The games were more successful than the 1900 and 1904 games, with over 850 athletes competing, and contributed positively to the success of future games.
The 1908 London Games saw numbers rise again, as well as the first running of the marathon over its now-standard distance of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The first Olympic Marathon in 1896 (a male-only race) was raced at a distance of 40 km (24 miles 85 yards). The new marathon distance was chosen to ensure that the race finished in front of the box occupied by the British royal family. Thus the marathon had been 40 km (24.9 mi) for the first games in 1896, but was subsequently varied by up to 2 km (1.2 mi) due to local conditions such as street and stadium layout. At the six Olympic games between 1900 and 1920, the marathon was raced over six distances. The Games saw Great Britain winning 146 medals, 99 more than second-placed Americans, its best result to this day.
At the end of the 1908 marathon, the Italian runner Dorando Pietri was first to enter the stadium, but he was clearly in distress and collapsed of exhaustion before he could complete the event. He was helped over the finish line by concerned race officials and later disqualified for that. As compensation for the missing medal, Queen Alexandra gave Pietri a gilded silver cup. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a special report about the race in the Daily Mail.[11]
The Games continued to grow, attracting 2,504 competitors, to Stockholm in 1912, including the great all-rounder Jim Thorpe, who won both the decathlon and pentathlon. Thorpe had previously played a few games of baseball for a fee, and saw his medals stripped for this 'breach' of amateurism after complaints from Avery Brundage. They were reinstated in 1983, 30 years after his death. The Games at Stockholm were the first to fulfil Pierre de Coubertin's original idea. For the first time since the Games started in 1896, all five inhabited continents were represented with athletes competing in the same stadium.
The scheduled 1916 Summer Olympics were cancelled following the onset of World War I.
Interwar era
The 1920 Antwerp Games in war-ravaged Belgium were a subdued affair, but again drew a record number of competitors. This record only stood until 1924, when the Paris Games involved 3,000 competitors, the greatest of whom was Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi. The "Flying Finn" won three team gold medals and the individual 1,500 and 5,000 meter runs, the latter two on the same day.[12]
The 1928 Amsterdam Games was notable for being the first games which allowed females to compete at track & field athletics, and benefited greatly from the general prosperity of the times alongside the first appearance of sponsorship of the games, from the Coca-Cola Company. The 1928 games saw the introduction of a standard medal design with the IOC, choosing Giuseppe Cassioli's depiction of Greek goddess Nike with a winner being carried by a crowd of people. This design was used up until 1972.[citation needed]
The 1932 Los Angeles Games were affected by the Great Depression, which contributed to the low number of competitors.
Olympiastadion in Berlin, during the 1936 Games
The 1936 Berlin Games were seen by the German government as a golden opportunity to promote their ideology. The ruling Nazi Party commissioned film-maker Leni Riefenstahl to film the games. The result, Olympia, was widely considered to be a masterpiece, despite Hitler's theories of Aryan racial superiority being repeatedly shown up by "non-Aryan" athletes. In particular, African-American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The 1936 Berlin Games also saw the introduction of the Torch Relay.[13]
Due to World War II, the 1940 Games (due to be held in Tokyo and temporarily relocated to Helsinki upon the outbreak of war) were cancelled. The 1944 Games were due to be held in London but were also cancelled; instead, London hosted the first games after the end of the war, in 1948.
After World War II
The first post-war Games were held in 1948 in London, with both Germany and Japan excluded.[14] Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen won four gold medals on the track, emulating Owens' achievement in Berlin.[15]
At the 1952 Helsinki Games, the USSR team competed for the first time and quickly emerged as one of the dominant teams, finishing second in the number of gold and overall medals won. Their immediate success might be explained by the advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete". The USSR entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis, hence violating amateur rules.[16][17][18][19][20] Finland made a legend of an amiable Czechoslovak Army lieutenant named Emil Zátopek, who was intent on improving on his single gold and silver medals from 1948. Having first won both the 10,000- and 5,000-meter races, he also entered the marathon, despite having never previously raced at that distance. Pacing himself by chatting with the other race leaders, Zátopek led from about halfway, slowly dropping the remaining contenders to win by two and a half minutes, and completed a trio of wins.[21]
The 1956 Melbourne Games were largely successful, with the exception of a water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union, which ended in a pitched battle between the teams on account of the Soviet invasion of Hungary.[22] The equestrian events were held in Stockholm due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain at the time and the strict quarantine laws of Australia.
At the 1960 Rome Games, a young light-heavyweight boxer named Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, arrived on the scene. Ali would later throw his gold medal away in disgust after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky.[23] He was awarded a new medal 36 years later at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.[24] Other notable performers in 1960 included Wilma Rudolph, a gold medallist in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4 × 100 meters relay events.[25]
The 1964 Tokyo Games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites.[26] These Games marked a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics and are credited for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. Judo debuted as an official sport, and Dutch judoka Anton Geesink caused a stir when he won the final of the open weight division, defeating Akio Kaminaga in front of his home crowd.[27]
The opening ceremony for the 1968 Games, in Mexico City, the first held in Latin America
Performances at the 1968 Games in Mexico City were affected by the altitude of the host city.[28] These Games introduced the now-universal Fosbury flop, a technique which won American high jumper Dick Fosbury the gold medal.[29] In the medal award ceremony for the men's 200-meter race, black American athletes Tommie Smith (gold medal winner) and John Carlos (bronze medal winner) took a stand for civil rights by raising their black-gloved fists and wearing black socks in lieu of shoes.[30] The two athletes were subsequently expelled from the Games by the IOC. Věra Čáslavská, in protest against the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the controversial decision by the judges on the balance beam and floor, turned her head down and away from the Soviet flag while the national anthem was played during the medal ceremony.[31] She returned home as a heroine of the Czechoslovak people but was made an outcast by the Soviet-dominated government.
The Olympic flag at halfmast in Kiel (host city of the sailing events), after the Munich massacre at 1972 Games
Politics again intervened at the 1972 Games in Munich, but this time with lethal consequences. A Palestinian terrorist group named Black September invaded the Olympic village and broke into the apartment of the Israeli delegation. They killed two Israelis and held nine others as hostages, demanding that Israel release numerous prisoners. When the Israeli government refused the terrorists' demands, the situation developed into a tense stand-off while negotiations continued. Eventually, the captors, still holding their hostages, were offered safe passage and taken to an airport, where they were ambushed by German security forces. In the ensuing firefight, 15 people were killed, including the nine captive Israeli athletes and five of the terrorists.[32] After much debate, the decision was taken to continue the Games, but the proceedings were understandably dominated by these events.[33] Some memorable athletic achievements did occur during these Games, notably the winning of a then-record seven gold medals by United States swimmer Mark Spitz, Finland's Lasse Virén taking back-to-back gold medals in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, and the winning of three gold medals by Soviet gymnastic star Olga Korbut, who achieved a historic backflip off the high bar.
There was no such tragedy at the 1976 Montreal Games, but bad planning and fraud led to the cost of these Games far exceeding the budget. Costing $1.5 billion (equivalent to $6.83 billion in 2021),[34][35] the 1976 Summer Games were the most expensive in Olympic history (until the 2014 Winter Olympics) and it seemed, for a time, that the Olympics might no longer be a viable financial proposition. In retrospect, it is believed that contractors (suspected of being members of the Montreal Mafia) skimmed large sums of money from all levels of contracts while also profiting from the substitution of cheaper building materials of lesser quality, which may have contributed to the delays, poor construction, and excessive costs. In 1988, one such contractor, Giuseppe Zappia "was cleared of fraud charges that resulted from his work on Olympic facilities after two key witnesses died before testifying at his trial".[36] The 1976 Games were boycotted by many African nations as a protest against a recent tour of apartheid-run South Africa by the New Zealand national rugby union team.[37] Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci made history when she won the women's individual all-around gold medal with two of four possible perfect scores. She won two other individual events, with two perfect scores in the balance beam and all perfect scores in the uneven bars.[38] Lasse Virén repeated his double gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, making him the first athlete to ever win the distance double twice.[39]
End of the 20th century
Following the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, 66 nations, including the United States, Canada, West Germany, and Japan, boycotted the 1980 Games held in Moscow. Eighty nations were represented at the Moscow Games – the smallest number since 1956. The boycott contributed to the 1980 Games being a less publicised and less competitive affair, which was dominated by the host country.
In 1984, the Soviet Union and 13 Soviet allies retaliated by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Romania and Yugoslavia, notably are the only two countries from the Eastern Bloc that did attend the 1984 Olympics. These games were perhaps the first games of a new era to make a profit. Although a boycott led by the Soviet Union depleted the field in certain sports, 140 National Olympic Committees took part, which was a record at the time.[40] The Games were also the first time mainland China (People's Republic) participated.
According to British journalist Andrew Jennings, a KGB colonel stated that the agency's officers had posed as anti-doping authorities from the IOC to undermine doping tests and that Soviet athletes were "rescued with [these] tremendous efforts".[41] On the topic of the 1980 Summer Olympics, a 1989 Australian study said "There is hardly a medal winner at the Moscow Games, certainly not a gold medal winner, who is not on one sort of drug or another: usually several kinds. The Moscow Games might as well have been called the Chemists' Games."[41][42]
Documents obtained in 2016 revealed the Soviet Union's plans for a statewide doping system in track and field in preparation for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Dated prior to the country's decision to boycott the Games, the document detailed the existing steroids operations of the programme, along with suggestions for further enhancements.[43] The communication, directed to the Soviet Union's head of track and field, was prepared by Dr. Sergei Portugalov of the Institute for Physical Culture. Portugalov was also one of the main figures involved in the implementation of the Russian doping programme prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics.[43]
The 1988 Games, in Seoul, was very well planned but the games were tainted when many of the athletes, most notably men's 100 metres winner Ben Johnson, failed mandatory drug tests. Despite splendid drug-free performances by many individuals, the number of people who failed screenings for performance-enhancing chemicals overshadowed the games.
