Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #116 - Mijain Lopez

Mijain Lopez

Cuba

Wrestling

Overall Ranks

#3 among Wrestlers

#2 among Cuban Olympians

#1 among Cuban Wrestlers

Olympic Results

2008

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2012

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2016

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2020

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2024

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 5

Mijain Lopez Nunez was born on August 20, 1982 in Entronque de Herradura, Cuba, and began wrestling when he was just 10 years old. His older brother, Michel, was an amateur boxer who competed in the 2004 Olympics, winning a bronze medal.

Mijain also made his Olympic debut in 2004, competing in the super-heavyweight class of Greco-Roman wrestling, which was now considered wide open due to the retirement of Aleksandr Karelin, who had dominated for over a decade. The wrestlers were split into 6 pools of three to four wrestlers, with the winner of each pool advancing to the knockout round. Lopez beat both opponents in his pool without surrendering a point, but lost 2-0 in the next round to Khasan Baroyev of Russia, the eventual gold medalist. It would be the only loss of Lopez's Olympic career.

He won the World Championship in both 2005 and 2007, losing to Baroyev in 2006, so the winner was expected to be one of the two. Lopez won each of his three matches by at least 3 points, setting up a showdown with Baroyev for the gold, but Lopez dominated him, winning 6-1 to win the gold medal. Several years later, Baroyev's sample from 2008 tested positive for PEDs, and his silver medal was taken away.

Lopez won the next 2 World Championships, but came in second in 2011, right before the next Olympics, to Riza Kayaalp of Turkey. Although both men who had previously beaten him were competing in 2012, Lopez was still a big favorite, and he cruised to the final match without giving up a point, beating Kayaalp in the semifinal. Baroyev lost early, so Lopez faced Heiki Nabi of Estonia, who had just moved up from heavyweight class, for the gold, and won easily, 3-1, to successfully defend his gold medal.

Lopez and Kayaalp's rivalry grew over the next few years, as they faced off in the World Championship final in both 2014 and 2015, with Lopez victorious first, and Kayaalp the next year. By 2016, they were expected to meet again with Olympic gold on the line, and that's exactly what happened, with neither one giving up a point before the final. The final, though, belonged to Lopez, who beat his rival 6-0 to take his third straight gold, only the second wrester ever to win 3 in a row, after Karelin.

Lopez failed to medal in the World Championships over the next few years, so when he went to Tokyo to defend his title again, he was not the favorite for the first time in a long time. That would be Kayaalp, who was defending World Champion again. Lopez won by shutout in his first two matches, setting up a rematch with the favorite, and just like last time, he shut him out, 2-0 this time. He went on to win the gold in another shutout, meaning he didn't give up a single point on his way to gold medal #4.

Lopez didn't compete in any international events over the next two years, but decided to return for the 2024 Olympics to try for an unprecedented 5th straight wrestling gold. He faced the favorite, Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran, in the second round, and beat him 3-1, clearing a path for another triumph. His final two matches were easier, and he won the gold medal 6-0 in the final match, making him the first Olympian in history to win gold in the same individual event 5 times.

Immediately after winning gold, Lopez removed his shoes and left them in the middle of the mat, a common practice among wresters to signify their retirement. He was just days short of his 42nd birthday at the time, and had just made history, so it was a perfect time to end his career as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #117 - Darrell Pace

Darrell Pace

USA

Archery

Overall Ranks

#35 among American Olympians

#2 among Archers

#1 among American Archers

Olympic Results

1976

Individual - Gold

1984

Individual - Gold

1988

Team - Silver

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 2

Silver - 1

Darrell Owen Pace was born on October 23, 1956 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and took up archery at the age of 13, and quickly became an expert, being named to the national team for the World Championships at age 16. After that, he won the national archery championship 4 years in a row., and won the World Championship in 1975, when he was 18.