The 1992 Barcelona Games featured the admittance of players from one of the North American top leagues, the NBA, exemplified by but not limited to US basketball's "Dream Team". The 1992 games also saw the reintroduction to the Games of several smaller European states which had been annexed into the Soviet Union during World War II. At these games, gymnast Vitaly Scherbo set an inaugural medal record of five individual gold medals at a Summer Olympics, and equaled the inaugural record set by Eric Heiden at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
By then the process of choosing a location for the Games had become a commercial concern; there were widespread allegations of corruption potentially affecting the IOC's decision process.
At the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, the highlight was 200 meters runner Michael Johnson annihilating the world record in front of a home crowd. Canadians savoured Donovan Bailey's recording gold medal run in the 100-meter dash. This was popularly felt to be an appropriate recompense for the previous national disgrace involving Ben Johnson. There were also emotional scenes, such as when Muhammad Ali, clearly affected by Parkinson's disease, lit the Olympic torch and received a replacement medal for the one he had discarded in 1960. The latter event took place in the basketball arena. The atmosphere at the Games was marred, however, when a bomb exploded during the celebration in Centennial Olympic Park. In June 2003, the principal suspect in this bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, was arrested.
The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, were known as the "Games of the New Millennium".
The 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia, showcased individual performances by locals favorites Ian Thorpe in the pool and Cathy Freeman, an Indigenous Australian whose triumph in the 400 meters united a packed stadium., Briton Steve Redgrave who won a rowing gold medal in an unprecedented fifth consecutive Olympics, and Eric "the Eel" Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, received wide media coverage when he completed the 100 meter freestyle swim in by far the slowest time in Olympic history. He nevertheless won the heat as both his opponents had been disqualified for false starts. His female compatriot Paula Barila Bolopa also received media attention for her record-slow and struggling but courageous performance. The Sydney Games also saw the first appearance of a joint North and South Korean contingent at the opening ceremonies, though they competed in all events as different teams. Controversy occurred in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics when the vaulting horse was set to the wrong height during the All-Around Competition.
Start of the 21st century
In 2004, the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. At least $7.2 billion was spent on the 2004 Games, including $1.5 billion on security. Michael Phelps won his first Olympic medals, tallying six gold and two bronze medals. Pyrros Dimas, winning a bronze medal, became the most decorated weightlifter of all time with four Olympic medals, three gold and one bronze. Although unfounded reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions at the first weekend of the Olympics (14–15 August 2004), attendance picked up as the Games progressed. A third of the tickets failed to sell,[44] but ticket sales still topped figures from the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics (1988 and 1992).[citation needed] IOC President Jacques Rogge characterised Greece's organisation as outstanding and its security precautions as flawless.[45] All 202 NOCs participated at the Athens Games with over 11,000 participants.
The 2008 Summer Olympics was held in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Several new events were held, including the new discipline of BMX for both men and women. Women competed in the steeplechase for the first time. The fencing programme was expanded to include all six events for both men and women; previously, women had not been able to compete in team foil or sabre events, although women's team épée and men's team foil were dropped for these Games. Marathon swimming events were added, over the distance of 10 km (6.2 mi). Also, the doubles events in table tennis were replaced by team events.[46] American swimmer Michael Phelps set a record for gold medals at a single Games with eight, and tied the record of most gold medals by a single competitor previously held by both Eric Heiden and Vitaly Scherbo. Another notable star of the Games was Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who became the first male athlete ever to set world records in the finals of both the 100 and 200 metres in the same Games. Equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.
London held the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first city to host the Olympic Games three times. In his closing address, Jacques Rogge described the Games as "Happy and glorious". The host nation won 29 gold medals, the best haul for Great Britain since the 1908 Games in London. The United States returned to the top of the medal table after China dominated in 2008. The IOC had removed baseball and softball from the 2012 programme. The London Games were successful on a commercial level because they were the first in history to completely sell out every ticket, with as many as 1 million applications for 40,000 tickets for both the Opening Ceremony and the 100m Men's Sprint Final. Such was the demand for tickets to all levels of each event that there was controversy over seats being set aside for sponsors and National Delegations which went unused in the early days. A system of reallocation was put in place so the empty seats were filled throughout the Games.
Recent Games
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, had few attendees as a result of excluding public spectators amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first South American city to host the Olympics, the second Olympic host city in Latin America, after Mexico City in 1968, as well as the third city in the Southern Hemisphere to host the Olympics after Melbourne, Australia, in 1956 and Sydney, Australia, in 2000. The preparation for these Games was overshadowed by controversies, including political instability and an economic crisis in the host country, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus, and significant pollution in the Guanabara Bay. However, these concerns were superseded by a state-sponsored doping scandal involving Russian athletes at the Winter Olympics held two years earlier, which affected the participation of its athletes in these Games.[47]
The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. The city was the fifth in history to host the Games twice and the first Asian city to have this title. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the IOC and the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that the 2020 Games were to be delayed until 2021, marking the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed. Unlike previous Olympics, these Games took place without spectators due to concerns over COVID-19 and a state of emergency imposed in the host city.[48][49][50] Nevertheless, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games featured many memorable moments and feats of technical excellence. One star of the games, the US gymnast Simone Biles, gracefully bowed out to focus on her mental health, but later returned to claim an individual bronze medal.[51] Norway's Karsten Warholm smashed his own world record in the 400m hurdles.[52]
Sports
Main article: Olympic sports
There has been a total of 42 sports, spanning 55 disciplines, included in the Olympic programme at one point or another in the history of the Games. The schedule has comprised 33 sports for recent Summer Olympics (2020), with 32 sports planned for the next Summer Olympics (2024).
The various Olympic Sports federations are grouped under a common umbrella association, called the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).
Current sport No longer included
Sport Years
3x3 Basketball Since 2020
Archery 1900–1908, 1920, since 1972
Artistic swimming Since 1984
Athletics All
Badminton Since 1992
Baseball 1992–2008, 2020, 2028
Basketball Since 1936
Basque pelota 1900
Breaking 2024
Boxing 1904, 1908, since 1920
Canoeing Since 1936
Cricket 1900, 2028
Croquet 1900
Cycling All
Diving Since 1904
Equestrian 1900, since 1912
Fencing All
Field hockey 1908, 1920, since 1928
Flag football 2028
Football 1900–1928, since 1936
Golf 1900, 1904, since 2016
Gymnastics All
Handball 1936, since 1972
Jeu de paume 1908
Judo 1964, since 1972
Karate 2020
Lacrosse 1904, 1908, 2028
Modern pentathlon Since 1912
Polo 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936
Rackets 1908
Roque 1904
Rowing Since 1900
Rugby union 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924
Rugby sevens Since 2016
Sailing 1900, since 1908
Shooting 1896, 1900, 1908–1924, since 1932
Skateboarding Since 2020
Softball 1996–2008, 2020, 2028
Sport climbing Since 2020
Squash 2028
Surfing Since 2020
Swimming All
Table tennis Since 1988
Taekwondo Since 2000
Tennis 1896–1924, since 1988
Triathlon Since 2000
Tug of war 1900–1920
Volleyball Since 1964
Water motorsports 1908
Water polo Since 1900
Weightlifting 1896, 1904, since 1920
Wrestling 1896, since 1904
Qualification
Qualification rules for each of the Olympic sports are set by the International Sports Federation (IF) that governs that sport's international competition.[53]
For individual sports, competitors typically qualify by attaining a certain place in a major international event or on the IF's ranking list. There is a general rule that a maximum of three individual athletes may represent each nation per competition. National Olympic Committees (NOCs) may enter a limited number of qualified competitors in each event, and the NOC decides which qualified competitors to select as representatives in each event if more have attained the benchmark than can be entered.[54]
Nations most often qualify teams for team sports through continental qualifying tournaments, in which each continental association is given a certain number of spots in the Olympic tournament. Each nation may be represented by no more than one team per competition; a team consists of just two people in some sports.
Popularity of Olympic sports
The IOC divides Summer Olympic sports into five categories (A – E) based on popularity, gauged by six criteria: television viewing figures (40%), internet popularity (20%), public surveys (15%), ticket requests (10%), press coverage (10%), and number of national federations (5%). The category of a sport determines the share of Olympic revenue received by that sport's International Federation.[55][56] Sports that were new to the 2016 Olympics (rugby and golf) have been placed in Category E.
The current categories are:
Cat. No. Sport
A 3 athletics, aquatics,[a] gymnastics
B 5 basketball, cycling, football, tennis, volleyball
C 8 archery, badminton, boxing, judo, rowing, shooting, table tennis, weightlifting
D 9 canoe/kayaking, equestrian, fencing, handball, field hockey, sailing, taekwondo, triathlon, wrestling
E 3 modern pentathlon, golf, rugby
F 6 baseball/softball, karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing
a Aquatics encompasses artistic swimming, diving, swimming, and water polo.
All-time medal table
Main article: All-time Olympic Games medal table
The table below uses official data provided by the IOC.
Defunct nation
No. Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total Games
1 United States 1061 830 738 2629 28
2 Soviet Union 395 319 296 1010 9
3 Great Britain 285 319 314 918 29
4 China 262 199 173 634 11
5 France 223 251 277 751 29
6 Italy 217 188 213 618 28
7 Germany 201 207 247 655 17
8 Hungary 181 154 176 511 27
9 Japan 169 150 178 497 23
10 Australia 164 173 210 547 27
11 East Germany 153 129 127 409 5
12 Russia 149 126 151 426 6
13 Sweden 148 176 179 503 28
14 Finland 101 85 119 305 26
15 South Korea 96 91 100 287 18
16 Netherlands 95 105 122 322 27
17 Romania 90 97 121 308 22
18 Cuba 84 69 82 235 21
19 Poland 72 89 137 298 22
20 Canada 71 109 146 326 27
Medal leaders by year
vte
Summer Olympics medal table leaders by year
Number of occurrences
United States — 18 times
Soviet Union — 6 times
France — once
Great Britain — once
Germany — once
China — once
Unified Team — once
List of Summer Olympic Games
The IOC has never decided which events of the early Games were "Olympic" and which were not.[57] The founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, ceded that determination to the organisers of those Games.
Olympiad No. Host Games dates /
Opened by Sports
(Disciplines) Competitors Events Nations Top nation
Total Men Women
1896[58] I Kingdom of Greece Athens 12–21 June 1896
King George I 9 (10) 241 241 0 43 14 United States
1900[59] II French Third Republic Paris 1 June – 1 July 1900
Baron Pierre de Coubertin 19 (20) 1226 1202 24 95 26 France
1904[60] III United States St. Louis 10 June – 10 July 1904
Governor
David R. Francis 16 (17) 651 645 6 95[D] 12 United States
1908[61] IV United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland London 12 June – 12 July 1908
King Edward VII 22 (25) 2008 1971 37 110 22 Great Britain
1912[62] V Sweden Stockholm 7 June – 7 July 1912
King Gustaf V 14 (18) 2407 2359 48 102 28 United States
1916 VI[E] Awarded to Germany (Berlin). Cancelled due to World War I
1920[63] VII Belgium Antwerp 14 August – 12 September 1920
King Albert I 22 (29) 2626 2561 65 156[F] 39 United States
1924[64] VIII French Third Republic Paris 5–27 July 1924
President Gaston Doumergue 17 (23) 3089 2954 135 126 44 United States
1928[65] IX Netherlands Amsterdam 28 July – 12 August 1928
Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 14 (20) 2883 2606 277 109 46 United States
1932[66] X United States Los Angeles 30 July – 14 August 1932
Vice President Charles Curtis 1332 1206 126 117 37 United States
1936[67] XI Nazi Germany Berlin 1–16 August 1936
Chancellor Adolf Hitler 19 (25) 3963 3632 331 129 49 Germany
1940 XII[E] Originally awarded to Japan (Tokyo), then awarded to Finland (Helsinki). Cancelled due to World War II
1944 XIII[E] Awarded to United Kingdom (London). Cancelled due to World War II
1948[68] XIV United Kingdom London 29 July – 14 August 1948
King George VI 17 (23) 4104 3714 390 136 59 United States
1952[69] XV Finland Helsinki 19 July – 3 August 1952
President Juho Kusti Paasikivi 4955 4436 519 149 69 United States
1956[4] XVI Australia Melbourne 22 November – 8 December 1956
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh 3314 2938 376 151[H] 72[I] Soviet Union
1960[70] XVII Italy Rome 25 August – 11 September 1960
President Giovanni Gronchi 5338 4727 611 150 83 Soviet Union
1964[71] XVIII Japan Tokyo 10–24 October 1964
Emperor Hirohito 19 (25) 5151 4473 678 163 93 United States
1968[28] XIX Mexico Mexico City 12–27 October 1968
President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz 18 (24) 5516 4735 781 172 112 United States
1972[33] XX West Germany Munich 26 August – 11 September 1972
President Gustav Heinemann 21 (28) 7134 6075 1059 195 121 Soviet Union
1976[72] XXI Canada Montreal 17 July – 1 August 1976
Queen Elizabeth II 21 (27) 6084 4824 1260 198 92 Soviet Union
1980[73] XXII Soviet Union Moscow 19 July – 3 August 1980
Chairman of the Presidium Leonid Brezhnev[K] 5179 4064 1115 203 80 Soviet Union
1984[40] XXIII United States Los Angeles 28 July – 12 August 1984
President Ronald Reagan 21 (29) 6829 5263 1566 221 140 United States
1988[74] XXIV South Korea Seoul 17 September – 2 October 1988
President Roh Tae-woo 23 (31) 8391 6197 2194 237 159 Soviet Union
1992[75] XXV Spain Barcelona 25 July – 9 August 1992
King Juan Carlos I 25 (34) 9356 6652 2704 257 169 Soviet Union
1996[76] XXVI United States Atlanta 19 July – 4 August 1996
President Bill Clinton 26 (37) 10318 6806 3512 271 197 United States
2000[77] XXVII Australia Sydney 15 September – 1 October 2000
Governor-General Sir William Deane 28 (40) 10651 6582 4069 300 199 United States
2004[78] XXVIII Greece Athens 13–29 August 2004
President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos 10625 6296 4329 301 201 United States
2008[79] XXIX China Beijing 8–24 August 2008
President Hu Jintao 28 (41) 10942 6305 4637 302 204 China
2012[80] XXX United Kingdom London 27 July – 12 August 2012
Queen Elizabeth II 26 (39) 10768 5992 4776 302 204 United States
2016[81] XXXI Brazil Rio de Janeiro 5–21 August 2016
Acting President Michel Temer 28 (41) 11238 6179 5059 306 207 United States
2020[82] XXXII Japan Tokyo 23 July – 8 August 2021[L]
Emperor Naruhito 33 (50) 11676 5982 5494 339 206 United States
2024[83] XXXIII France Paris 26 July – 11 August 2024
President Emmanuel Macron (expected) 32 (48) 10500[M] 5250 5250 329 TBA TBA
2028[84] XXXIV United States Los Angeles 14–30 July 2028
TBA 35 (51) TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
2032[85] XXXV Australia Brisbane 23 July – 8 August 2032
TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
A.1 2 3 The IOC site for the 1896, 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympic Games does not include Mixed teams (teams of athletes from different nations) as separate "nation" when counting participating nations. At the same time the IOC shows Mixed team in the results of competitions where these teams competed. Thus, specified number of national teams plus Mixed teams participated in the Games.
B.^ At an earlier time the IOC database for the 1900 Summer Olympics listed 85 medal events, 24 participating countries and 997 athletes (22 women, 975 men).[86] The Olympic historian and author, Bill Mallon,[87] whose studies have shed light on the topic, suggested the number 95 events satisfying all four retrospective selection criteria (restricted to amateurs, international participation, open to all competitors and without handicapping) and now should be considered as Olympic events. In July 2021, the IOC upgraded its complete online database of all Olympic results explicitly to incorporate the data of the Olympic historians website, Olympedia.org, thus accepting Mallon's recommendation (based on four applied criteria) for events of the 1900 Olympic Games. The eleven events, the results of which had nevertheless been shown within the earlier IOC database, have been added over the former total of 85. Оne shooting event (20 metre military pistol, which was an event for professionals) have been removed. Acceptance of Mallon's recommendation increased the number of events to 95, and also entailed increasing the number of participation countries up to 26 and athletes up to 1226. After upgrading of the IOC online database the IOC web site results section contains 95 events.[88] The IOC webpage for the 1900 Summer Olympics shows a total of 95 medal events, 26 participating countries and 1226 athletes.[59] Furthermore, the IOC factsheet "The Games of the Olympiad" of November 2021 refers to 95 events, but still refers to old numbers of participating countries (24) and athletes (997).[9]
C.^ According to the International Olympic Committee, 26 nations sent competitors to this edition.[59] The concept of "national teams" chosen by National Olympic Committees did not exist at this point in time. When counting the number of participating countries in the early Olympic Games, the IOC does not take into account otherwise unrepresented countries whose citizens competed for other countries. Modern research shows[87] that at the 1900 Olympics, the athletes of at least four otherwise unrepresented countries (Canada, Luxembourg, Colombia, New Zealand) competed for other countries in both individual and team sports. The IOC website lists all of them in the results section under their nationalities,[88] but does not include their countries among the 26 participating countries.[59]
D.^ The IOC webpage for the 1904 Summer Olympics[60] sets the number at 95 events, while at one time the IOC webpage[89] listed 91. The figure of 91 is sourced to a work by Olympic historian and author, Bill Mallon,[90] whose studies have shed light on the topic. Events satisfying all four of these retrospective selection criteria of the early 20th century — restricted to amateurs, allowing international participation, open to all competitors and without handicapping — are now regarded as Olympic events.
E.1 2 3 Although the Games of 1916, 1940, and 1944 were cancelled, the Roman numerals for those Games were still applied because the official titles of the Summer Games count the Olympiads, not the Games themselves, per the Olympic Charter.[91] This contrasts with the Winter Olympics, which ignore the cancelled Winter Games of 1940 and 1944 in their numeric count.
F.^ The IOC webpage for the 1920 Summer Olympics[63] gives the figure of 156 events, while at one time the IOC webpage[92] listed 154 (difference was two sailing events in Amsterdam).
H.^ The IOC webpage for the 1956 Summer Olympics[4] gives a total of 151 events (145 events in Melbourne and six equestrian events in Stockholm).
I.^ Owing to Australian quarantine laws, six equestrian events were held in Stockholm for the 1956 Summer Olympics several months before the other events in Melbourne; five of the 72 nations that competed in the equestrian events in Stockholm did not attend the main Games in Melbourne.
J.^ The 1972 Summer Olympics was originally scheduled to end on 10 September 1972, but was postponed to a day on 11 September after events had been suspended for 34 hours due to the Munich massacre, which happened after day 9.
K.^ IOC records state Brezhnev opened the Moscow Games as "President", a title used at that time by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, or de jure head of state. (The office of President of the Soviet Union was not created until 1990, a year before the nation broke up.)[93]
L.^ Originally scheduled for 24 July – 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the event was still referred to as the 2020 Summer Olympics (marking the 32nd Olympiad) to preserve the four-year Olympiad cycle.[48]
M.^ Number of athletes will be in limited quota into an equal number of gender participants.[94]
See also
Olympic Games portal
List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games
List of Olympic Games scandals and controversies
Lists of Olympic medalists
Olympic Games ceremony
Olympic Stadium
Summer Paralympic Games
Paralympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
References
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"Athens 1896". IOC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
"Paris 1900". IOC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
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"Gender equality and youth at the heart of the Paris 2024 Olympic Sports Programme". www.olympics.com/. International Olympic Committee. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020. The 10,500-athlete quota set for Paris 2024, including new sports, will lead to an overall reduction in the number of athletes
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Categories: Summer Olympic GamesRecurring sporting events established in 1896Olympic GamesQuadrennial sporting eventsSummer multi-sport events
Greatest Olympians of All Time
By Craig Lazzeretti, updated on July 30, 2021
Jamaica's Usain Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals.