Even though he was only 19 years old, he was the favorite to win gold in 1976 in Montreal. At the time, archery events consisted of 72 shots each at 4 different distances, ranging from 30 meters to 90 meters, with the highest overall score winning gold. Pace had the best score at each of the 4 distances to run away with the gold medal by 69 points, an absolutely dominant performance.

Pace won the American title again in both 1978 and 1980, and another World Championship in 1979, and was the favorite to repeat as gold medalist in Moscow, but America's boycott of those games prevented him from getting a second gold medal at the time.

By 1984, Pace had a challenger in Rick McKinney, a fellow American, who had beaten him for the World Championship in 1977 and 1983. It was expected to be a close competition, but Pace had a repeat of his previous Olympic performance, shooting the best score at each distance, and winning the gold by 52 points over McKinney, who took silver on his final shot.

Pace competed again in 1988 in Seoul, where the format for the event was changed. It began with a round of 36 arrows from each distance, with the top 24 advancing to the next round. After that, each round consisted of 9 arrows from each distance, with the field cut down to 18, then 12, then down to 8 for the final. 

Pace took it easy in the first round, qualifying in 19th place, then squeaked through to the next round in 18th place. He tried harder in the quarterfinals, shooting the top score, but in the semifinals he came in 9th, just 2 points short of making the final, the first time he had failed to win the event. The eventual winner was a surprise: Jay Barrs, a fellow American.

He also competed in the team event in 1988, which was a new addition to the Olympics. 3 archers represented each country, with Pace being joined by Barrs and McKinney. The individual qualifying scores were used to rank the teams, with the USA entering the event seeded #2 behind the home team, South Korea.

12 teams competed in the first round, with each archer shooting 9 arrows at each distance, and the top 8 teams advancing to the final. America shot the best score in that round, while Korea took it easy, knowing they would make the final easily. In the final, the US had the best score in the 30m by 3 points over Korea, and held on to the lead over the next 2 distances, leading by 2 entering the 90m portion, but the Koreans outscored America by 16 in the final distance to take the gold, leaving the Americans with a silver.

Pace retired from competition after his 3rd Olympics. He was so far ahead of everyone else in the world during his two Olympic title runs that you can't help but wonder if he should have had a third gold medal, but even without it, he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #118 - Veronica Campbell Brown

Veronica Campbell Brown

Jamaica

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#34 among Track & Field Athletes

#9 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#6 among Jamaican Olympians

#3 among Female Jamaican Olympians

Olympic Results

2000

4x100m Relay - Silver

2004

100m - Bronze

200m - Gold

4x100m - Gold

2008

200m - Gold

2012

100m - Bronze

4x100m - Silver

2016

4x100m - Silver

Total

Events - 11

Gold - 3

Silver - 3

Bronze - 2

Veronica Angella Campbell was born on May 15, 1982 in Clarks Town, Jamaica, into a family of 10 children. She attended school in Jamaica up through high school, then move to the United States for college, first at Barton County Community College, then the University of Arkansas.

She made her first Olympic team at age 18, competing in the 4x100 m relay in Sydney. The USA was the favorite in the event, led by Marion Jones, and the Bahamas was defending World Champion, but with Campbell running the second leg, Jamaica posted the best times in each of the first two rounds. In the final, the Bahamas sprinted out to an early lead, and while Jamaica and the USA kept it somewhat close, they couldn't catch up, and Jamaica ended up with the silver medal.

By 2004 she was starting to come into her own. She qualified for 3 events in Athens, starting with the 100m. She won her first heat, then came in second in her next heat, just .01 second slower than her first race. She also came in #2 in her semifinal heat, but was only .01 second short of the fastest time, before running the final in 10.97 seconds, which earned her the bronze medal in her first individual Olympic event.

Next up was the 200m, an event she hadn't lost in 4 years, but mostly against college competition. She and Allyson Felix were considered the favorites, and Felix ran the best time in the first round, but Campbell had the best time in the final 3 rounds, including the final, where she pulled into the lead on the curve and never looked back, beating Felix by .13 seconds to win gold and become the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic sprint title.