Jamaica's Usain Bolt won eight Olympic gold medals.Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo
Countless athletes from around the globe have left their mark on the Summer and Winter Olympics since the first modern games in Athens in 1896.
Some performances were a brilliant moment of greatness that personified the Olympic motto of "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Others displayed astounding longevity that resulted in epic medal hauls spanning multiple Olympiads. The most dominating Olympic champions become legends forever.
These are the greatest Olympians of all time.
60. Takashi Ono
AP Photo
Country: Japan
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, horizontal bar, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, rings
Years: 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964
Medals: 13
Key stats: Bronze medal in vault in 1952. Gold in horizontal bar, silver in all-around, pommel horse and team and bronze in parallel bars in 1956. Gold in team and vault, silver in all-around and bronze in parallel bars and rings in 1960. Gold in team in 1964.
Bottom Line: Takashi Ono
AP Photo
Takashi Ono’s 13 medals ties him with Soviet great Boris Shakhlin for second all-time among male gymnasts.
Ono is the most decorated Japanese Olympian in history, edging fellow gymnast Sawao Kato, who finished his career with 12 medals.
In 1960, Ono came away with six medals in the eight gymnastics events contested at the Rome Games.
59. Felix Savon
Rick Bowmer/AP Photo
Country: Cuba
Sport: Boxing
Event: Heavyweight
Years: 1992, 1996, 2000
Medals: 3
Key stats: Gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
Bottom Line: Felix Savon
Wikimedia Commons
Felix Savon matched his countryman, Teofilo Stevenson, with three heavyweight gold medals in consecutive Olympics.
And just as Stevenson missed out on a possible fourth gold because of Cuba’s boycott of the 1984 Olympics, the country’s boycott in 1988 also cost Savon a chance for an additional gold.
Passing on opportunities to defect to the United States and make millions as a professional, Savon finished his amateur career with a 362-21 record.
58. Aleksandr Medved
Aleksandr Medved
Mert Kaan Basar/Facebook
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Freestyle wrestling
Events: Light heavyweight and super heavyweight
Years: 1964, 1968, 1972
Medals: 3
Key stats: Gold medal in light heavyweight in 1964. Gold in super heavyweight in 1968 and 1972.
Bottom Line: Aleksandr Medved
Aleksandr Medved
Reddit
Considered by many the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time, Aleksandr Medved (whose name means "bear" in Russian) never lost an Olympic match.
During his career, he won 10 world-level championships, more than any freestyle wrestler in history.
He carried the Soviet flag at the opening ceremonies of the 1972 Games and recited the Officials’ Oath in 1980.
57. Matt Biondi
Mark Duncan/AP Photoo
Country: United States
Sport: Swimming
Events: 50-meter freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 400 medley relay.
Years: 1984, 1988, 1992
Medals: 11
Key stats: Gold medal in 400 freestyle relay in 1984. Gold in 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 400 free relay, 400 medley relay and 800 free relay, silver in 100 butterfly and bronze in 200 freestyle in 1988. Gold in 400 free relay and 400 medley relay and silver in 50 freestyle in 1992.
Bottom Line: Matt Biondi
Eric Risberg/AP Photo
Matt Biondi never quite lived up to the hype that accompanied him to the 1988 Olympics, when he looked to duplicate Mark Spitz’s seven-gold medal performance from 1972.
He ultimately finished with five golds, one silver and one bronze that year, and finished his Olympic career with 11 medals, eight of them gold.
56. Georg Hackl
Ed Reinke/AP Photo
Country: Germany
Sport: Luge
Event: Singles
Years: 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002
Medals: 5
Key stats: Gold medals in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Silver in 1988 and 2002.
Bottom Line: Georg Hackl
Herbert Knosowski/AP Photo
Georg Hackl finished first or second in singles luge in five consecutive Olympics from 1988 to 2002, winning three consecutive golds along the way.
In 1998, he became only the sixth person in Winter Olympics history, and first luger, to win the same event three times.
He also was the first Olympian to win at least one medal in five consecutive Olympiads.
55. Krisztina Egerszegi
Hans Deryk/AP Photo
Country: Hungary
Sport: Swimming
Events: 100-meter backstroke, 200 backstroke, 400 medley
Years: 1988, 1992, 1996
Medals: 7
Key stats: Gold medal in 200 backstroke and silver in backstroke in 1988. Gold in 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 400 medley in 1992. Gold in 200 backstroke and bronze in 400 medley in 1996.
Bottom Line: Krisztina Egerszegi
Craig Fujii/AP Photo
The Hungarian great is one of only three athletes ever to swim the same swimming event at three consecutive Olympics (Dawn Fraser and Michael Phelps are the others).
Krisztina Egerszegi is also the only female swimmer to win five individual Olympic titles. Her margin of victory (4.15 seconds) in the 1996 200 backstroke final was the largest in the history of the event.
She held the world record in the 200 backstroke for nearly 17 years.
54. Edoardo Mangiarotti
Edoardo Mangiarotti
Caulfield/Wikimedia
Country: Italy
Sport: Fencing
Events: Team epee, individual epee, team foil, individual foil,
Years: 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960
Medals: 13
Key stats: Gold medal in team epee in 1936. Silver in team foil and team epee and bronze in individual epee in 1948. Gold in individual epee and team epee and silver in individual foil and team foil in 1952. Gold in team epee and individual epee and bronze in individual epee in 1956. Gold in team epee and silver in team foil in 1960.
Bottom Line: Edoardo Mangiarotti
Edoardo Mangiarotti
Britannica
Edoardo Mangiarotti won more Olympic medals (13) than any fencer in history, and his total undoubtedly would have been higher if not for the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Games because of World War II.
Mangiarotti won his lone individual Olympic gold in the epee event in 1952, with his brother Dario taking the silver.
When Edoardo won his 13th medal in 1960, he became at the time the most decorated Olympian in history.
53. Jin Jong-oh
Darron Cummings/AP Photo
Country: South Korea
Sport: Shooting
Events: 50-meter pistol, 10-meter air pistol
Years: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 6
Key stats: Silver medal in 50m pistol in 2004. Gold in 50m pistol and silver in 10m air pistol in 2008. Gold in 50m pistol and 10m air pistol in 2012. Gold in 50m pistol in 2016. At the 2016 Olympics, he stormed back from seventh place in the final round to win his fourth consecutive gold in 50m pistol.
Bottom Line: Jin Jong-oh
Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo
Jong-oh is the only four-time individual gold medalist in Olympic shooting, and the only athlete to win the same shooting event three consecutive times (50m pistol).
He is the world record holder in both the 50m and 10m air pistol events.
52. Claudia Pechstein
Lynne Sladky/AP Photo
Country: Germany
Sport: Speed skating
Events: 3,000 meters, 5,000, team pursuit
Years: 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006
Medals: 9
Key stats: Bronze medal in 5,000 in 1992. Gold in 5,000 and bronze in 3,000 in 1994. Gold in 5,000 and silver and 3,000 in 1998. Gold in 3,000 and 5,000 in 2002. Gold in team pursuit and silver in 5,000 in 2006.
Bottom Line: Claudia Pechstein
Matthias Schrader/AP Photo
The most decorated German Winter Olympian of all time, Claudia Pechstein is one of the few athletes in history to win the same event in three consecutive Olympiads, accomplishing the feat in the 5,000 in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
Her nine total speed skating medals are tied with Sven Kramer of the Netherlands for second all-time behind Ireen Wust of the Netherlands.
51. Ashton Eaton
NBC Olympics/Facebook
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Event: Decathlon
Years: 2012, 2016
Medals: 2
Key stats: Won gold medals in decathlon in 2012 and 2016.
Bottom Line: Ashton Eaton
Matt Dunham/AP Photo
Ashton Eaton became only the third decathlete in history to repeat as Olympic champion at the 2016 Games, following Bob Mathias and Daley Thompson.
The second athlete ever to break the 9,000-point barrier in the event, Eaton tied the Olympic record of 8,893 points in 2016.
His world record was broken by Kevin Mayer of France in 2018.
50. Viktor Chukarin
NinaByzantina/Twitter
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, rings, floor
Years: 1952, 1956
Medals: 11
Key stats: Gold medals in team, all-round, pommel horse and vault and silver in rings and parallel bars in 1952. Gold in team, all-around and parallel bars, silver in floor exercise and bronze in pommel horse in 1956. .
Bottom Line: Viktor Chukarin
Viktor Chukarin
Wikimedia Commons
The most decorated athlete at the 1952 Olympics, Viktor Chukarin won 11 medals over two Olympiads. His medal haul likely would have been higher had his Olympic career not begun at the age of 30.
1952 was the Olympics debut for the Soviet Union, and Chukarin’s Olympic fame, after being wounded in World War II and surviving 17 prison camps, served as one of the most unlikely and compelling success stories in the history of the games.
49. Saori Yoshida
Paul Sancya/AP Photo
Country: Japan
Sport: Freestyle wrestling
Events: 53kg, 55kg
Years: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 4
Key stats: Gold medals in 55kg in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Silver in 53kg in 2016.
Bottom Line: Saori Yoshida
Paul Sancya/AP Photo
Saori Yoshida is the most decorated freestyle wrestler in history.
She won 89 consecutive matches in Olympics, World Championships and Asian Games competitions before losing 4-1 to the United States' Helen Maroulis at the 2016 Olympic final in the 53kg competition.
In 2007, Yoshida became the first woman named Japanese Athlete of the Year.
48. Gert Fredriksson
Ian Driscoll/Facebook
Country: Sweden
Sport: Kayaking
Events: K-1 1,000 and K-1 10,000; K-2 1,000
Years: 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960
Medals: 8
Key stats: Gold medals in K-1 1,000 in 1948, 1952 and 1956. Bronze in 1960. Gold in K-1 10,000 in 1948 and 1956. Silver in 1952. Gold in K-2 1,000 in 1960.
Bottom Line: Gert Fredriksson
Gert Fredriksson
Wikimedia Commons
Gert Freriksson is the most decorated Olympic Swede of all time and is considered by many the greatest male canoeist ever.
His winning margin of 50.47:7 in the 1948 K-1 10,000 race remains the greatest margin of victory in the history of the event. And he is the only athlete to win three consecutive Olympic golds in the K-1 1,000 race.
He went on to train the Swedish kayak team at the 1968 Games.
47. Bonnie Blair
Thomas Kienzle/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Speed skating
Events: 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters
Years: 1988, 1992, 1994
Medals: 6
Key stats: Gold medals in 500 meters in 1988, 1992 and 1994. Gold in 1,000 in 1992 and 1994. Bronze in 1,000 in 1988.
Bottom Line: Bonnie Blair
Barry Sweet/AP Photo
One of the greatest speed skaters of all time, Bonnie Blair became the first American woman to win five Olympic gold medals and the first American Winter Olympian to take home six medals.
She saved perhaps her best Olympic performance for last, winning the 1,000 in Lillehammer in 1994 by 1.38 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the history of the event.
46. Alexander Popov
Doug Mills/AP Photo
Country: Unified Team/Russia
Sport: Swimming
Events: 50-meter freestyle, 100 freestyle, 400 free relay, 400 medley relay
Years: 1992, 1996, 2000
Medals: 9
Key stats: Gold medals in 50 and 100 freestyle and silver in 400 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 1992. Gold medals in 50 and 100 freestyle and silver in 400 freestyle and 400 medley relay in 1996. Silver medal in 100 freestyle in 2000.
Bottom Line: Alexander Popov
Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo
Considered the greatest Olympic sprint swimmer in history, Alexander Popov is the only man ever to repeat as Olympic champion in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
He held the world record in the 50 for eight years and the world mark in the 100 for six years.
After suffering a knife attack following the Atlanta Games in 1996 that required emergency surgery, Popov came back in 200 to win his final Olympic medal, a silver in the 100 free.
45. Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven
Kin Cheung/AP Photo
Country: Netherlands
Sport: Equestrian
Events: Individual and team dressage
Years: 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 9
Key stats: Silver medal in team dressage in 1992. Silver in individual and team dressage in 1996. Gold in individual dressage and silver in team dressage in 2000. Gold in individual dressage in 2004. Gold in individual dressage and silver in team dressage in 2008; bronze in team dressage in 2012.
Bottom Line: Theodora Elisabeth Gerarda "Anky" van Grunsven
David Goldman/AP Photo
Anky van Grunsven is the only rider to win the Olympic title in the same event three times, accomplishing the feat in individual dressage in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
She competed in every Olympics from 1988 to 2012, and her nine Olympic medals are the most ever by an equestrian athlete.
44. Lyubov Yegorova
EmbassyofRussia/Twitter
Country: Unified Team/Russia
Sport: Cross country skiing
Events: 10km pursuit, 5km classical, 15km classical, 15km freestyle, 30km freestyle, 20km relay
Years: 1992, 1994
Key stats: Gold medals in 10km pursuit, 5km classical and 20km relay and silver in 5km classical and 30km freestyle in 1992; gold in 5km classical, 10km pursuit and 20km relay and silver in 15km freestyle in 1994.
Bottom Line: Lyubov Yegorova
Bill Waugh/AP Photo
The most decorated athlete at both the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, Lyubov Yegorova finished her Olympics career with nine medals, six of them gold. She medaled in nine of the 10 cross country events contested over those two Olympiads.
Yegorova ranks second all-time among women behind Norway’s Marit Bjorgen in cross country Olympic titles.
43. Bob Mathias
AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Event: Decathlon
Years: 1948, 1952
Medals: 2
Key stats: Won gold medals in 1948 and 1952
Bottom Line: Bob Mathias
AP Photo
Bob Mathias is one of only three athletes ever to repeat as Olympic champion in the decathlon, along with Daley Thompson of Great Britain and fellow American Ashton Eaton.
At age 17 in 1948, Mathias became the youngest track and field gold medalist ever when he edged France’s Ignace Heinrich for the decathlon title, after nearly fouling out in the shot put and high jump.
Mathias defended his title four years later, winning the event by an incredible 912 points.
42. Boris Shakhlin
AP Photo
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, pommel horse, vault, parallel bar, rings
Years: 1956, 1960, 1964
Key stats: Gold medals in team and pommel horse in 1956. Gold in all-around, pommel horse, vault and parallel bars and bronze in horizontal bar in 1960. Gold in horizontal bar, silver in all-around and team and bronze in rings in 1964.
Bottom Line: Boris Shakhlin
Boris Shakhlin
Wikimedia Commons
The most decorated athlete at the 1960 Summer Games, Boris Shakhlin held the record for most Olympic medals by a male athlete before being eclipsed by countryman Nikolai Andrianov in 1980.
He still holds the record for most individual gymnastics gold medals by a male with seven.
His 13 total Olympic medals ties him with three others for fifth all time.
41. Bradley Wiggins
Ricardo Mazalan/AP Photo
Country: Great Britain
Sport: Cycling
Events: Time trial, individual and team pursuit, Madison
Years: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 8
Key stats: Bronze medal in team pursuit in 2000. Gold in individual pursuit, silver in team pursuit and bronze in Madison in 2004. Gold in team pursuit and individual pursuit in 2008. Gold in time trial in 2012. Gold in team pursuit in 2016.
Bottom Line: Bradley Wiggins
Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo
Bradley Wiggins is the only cyclist to win Olympics and World Championships titles in both road and track events.
In 2004, he became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at the same Olympiad.
In 2008, he became the first cyclist to win back-to-back Olympic golds in the individual pursuit.
And in 2012, he became the first Brit to win titles at the Tour de France and Olympics time trial road race.
40. Elisabeta Lipa
Faster Masters Rowing/Facebook
Country: Romania
Sport: Rowing
Events: Single sculls, double sculls, quadruple sculls, eight
Years: 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
Medals: 8
Key stats: Gold medal in double skulls in 1984. Silver medal in double sculls and bronze medal in quadruple sculls in 1988. Gold in single skulls and silver in double skulls in 1992. Gold in eight in 1996, 2000 and 2004.
Bottom Line: Elisabeta Lipa
Gill Allen/AP Photo
Elisabeta Lipa is the most decorated rower in Olympics history, with five gold and eight total medals.
She also holds the record for most years between rowing gold medals, at 20.
In 2004, Lipa became the first female rower to compete at six Olympiads, and the first woman to win gold medals at five Olympiads.
39. Vera Caslavska
American Friends of the Czech Republic (AFoCR)/Facebook
Country: Czechoslovakia
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, vault, balance beam, uneven bars, floor
Years: 1960, 1964, 1968
Medals: 11
Key stats: Silver medal in team in 1960. Gold in all-around, vault and balance beam and silver in team in 1964. Gold in all-around, uneven bars, vault and floor and silver in team and balance beam in 1968.
Bottom Line: Vera Caslavska
AP Photo
Along with the Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina, Vera Caslavska is one of only two female gymnasts to win consecutive Olympic all-around titles.
She became a heroine of the 1968 Olympics, where she won four gold medals, because of her forceful stand against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia earlier that year. Forced to flee her training facility in Prague during the invasion, she trained for the games by swinging from tree limbs and practicing her floor exercise in a meadow.
While the 1968 Games are largely remembered for the national anthem black power protest by Americans John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Caslavaksa made a political statement of her own during the medal ceremony for the floor exercise competition, where she shared the gold with the Soviet Union’s Larissa Petrik, bowing her head and turning away during the playing of the Soviet national anthem.
38. Aladar Gerevich
Törley pezsg?/Facebook
Country: Hungary
Sport: Fencing
Events: Sabre team, sabre individual, team foil
Years: 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960
Medals: 10
Key stats: Gold medal in sabre team in 1932. Gold in sabre team and bronze in sabre individual in 1936. Gold in sabre individual in 1948. Gold in sabre team, silver in sabre individual and bronze in foil team in 1952. Gold in sabre team in 1956. Gold in sabre team in 1960.
Bottom Line: Aladar Gerevich
Aladar Gerevich
Wikimedia Commons
Considered by many the greatest Olympic swordsman ever, Aladar Gerevich is the only Olympian ever to win the same event (team sabre) six times, the last coming at age 50 in 1960. The feat is all the more remarkable when you consider that two Olympiads during his career were canceled by World War II.
His gold medals came an unprecedented 28 years apart. Gerevich’s only individual gold came in 1948, when he scored 19 victories against only one defeat.
37. Vitaly Scherbo
John Gaps/AP Photo
Country: Unified Team/Belarus
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, vault, pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor exercise, rings
Years: 1992, 1996
Medals: 10
Key stats: Gold medals in team, all-around, pommel horse, rings, vault and parallel bars in 1992. Bronze in all-around, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar in 1996.
Bottom Line: Vitaly Scherbo
John Gaps/AP Photo
Vitaly Scherbo was the most decorated athlete at the 1992 Summer Games, winning six of the eight gymnastics events contested.
He became the first Olympian to ever win four gold medals on the same day and the first gymnast to win six golds in one edition of the games.