Her final event was the 4x100m relay, where the USA was again the favorite. The US ran the fastest time in the heats by far, but missed the second baton exchange, leaving Jamaica alone in the lead, and Campbell ran a great anchor leg with a big lead to give Jamaica the gold by more than half a second, the first time Jamaica had won the event. 

In 2007, she married Omar Brown, another Jamaican sprinter, and also 3 medals in the World Championships, gold in the 100m, with silvers in the 200m and the relay. At the Olympic Trials, she finished 4th in the 100m, which meant she didn't qualify for the individual event, but she did qualify for the relay, and to defend her title in the 200m.

The 200m was far from a sure thing, as she had lost every race to Felix since beating her in the 2004 Olympics, including 2 World Championships, but she cruised through all 3 rounds of heats, including a quarterfinal where she finished just ahead of Felix. In the final, she was just to the left of Felix, giving her a clear view of her around the curve, where she was able to close the gap to take the lead as the headed into the straightaway, and then she maintained her lead to the tape, winning a repeat gold by .19 seconds, becoming just the second woman to win the event twice.

Jamaica was expected to dominate the 4x100m relay, since they had the three medalists from the 100m race, but Campbell-Brown running the anchor leg. The USA was their only possible competition, but they had a botched handoff in the heats, so Jamaica was running for the world record in the final, until they mistimed the first handoff and failed to finish the race.

In 2011, she won her first 200m World Championship, making her one of the favorites to win a third straight Olympic gold in the event. She started out the 2012 Olympics with the 100m, where the favorite was Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, the defending champion, also from Jamaica, and the event went just as expected, with Fraser-Pryce winning, and Campbell-Brown coming in with the third-fastest time in every round, earning a bronze medal.

Next was the 200m, where she was finally defending World Champion, and she cruised through the heat to advance to the semifinal, where she won a tough heat to advance to the final again. This time, it was Felix who had the best time on the curve and pulled away to win gold, while Campbell-Brown ended up in 4th place, half a second behind Felix's winning time.

After that disappointment, she joined the Jamaican team for the relay, where they were co-favorites with the USA, as long as the two teams were able to pass the baton cleanly, which they had each failed to do 4 years earlier. Jamaica looked to be in the lead after the first leg, but Felix pulled ahead by a bit before the halfway point. Campbell-Brown took the third leg for Jamaica, and made up some ground on the US, but they were still behind when Carmelita Jeter took the baton for the US and pulled away down the stretch to set a new world record, while Jamaica took silver just short of the old world record.

She qualified for her 5th Olympic team in 2016, in the 200m and the relay, but the 200m didn't work out for her this time. She came in 3rd in her first heat, and her time ended up being .03 seconds too slow to advance to the next round, the first time she had failed to make the final.

She ran in the 4x100m relay for the fifth straight Olympics, and once again, it was expected to be a contest between Jamaica and the USA. Jamaica won their heat to advance to the final, while the USA advanced after being interfered with on a handoff. In the final, the two were practically tied at the halfway point, when Campbell-Brown took the baton, but English Gardner from the US ran a blistering leg to leave her in the dust, and American won easily on the homestretch, giving Jamaica another silver in the event.

Campbell-Brown retired after the Rio Olympics, with 8 total medals across 5 Olympic games. Jamaica had already started to build a reputation in sprint events before she arrived, but she was the woman who established Jamaica as a power in the women's sprint events, and her performances, especially in winning the 200m back-to-back, makes her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #119 - Renzo Morigi

Renzo Morigi

Italy

Shooting

Overall Ranks

#7 among Italian Olympians

#6 among Male Italian Olympians

#1 among Shooters

Olympic Results

1932

Rapid-Fire Pistol - Gold

Total

Events - 1

Gold - 1

Lorenzo Mario Morigi was born on Dec 28, 1895 in Ravenna, Italy. He fought in World War I with the Italian Army, where he was known as a marksman, and joined the Italian Fascist Party soon afterward. He rose through the ranks of the party, and even killed a would-be assassin of his party leader in 1927. 

He was selected to travel to Los Angeles for the 1932 Olympics, where he participated in the Rapid-Fire Pistol event. The event began with 3 rounds of 6 targets, which were visible for a total of 8 seconds. Shots were fired from 25 meters away, and all shooters to hit all 18 targets advanced to the next round. 12 of the 18 shooters made it through round one.

After the first round, the time was reduced for each round, so the 6 targets were only visible for 6 total seconds in the next round. Only 1 shooter failed in that round, and the other 11 moved on. It was reduced to 4 seconds in the next round, which knocked the field down to 6, followed by a 3-second round, which cut the field in half again.

The final round consisted of just the final 3 shooters, who were given only 2 seconds to hit all 6 targets. Domenico Matteucci, also of Italy, was only able to hit 3 in that round, with Heinz Hax of Germany hitting 4. Morigi stepped up and hit all 6 targets once again, hitting the final one just as it turned away, making him the winner with a perfect 42 shots out of 42 attempts in only 39 seconds.

He remained active in the Fascist Party after the Olympics, serving in the legislature for years. He never competed again in the Olympics, and eventually passed away on April 13, 1962 in Bologna, Italy. Though he only competed in a single event in his career, he never missed a single shot, making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #120 - Aleksandr Bolshunov

Aleksandr Bolshunov

Russia

Cross Country Skiing

Overall Ranks

#6 among Cross Country Skiers

#5 among Russian Olympians

#3 among Male Russian Olympians

#3 among Russian Cross Country Skiers

#1 among Male Russian Cross Country Skiers

Olympic Results

2018

Sprint - Bronze

50 km - Silver

Relay - Silver

Team Sprint - Silver

2022

15 km - Silver

50 km - Gold

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Gold

Team Sprint - Bronze

Total

Events - 9

Gold - 3

Silver - 4

Bronze - 2

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bolshunov was born on December 31, 1996 in Podyvotye, Russia, near the borders with Ukraine and Belarus. His father coached and trained him in skiing from a young age, then took him to Bryansk Sports School for further training when he was 14 years old. 

After several years racing as a junior, he advanced to the senior circuit in 2017, and climbed the rankings quickly, becoming good enough to make the Russian Olympic team in 2018, though not competing under the Russian flag due to the country's Olympic ban due to widespread doping.

Bolshunov's first event was the Sprint, the shortest event in Cross Country, and he finished 3rd in qualifying, then easily advanced through two rounds to make it to the final. Johannes Hosflot Klaebo won the final by a little more than a second, with Bolshunov finishing third by .02 seconds behind Federico Pellegrino in a photo finish, earning a bronze medal in his first Olympic event.

His next event was the relay, with each skier covering 10 km. Bolshunov skied the second leg, starting out just barely in second place, but quickly taking a big lead, which he held throughout his portion, giving his team a 25 second lead heading into the second half of the event. Unfortunately, the Norwegians dominated the second half of the race, and the Russians had to settle for silver, nearly 10 seconds behind the winners.

The team sprint was next, with Bolshunov teamed up with Denis Spitsov, each running 3 legs of about 1500 meters each. A little more than halfway through the final, with Bolshunov running his second leg and holding a slight lead, Klaebo took off from behind him, and Bolshunov was not able to keep up, instead staying with the trailing pack. Not much changed the rest of the way, and the Russians took another silver medal.