Representing Belarus, he followed up with four bronze medals four years later, a performance that was marred by a shoulder injury and a near-fatal traffic accident involving his wife earlier in the year.
36. Ben Ainslie
Herbert Knosowski/AP Photo
Country: Great Britain
Sport: Sailing
Events: Finn, Laser
Years: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
Medals: 5
Key stats: Silver medal in Laser class in 1996. Gold in Laser in 2000. Gold in Finn in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
Bottom Line: Ben Ainslie
Francois Mori/AP Photo
The second sailor after Paul Elvstrom to win four gold medals in sailing, Ben Ainslie is also one of only three sailors in Olympic history to win medals in five different Olympic Games.
In 2012, he became the first person to carry the Olympic torch in the United Kingdom in preparation for the London Games, and he carried the flag for Great Britain at the closing ceremonies.
He is also an eight-time sailing world champion.
35. Kerri Jennings Walsh/Misty May-Trainor
Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Beach volleyball
Event: Women’s beach volleyball
Years: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 3
Key stats: Gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012
Bottom Line: Kerri Jennings Walsh/Misty May-Trainor
Petr David Josek/AP Photo
Clearly, the greatest beach volleyball tandem in history, Kerri Jennings Walsh and Misty May-Trainor dominated the event over three consecutive Olympiads.
They did not drop a set during the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and eventually ran their winning streak to 32 sets before finally dropping one in 2012.
In 2016, Walsh Jennings partnered with April Ross to add a bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
34. Nikolai Andrianov
AP Photo
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, floor, vault, rings, parallel bars, pommel horse
Years: 1972, 1976, 1980
Medals: 15
Key stats: Gold medal in floor exercise, silver in team and bronze in vault in 1972. Gold in all-around, floor exercise, rings and vault, silver in team competition and parallel bars and bronze in pommel horse in 1976. Gold in team competition and vault, silver in all-around and floor exercise and bronze in horizontal bar in 1980.
Bottom Line: Nikolai Andrianov
AP Photo
The Soviet star held the record for most Olympic medals by a male at 15 before Michael Phelps surpassed him in 2008.
Nikolai Andrianov, who currently ranks third overall in all-time medal count (behind Phelps and Larisa Latynina), was the most decorated athlete at the 1976 Summer Olympics with seven medals (six individual and one team).
Andrianov also holds the men’s record for most individual Olympic gymnastics medals at 12.
33. Ireen Wust
Dusan Vranic/AP Photo
Country: Netherlands
Sport: Speed skating
Events: 1,000 meters, 1,500, 3,000, 5,000, team pursuit
Years: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
Medals: 11
Key stats: Gold medal in 3,000 meters and bronze in 1,500 in 2006. Gold in 1,500 in 2010. Gold in 3,000 and team pursuit and silver in 1,000, 1,500 and 5,000 in 2014. Gold in 1,500 and silver in 3,000 and team pursuit in 2018.
Bottom Line: Ireen Wust
Kevin Frayer/AP Photo
Ireen Wust has won more Olympic medals (11) than any other speed skater, and is the most decorated Dutch Olympian ever.
She became the youngest Dutch Winter Olympics champion in 2006 when she won her first gold at the age of 19.
Wust was the most decorated athlete at the 2014 Sochi Games and was named Sportswoman of the World that year by Reuters.
32. Bjorn Daehlie
Tom Smart/AP Photo
Country: Norway
Sport: Cross country skiing
Events: 10km + 15km combined pursuit, 50k freestyle, 40km relay, 10km classical, 30km classical, 30km freestyle
Years: 1992, 1994, 1998
Medals: 12
Key stats: Gold medal in 10km + 15km combined pursuit, 50km freestyle and 40km relay and silver in 30km classical in 1992. Gold in 10km classical and 10km + 15km combined pursuit and silver in 30km freestyle and 40km relay in 1994. Gsold in 10km classical, 50km freestyle and 40km relay and silver in 10km + 15km combined pursuit in 1998.
Bottom Line: Bjorn Daehlie
Bill Waugh/AP Photo
Bjorn Daehlie is tied with fellow Norwegians Marit Bjorgen and Ole Einar Bjorndalen for most career titles among Winter Olympians and ranks third all-time in Winter Olympics medals behind the two with 12.
Daehlie is considered by many the greatest male cross country skier in history. In his final Olympic victory, Daehlie crossed the finish line of the 50km freestyle at the 1998 Games 8.1 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, collapsing at the end of the race and unable to stand again for five minutes.
31. Sawao Kato
AP Photo
Country: Japan
Events: Team, all-around, floor, parallel bars, pommel horse, horizontal bar, rings
Sport: Gymnastics
Years: 1968, 1972, 1976
Medals: 12
Key stats: Won gold medals in team, all-around and floor exercise and bronze in rings in 1968. Won gold in team, all-around and parallel bars and silver in pommel horse and horizontal bar in 1972. Won gold in team and parallel bars and silver in all-around in 1976.
Bottom Line: Sawao Kato
AP Photo
Sawao Kato is among the greatest gymnasts in history and one of only 10 athletes in history to win eight or more Olympic gold medals. He also has won more Olympic golds than any Japanese athlete ever.
In 1972, he became only the third gymnast ever to win back-to-back golds in the all-around, leading a Japanese sweep of the event.
30. Teófilo Stevenson
AP Photo
Country: Cuba
Sport: Boxing
Event: Heavyweight division
Years: 1972, 1976, 1980
Medals: 3
Key stats: Gold medals in 1972, 1976 and 1980.
Bottom Line: Teófilo Stevenson
EDK/AP Photo
Teófilo Stevenson is one of only three boxers to win three Olympic gold medals (along with countryman Felix Savon and Hungarian Laszlo Papp). If not for the Cuban boycotts of the 1984 and 1988 games, he potentially could have won as many as five golds.
His most memorable Olympic fight came in the 1972 quarterfinals against American Duane Bobick, who had beaten him previously. The bout was even going into the final round, but Stevenson knocked down Bobick three times, and the contest was stopped.
29. Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie
Movies from the 20's - 60's/Facebook
Country: Norway
Sport: Figure skating
Event: Ladies singles
Years: 1928, 1932, 1936
Medals: 3
Key stats: Won three consecutive gold medals in the ladies' competition.
Bottom Line: Sonja Henie
AP Photo
Before becoming a Hollywood star, Sonja Henie established herself as one of the most decorated figure skaters in history.
Nicknamed the "Pavlova of the Ice," Henie made her Olympic debut at age 11 in 1924, placing eighth, before dominating the event at the next three Olympiads.
She ended up winning three Olympic gold medals and was a 10-time world champion.
28. Jean-Claude Killy
AP Photo
Country: France
Sport: Alpine skiing
Events: Downhill, slalom, giant slalom
Year: 1968
Medals: 3
Key stats: Won gold medals in slalom, giant slalom and downhill at the 1968 Winter Olympics.
Bottom Line: Jean-Claude Killy
AP Photo
After failing to medal at the 1964 Olympics, Jean-Claude Killy swept all three alpine events and was the most decorated athlete at the 1968 Games.
His triple crown feat didn’t come without controversy, however. Austria’s Karl Schranz recorded the fastest time in the slalom, but officials disqualified him after reviewing television footage and ruling that he had missed a gate.
27. Pat McCormick
Pat McCormick
Sports Exemplified/Facebook
Country: United States
Sport: Diving
Events: Springboard and platform
Years: 1952, 1956
Medals: 4
Key stats: Swept the gold medals in springboard and platform at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.
Bottom Line: Pat McCormick
AP Photo
Pat McCormick was the first Olympic diver to sweep the springboard and platform events at consecutive Olympics, a feat matched only by Greg Louganis.
Remarkably, her second gold medal double in 1956 came only five months after she gave birth.
She won the James E. Sullivan award as the nation’s top amateur athlete in 1956.
26. Birgit Fischer
Frank Augstein/AP Photo
Country: Germany
Sport: Kayaking
Event: K-1, K-2 and K-4 500-meter sprint
Years: 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
Medals: 12
Key stats: Gold medal in K-150 meter in 1980. Gold in K-2 500m and K-4 500m in 1988. Gold in K-1 500m in 1992. Gold in K-4 500m in 1996. Gold in K-2 500m and K-4 500m in 2000. Gold in K-4 500m in 2004. Silver medal in K-1 500m in 1988. Silver K-4 500m in 1992. Silver in K-2 500m in 1996. Silver in K-2 500m in 2004.
Bottom Line: Birgit Fischer
Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo
The most decorated kayaker in Olympic history, Birgit Fischer won eight gold medals, and 12 total, in six Olympiads spanning nearly a quarter-century. She was the youngest-ever Olympic canoeing champion at age 18 and the oldest at age 42.
Fischer is also the most successful German Olympian of all time and ranks second behind gymnast Larisa Semyonovna Latynina as the most decorated female Summer Olympian in history.
25. Matti Nykanen
Dieter Endlicher/AP Photo
Country: Finland
Sport: Ski jumping
Events: Normal hill and large hill
Years: 1984, 1988
Medals: 5
Key stats: Gold medal in individual large hill and silver in individual normal hill in 1984. Gold medals in individual large hill, individual normal hill and team event in 1988.
Bottom Line: Matti Nykanen
AP Photo
Arguably the greatest ski jumper of all time, Matti Nykänen became the first jumper to win golds on both hills at the 1988 Olympic Games.
He also won the team event that year for a clean sweep of the ski jumping competition and was the most decorated athlete of the Calgary Games along with Dutch speed skater Yvonne van Gennip.
24. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
Lee Jin-man/AP Photo
Country: Norway
Sport: Biathlon
Events: 10km sprint, 20km individual, 12.5km pursuit, 4x7.5km relay, mixed relay, 15k mass start
Years: 1998, 2002, 2006
Medals: 13
Key stats: Gold medal in 10-kilometer sprint in 1998. Gold in 20km individual, 10km sprint, 12.5km pursuit and 4x7.5km relay in 2002. Gold in 4x7.5km relay in 2010. Gold in 10km sprint and mixed relay in 2014. Silver in 4x7.5km relay in 1998. Silver in 20km individual and 12.5km pursuit in 2006. Silver in 20km individual in 2010. Bronze in 15km mass start in 2006.
Bottom Line: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
Jens Meyer/AP Photo
Known as the "King of Biathlon" and "The Cannibal," Ole Einar Bjoerndalen ranks second all-time in medals among Winter Olympians with 13.
He is the only biathlete ever to sweep all four biathlon events at a single Olympics, a feat he accomplished at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, where he was the most decorated athlete.
23. Greg Louganis
Sadayuki Mikami/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Diving
Events: Springboard and platform
Years: 1984, 1988
Medals: 5
Key stats: Swept the gold medals in the springboard and platform events in both 1984 and 1988. Also won a silver in platform as a 16-year-old in 1976.
Bottom Line: Greg Louganis
Ed Reinke/AP Photo
Considered by many to be the greatest diver ever, Greg Louganis is the only male to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympics. He likely would have done so in three consecutive Olympics if not for the United States’ boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow.
In the 1988 springboard event, he rebounded from a concussion suffered when he hit his head on the springboard and went on to win the gold by 25 points.
22. Kjetil Andre Aamodt
Alessandro Trovati/AP Photo
Country: Norway
Sport: Alpine skiing
Events: Downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, combined
Years: 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006
Medals: 8
Key stats: Gold medals in super-G in 1992, 2002, 2006. Gold medal in combined in 2002. Silver in downhill and combined in 1994. Bronze in giant slalom in 1992 and super-G in 1994.
Bottom Line: Kjetil Andre Aamodt
Kevin Frayer/AP Photo
The most decorated alpine skier in Olympic history, Kjetil Andre Aamodt is the only person to win four gold medals and eight total on the slopes.
Perhaps most impressive was his incredible endurance, winning his first and final Olympic titles 14 years apart.
He was the second-youngest male alpine skier to win an Olympic gold, capturing his first at age 20.
21. Aleksandr Karelin
Vintage Grappling/Facebook
Country: Soviet Union/Russia/Unified Team
Sport: Greco-Roman Wrestling
Events: 130 kg
Years: 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000
Medals: 4
Key stats: Gold medals in 1988, 1992 and 1996. Silver medal in 2000.
Bottom Line: Aleksandr Karelin
Aleksandr Karelin
FighterIntervws/Twitter
Widely regarded as the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler ever, Aleksandr Karelin finished his career with an incredible 887 wins and only two losses and was undefeated over 13 years.
Nicknamed the "Russian Bear," "Russian King Kong," "Aleksandr the Great," and "The Experiment," Karelin sought a fourth consecutive gold in 2000, but his quest was thwarted with a 1-0 upset loss to the United States’ Rulon Gardner in the final.
20. Naim Suleymanoglu
AP Photo
Country: Turkey
Sport: Weightlifting
Events: 60 and 64 kilograms
Years: 1988, 1992, 1996
Medals: 3
Key stats: Gold medals in 60kg events in 1988 and 1992 and gold medal in 64kg event in 1996.
Bottom Line: Naim Suleymanoglu
Michael Probst/AP Photo
Nicknamed "The Pocket Hercules," the 4-foot-10 Turk was awarded The Olympic Order in 2001 in honor of his Olympic feats over three Olympiads.
Naim Suleymanoglu lifted 3.16 times his body weight in the clean and jerk at the 1988 Olympics and was the first weightlifter to claim gold medals at three consecutive Olympiads.
He finished his career with an incredible 46 world records.
19. Al Oerter
AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Event: Discus
Years: 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968
Medals: 4
Key stats: Won gold medals in four consecutive Olympics.
Bottom Line: Al Oerter
AP Photo
Al Oerter was the first athlete to win gold medals in the same event in four consecutive Olympic Games, dominating the discus for more than a decade.
He came back from a car crash in 1957 that nearly took his life to win his second gold in 1960 with an Olympic record throw.
In 1964, he fought through pain from a neck injury and torn cartilage in his ribs to win his third consecutive title with another Olympic record.
At age 32, he claimed his unprecedented fourth straight title, again bettering his own Olympic record.
18. Laszlo Papp
Laszlo Papp
BoxingHistory/Twitter
Country: Hungary
Sport: Boxing
Events: Middleweight and light middleweight
Years: 1948, 1952, 1956
Medals: 3
Key stats: Middleweight gold medal in 1948 and light middleweight gold in 1952 and 1956.
Bottom Line: Laszlo Papp
H. Babout/AP Photo
The first boxer to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympics, Laszlo Papp won 12 of his 13 Olympic bouts without losing a round.
In the 1956 Olympic final, he defeated future world pro champion Jose Torres of the United States.
During his amateur career, he compiled a record of 301-6-12 with an astounding 55 first-round knockouts.
17. Bob Beamon
Bob Beamon
letsrundotcom/Twitter
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Event: Long jump
Year: 1968
Medals: 1
Key stats: Won gold medal in long jump in 1968 with a world record leap of 29 feet, 2.5 inches that stood for 23 years.
Bottom Line: Bob Beamon
AP Photo
Bob Beamon produced one of the most dominant and memorable individual performances in Olympic history when he shattered the world record in the long jump by an astounding 21.75 inches.
His Mexico City jump became one of the most iconic records in the history of sports and wasn’t broken until 1991, when Mike Powell bettered it by 2 inches. The term "Beamonesque" entered the sports lexicon to describe spectacular individual feats.
Although Beamon won only one medal in one Olympics, the sheer enormity of his feat ranks him among the most dominant athletes in Olympic history.
16. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
AP Photo
Country: Great Britain
Sport: Figure skating
Event: Ice dancing
Year: 1984, 1994
Medals: 2
Key stats: Gold medal in 1984, bronze medal in 1994.
Bottom Line: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
David Caulkin/AP Photo
Like Bob Beamon’s Mexico City long jump, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean’s performance in Sarajevo in 1984 ranks among the most iconic and dominant singular Olympic feats in the history of the games.
They earned the highest scores in figure skating history with their magical performance to "Bolero," earning 12 perfect scores. The maximum marks they received for artistic impression that day have never been repeated in the Olympics.
After turning professional following the 1984 Games, they made an Olympic comeback 10 years later, winning bronze in Lillehammer.
15. Gillis Grafstrom
Gillis Grafstrom
Wikimedia Commons
Country: Sweden
Sport: Figure skating
Event: Men’s singles
Years: 1920, 1924, 1928,1932
Medals: 4
Key stats: Won gold medals in 1920, 1924 and 1928. Won silver medal in 1932.
Bottom Line: Gillis Grafstrom
Wikimedia Commons
The only male to win three consecutive figure skating gold medals, Gillis Grafstrom is the most decorated Olympian skater in the history of the sport.
His attempt for a fourth consecutive gold in 1932 was derailed when he collided with a photographer on the ice, but he still managed to capture the silver at age 38.
He also was known as one of the sport’s great innovators, pioneering the spiral, change sit spin and flying sit spin.
14. Valentina Vezzali
Michael Sohn/AP Photo
Country: Italy
Sport: Fencing
Event: Foil
Years: 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012
Medals: 9
Key stats: Gold medal in foil team in 1996. Gold medals in foil individual and foil team in 2000. Gold medal in foil individual in 2004. Gold in foil individual in 2008. Gold in foil individual in 2012. Silver medal in foil individual in 1996. Bronze in foil team in 2008. Bronze in foil individual in 2012.
Bottom Line: Valentina Vezzali
Christophe Ena/AP Photo
Nicknamed "Cobra," Valentina Vezzali is one of only four athletes in Summer Olympics history to win five medals in the same individual event.
She also is the first fencer to win three individual foil titles in consecutive Olympics (2000, 2004, 2008) and the first woman to win five gold medals in fencing.
After her athletic career, she was elected to the Italian Parliament.
13. Florence Griffith-Joyner
Track and Field Athletics/Facebook
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Event: 100 meters, 200 meters, 400-meter relay
Year: 1984, 1988
Medals: 5
Key stats: Gold medals in 100, 200 and 400 relay in 1988. Silver medal in 200 in 1984. Silver in 800 relay in 1988.
Bottom Line: Florence Griffith-Joyner
Tom Strickland/AP Photo
Considered the fastest woman of all time, Flo-Jo dominated the sprint events at the 1988 Games in Seoul while drawing an international following for her colorful fashion choices, including wearing jewelry while racing and sporting 6-inch-long nails painted red, white and blue.
She won the 100 by three-tenths of a second, falling just short of the world record she set at the Olympic trials, and set world records in the semifinals and finals of the 200. Her world records in the 100 and 200 still stand more than 30 years later.
She died suddenly at age 38 in 1998 after suffering an epileptic seizure.
12. Larisa Latynina
Larisa Latynina
JoeFanShow/Twitter
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, vault, floor exercise, balance beam
Years: 1956. 1960, 1964
Medals: 18
Key stats: Gold medals in team, all-around, vault and floor exercise 1956. Gold in team, all-around and vault in 1960. Gold in team and floor exercise in 1964. Silver in uneven bars in 1956. Silver in uneven bars and balance beam in 1960. Silver in all-around and vault in 1964. Bronze in team, apparatus, in 1956. Bronze in vault in 1960. Bronze in uneven bars and balance beam in 1964.
Bottom Line: Larisa Latynina
AP Photo
Larisa Latynina held the record for most total Olympic medals (18) for 48 years and is the most decorated gymnast in Olympics history.
The only gymnast ever to win nine Olympic titles, Latynina was perhaps most responsible for turning the Soviet Union into a gymnastics powerhouse.
She also was the first female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals in any sport.