The final race of the Olympics was the 50 km, the longest of all the races. Bolshunov stayed with the lead pack as it dwindled from 15 to 7 down to just 3 at the halfway point. Bolshunov chose to change his skis early in the race, while Iivo Niskanen of Finland waited until they reached 42km, allowing Bolshunov to take a lead of 14 seconds at one point. Niskanen started his attach with 1 km to go, and Bolshunov didn't have enough left to keep up, and took his third straight silver medal of the games after losing by 18 seconds.

In 2021, he won his first World Championship gold in the 30 km skiathlon, just in time for a return to the Olympics. The skiathlon combines the two forms of cross-country skiing, classical (straight line) and freestyle (skating style). The skiathlon was his first event at the 2022 Olympics, and he led the entire way, leading Niskanen by a second at the pit stop before speeding away in the freestyle portion, winning the gold medal by a minute and 11 seconds, his first Olympic win.

He decided to skip the sprint event a couple of days later, so his next event was the 15 km classical, which was Niskanen's specialty, and he was not able to keep up with the Finn, trailing the entire way and coming in second by a margin of 23 seconds. Next up was the relay, where he again ran the second leg, and this time he was given a 34 second lead to begin with, which he extended to a full minute, a margin his teammates were able to maintain on their way to an upset gold over Norway.

In the team sprint, he was paired with Aleksandr Terentyev this time, and in the final the top three teams, Russia, Norway, and Finland, stayed close together through the first 5 sections, but at the beginning of the final leg, Klaebo pulled away, giving Norway the gold, while Russia ended up a couple of seconds behind Finland to end up in bronze position.

The final race was the 50km, though it was actually shortened to 30km due to weather. The entire field stayed together for the first 10km, with Bolshunov and 14 others pulling away at that point. The leaders dwindled down to 8 in the final section, when Bolshunov pulled away on his own with 6 km to go, finishing the race 5.5 seconds ahead of anyone else, winning his third silver in Beijing.

Right after the Olympics, Russia invaded Ukraine, resulting in the country and its athletes being banned from the Olympics, instead of just the country like before. Bolshunov is a vocal supporter of the invasion, and has called the most recent Olympics illegitimate due to the exclusion of his country. Despite all of this, he has shown already that he is one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #121 - Emil Zatopek

Emil Zatopek

Czechoslovakia

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#35 among Track & Field Athletes

#26 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#2 among Czechoslovakian Olympians

#1 among Male Czechoslovakian Olympians

Olympic Results

1948

5000m - Silver

10000m - Gold

1952

5000m - Gold

10000m - Gold

Marathon - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 4

Silver - 1

 

Emil Zatopek was born on September 19, 1922 in Koprivnice, Czechoslovakia, the seventh child in a large family, and started working at the local show factory when he was 16. One day, a coach picked out a few of the young workers at the factory and ordered them to run in a local race. Zatopek came in second, but he caught the running bug.

In 1944, he broke the national records in the 2000, 3000, and 5000 meter races. He continued improving, and by 1948 was expected to challenge for Olympic medals. His first event was the 10000m, where the favorite was Viljo Heino of Finland, the world record holder, and Heino led for the first 3000 meters before Zatopek overtook him. The two remained close for the next 3000 meters, but after Heino made a push to take back the lead, Zatopek pushed harder and pulled away, and Heino dropped out soon after. By the finish, Zatopek was ahead of the next racer by 48 seconds, and had lapped all but two other runners.

His next race was the 5000m, which took place in a heavy rainstorm. He took the lead early, with a pack of three other runners keeping pace behind him, but Gaston Reiff of Belgium made a move at the start of the ninth lap and pulled away from the others. He was ahead by 30 meters at the start of the final lap, and Zatopek made a hard push through the entire lap, but ended up falling short by 0.2 seconds and had to take the silver.

He broke the world record in the 10000m five times over the next four years, and didn't lose a single race over that time, so he was a big favorite to repeat in Helsinki in 1952. It was his first event, and once he took the lead in the 6th lap, he never looked back, beating the runner-up by more than 15 seconds and setting a new Olympic record, though he was still nearly 15 seconds short of his own world record.

Next up was the 5000m, where he was also the favorite, but this one would be much closer. Zatopek took the lead early, with 4 others keeping pace for several laps, and by the final lap, there was still a group of 4 runners led by Zatopek all together. The others all moved past him early in the final lap, but as the rounded the final corner, Zatopek shifted gears and passed all 3, winning the event by 0.8 seconds over Alain Mimoun of France, who had been runner-up to Zatopek in all 3 of his gold medal wins.

A few hours after winning that race, Zatopek watched his wife win the gold medal in the javelin throw, bringing yet another Olympic victory to the family. A few days later, Zatopek decided to try running the marathon, a race he had never run before. Jim Peters of Great Britain, the pre-race favorite, shot out fast, while Zatopek hung back with a couple of other runners. About halfway through, Peters started to slow down, and was passed by Zatopek and Gustaf Jansson of Sweden, but Zatopek never slowed down, eventually pulling away from Jansson and winning the race by over 2.5 minutes and setting a new Olympic record. He was the first to ever win all 3 distance events in the same Olympics, and so far the only one.

He planned to defend his Olympic titles in 1956, but suffered a hernia not long before the Olympics, which required surgery. He began training again as soon as he was allowed, but decided to only run the marathon in Melbourne, finishing in 6th place, about 4.5 minutes behind Mimoun, the winner. After finishing, Mimoun waited for Zatopek at the finish line, excited to share his victory, and Zatopek responded by saluting Mimoun.

He retired the next year, though his wife kept competing, winning the silver medal in 1960 before she hung it up. Zatopek had a falling out with the Communist Party in 1968, and was forced to work in menial jobs for the remainder of his life, but he deserves to be remembered as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #122 - Siegfried Brietzke

Siegfried Brietzke

East Germany

Rowing

Overall Ranks

#3 among East German Olympians

#1 among Rowers

Olympic Results

1972

Coxless Pairs - Gold

1976

Coxless Fours - Gold

1980

Coxless Fours - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 3

Siegfried Brietzke was born on June 12, 1952 in Rostock, East Germany. He started rowing when he was 15 years old after seeing a TV commercial that was recruiting tall boys to become competitive rowers. Within 3 years, he had taken gold in the coxless pairs at the World Junior Rowing Championships with Wolfgang Mager, his longtime rowing partner.

The pair qualified for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and were considered to be one of the favorites, since another East German pair had won the event in the previous Olympics. They won their heat by more than 5.5 seconds, which advanced them to the semifinals, where they again posted the best time to advance to the final race. They were in 6th place halfway through the final, more than 6 seconds behind the leaders, but then they turned on the jets, outpacing all of the other boats by at least 9 seconds down the backstretch, giving them a victory by nearly 4 seconds.

After coming in 4th place at the 1973 European championships, the pair switched events to the coxless fours, adding Stefan Semmler and Andreas Decker to the team. They went on to win the World Championship in 1974 and 1975, making them big favorites to win gold in Montreal in 1976. They followed through with ease, setting Olympic records in all 3 of their races, and winning in the final over a surprising team from Norway by almost 4 seconds.

Before the next Olympics, the same team won two more World Championships, but had been upset by the USSR team in 1978, so it was bad news when Brietzke's longtime partner Mager injured his hand just before the Olympics and had to be replaced by Jurgen Thiele as the headed to Moscow. Both the East Germans and the Soviets won their heats by more than 13 seconds, setting up a showdown for the gold, but it wasn't really a contest, as the East German team led by at least 2 seconds the entire way, winning Brietzke his third straight gold medal. 

Brietzke stopped rowing competitively after Moscow, and since East Germany boycotted 1984 anyway, he wouldn't have been able to compete again anyway, so his Olympic career ended with 3 gold medals in 3 attempts, and none of them was particularly close. The fact that he never lost and was never challenged makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.