11. Eric Heiden
AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Speedskating
Events: 500, 1,000, 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000-meter races
Year: 1980
Medals: 5
Key stats: Gold medals in all five events in 1980.
Bottom Line: Eric Heiden
AP Photo
Eric Heiden’s five golds at the 1980 Olympics were more than every nation that competed in the games that year other than the Soviet Union and East Germany. He set five Olympic records, including one world record, during his medal haul that year.
He remains the most decorated athlete from a single Winter Olympics in history and is the only athlete to sweep all five long track events at one Olympiad.
10. Mark Spitz
Olympic Channel/Facebook
Country: United States
Sport: Swimming
Events: 100 and 200-meter freestyle, 100 and 200-meter butterfly, 400 and 800-meter freestyle relay, 400-meter medley relay.
Years: 1968, 1972
Key stats: Gold medals in 400 and 800-meter freestyle relays in 1968. Gold medals in 100 and 200 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly, 400 and 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 1972. Silver medal in 100 butterfly in 1968. Bronze in 100 freestyle in 1968.
Bottom Line: Mark Spitz
AP Photo
The most accomplished Olympic swimmer before Michael Phelps came along, Mark Spitz is a nine-time Olympic champion.
Spitz won all seven of his races at the 1972 Games in world record time, and his seven swimming gold medals at Munich remained a record for 36 years before being broken by Phelps in 2008.
Between 1968 and 1972, Spitz set 35 world records and is one of five Olympians to win nine or more career medals.
9. Jesse Owens
AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Events: 100 meters, 200 meters, 400-meter relay, long jump
Year: 1936
Medals: 4
Key stats: Gold medals in 100, 200, long jump and 400 relay
Bottom Line: Jesse Owens
Joe Caneva/AP Photo
Jesse Owens' four gold medals at the 1936 Games in Berlin transcended sports, as he shattered Nazi Germany’s myth of Aryan supremacy in front of Adolf Hitler.
Owens broke or equaled nine Olympic records and set three world marks at the games. Though he received a ticker-tape parade in New York, Owens continued to face racial prejudice in his own country and was denied an invitation to the White House to celebrate his Olympic triumph.
A street and school are now named for him in Berlin, and two U.S. postage stamps were issued in his honor.
8. Marit Bjoergen
Matthias Schrader/AP Photo
Country: Norway
Sport: Cross country skiing
Events: Individual and team sprints, skiathlon, freestyle, classical
Years: 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
Medals: 15
Key stats: Silver medal in 4x5km relay in 2002. Silver in 10km classical in 2006. Gold in individual sprint, 15km pursuit and 4x5km relay and silver in 30km classical in 2010. Gold in 15km skiathlon, 30km freestyle and team sprint in 2014. Gold in 4x5km relay and 30km classical. Silver in 15km skiathlon and bronze in 10km freestyle and team sprint in 2018.
Bottom Line: Marit Bjoergen
Marit Bjoergen
Andrew Medichini/AP
With 15 career medals, Marit Bjorgen is the most decorated Winter Olympics athlete in history.
Her eight gold medals are tied with fellow Norwegians Bjorn Daehlie and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen for most ever in the Winter Games. And Bjoergen won the most medals of any athlete at the 2010 Vancouver Games with three golds, a silver and a bronze.
A five-time Olympian, Bjoergen won at least one medal in every Olympics in which she competed before retiring in 2018.
7. Ray Ewry
Ray Ewry
Wikimedia Commons
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Events: Standing long jump, standing high jump and standing triple jump
Years: 1900, 1904, 1908
Medals: 8
Key stats: Gold medals in standing long jump, standing high jump and standing triple jump in 1900 and 1904. Gold in standing long jump and standing high jump in 1908.
Bottom Line: Ray Ewry
Ray Ewry
Lafayette Urban Ministry
Ray Ewry’s eight individual gold medals stood as the Olympic record for over 100 years, before being finally topped by swimming great Michael Phelps in 2008.
It took 108 years for Phelps to top Ewry’s other record of winning three gold medals in two individual events. If not for the fact the standing triple jump was discontinued after 1904, he may well have won three golds in that as well.
One record that may never be broken: Ewry won every Olympic competition he entered.
6. Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Nurmi
Wikimedia Commons
Country: Finland
Sport: Track and field
Events: 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 3,000 meter steeplechase, cross country
Years: 1920, 1924, 1928
Medals: 12
Key stats: Gold medals in 10,000, individual cross country and team cross country in 1920. Gold in 1,500, 5,000, individual cross country, team cross country and 3,000 team in 1924. Gold in 10,000 in 1928. Silver medal in 5,000 in 1920, silver in 5,000 and 3,000-meter steeplechase in 1928.
Bottom Line: Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Nurmi
IMDb
The "Flying Finn" was the dominant distance runner of the early 20th century, setting 22 world records to go with his 12 Olympic medals (nine gold).
Paavo Nurmi's most impressive Olympic feat came in the 1924 cross country final that was run in 113-degree heat in Paris. All but 15 of the 38 competitors abandoned the race, with eight carried away in stretchers, but Nurmi had little trouble with the conditions and won by nearly a minute and a half.
5. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
John Gaps III/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Events: Heptathlon, long jump
Years: 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996
Medals: 6
Key stats: Gold medals in heptathlon and long jump in 1988. Gold in heptathlon in 1992. Silver medal in heptathlon in 1984. Bronze medal in long jump in 1992. Bronze in long jump in 1996.
Bottom Line: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Lennox McLendon/AP Photo
Considered by some to be the greatest female athlete of all time, Jackie Joyner-Kersee still holds the world heptathlon record, set at the 1988 Olympics, when she totaled 7,291 points.
At the same games, she set an Olympic record by winning the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 3 ¼ inches.
Her hopes of winning a third consecutive heptathlon gold in 1996 were derailed when an injury sustained at the Olympic trials forced her to withdraw after one event. She nevertheless fought through the pain to capture a bronze in the long jump in her final Olympic competition.
4. Nadia Comaneci
Suzanne Vlamis/AP Photo
Country: Romania
Sport: Gymnastics
Events: Team, all-around, balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars
Years: 1976, 1980
Medals: 9
Key stats: Gold medals in all-around, uneven bars and balance beam, silver in team and bronze in floor exercise in 1976. Gold in balance beam and floor exercise and silver in all-around and team in 1980.
Bottom Line: Nadia Comaneci
AP Photo
Perhaps the most famous gymnast ever, Nadia Comaneci made history in 1976 by earning the first perfect 10s at an Olympics.
She received seven perfect scores in all en route to winning three individual gold medals at the Montreal Games and became the youngest all-around Olympic champion ever at age 14.
Comaneci came back four years later to earn two more gold medals and two more perfect 10s at the Moscow Olympics.
3. Carl Lewis
Dave Tenenbaum/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Track and field
Events: 100 meters, 200 meters, 400-meter relay, long jump
Years: 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996
Medals: 10
Key stats: Gold medals in 100, 200, 400 relay and long jump in 1984. Gold in 100 and long jump and silver in 200 in 1988. Gold in long jump and 400 relay in 1992. Gold in long jump in 1996.
Bottom Line: Carl Lewis
Dieter Endlicher/AP Photo
One of the greatest track and field athletes in history, Carl Lewis first achieved Olympic fame in 1984, when he duplicated Jesse Owens’ feat by winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 sprints, 400 relay and long jump.
His medal haul continued over the next three Olympiads, particularly in the long jump, where he is one of only three Olympians to win four consecutive golds in the same event. Lewis put together a streak of 65 consecutive wins in the long jump over 10 years.
He may be best remembered, however, for the gold medal he won despite crossing the finish line second. His 100-meter duel with Canada’s Ben Johnson was the story of the 1988 Olympics, with Johnson setting a world record before being disqualified for failing a drug test, allowing Lewis to retain the title of world’s fastest man.
2. Usain Bolt
Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo
Country: Jamaica
Sport: Track and field
Events: 100 meters, 200, 400 relay
Years: 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 8
Key stats: Gold medals in 100 and 200 in 2008, 2012 and 2016. Gold medals in 400 relay in 2012 and 2016.
Bottom Line: Usain Bolt
Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo
The undisputed fastest man in history, Usain Bolt dominated the sprint events at three consecutive Olympiads, becoming an international sensation in the process. He completed a triple-double by capturing the 100 and 200 in dominating fashion in three consecutive Olympics, the first athlete ever to accomplish the feat.
Known for his showmanship during races, Bolt burst on the Olympic scene in 2008, easily winning the 100 in a world record time despite slowing up to celebrate near the end of the race.
He followed that up with another world record in the 200 despite running into a headwind.
1. Michael Phelps
Mark Baker/AP Photo
Country: United States
Sport: Swimming
Events: 100- and 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter freestyle, 400- and 800-meter individual medley; 400- and 800-meter freestyle relay, 400-meter medley relay
Years: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Medals: 28
Key stats: Gold medals in 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 400 individual medley, 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 2004. Gold in 200 freestyle, 100 and 200 butterfly, 400 and 800 individual medley, 400 and 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 2008. Gold in 100 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 2012. Gold in 200 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 400 and 800 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay in 2016. Silver medals in 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay in 2012. Silver in 100 butterfly in 2016. Bronze medals in 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay in 2004.
Bottom Line: Michael Phelps
Matt Slocum/AP Photo
Without question, the greatest swimmer in history and most decorated Olympian, Michael Phelps is the clear No. 1 choice. He holds the Olympic records for most total medals (28), total gold medals (23), individual event medals (16) and individual gold medals (13).
The highlight of his Olympic career came in 2008, when he topped Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics with eight in Beijing. Seven of his eight titles during those games came in world record time, and the eighth set an Olympic record.
With his legacy already secured, Phelps continued his dominance by winning an additional 12 Olympic medals (nine gold) at the 2012 and 2016 Games.