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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #123 - Shuji Tsurumi

Shuji Tsurumi

Japan

Artistic Gymnastics

Overall Ranks

#24 among Gymnasts

#14 among Male Gymnasts

#7 among Japanese Olympians

#6 among Japanese Gymnasts

Olympic Results

1960

Team - Gold

Pommel Horse - Bronze

1964

Individual All-Around - Silver

Team - Gold

Parallel Bars - Silver

Pommel Horse - Silver

Total

Events - 16

Gold - 2

Silver - 3

Bronze - 1

Shuji Tsurumi was born on January 29, 1938 in Tokyo, Japan, and made the Japanese Olympic gymnastic team just as they were rising. The Japanese had won the team silver medal in 1956, the first time they had won a team gymnastics medal.

Tsurumi contributed immediately upon making the team, taking 4th place in the Individual All-Around competition in Rome in 1960, falling one point short of winning a medal. All 6 Japanese team members finished among the top 9 in the Individual All-Around, with Tsurumi the second-highest scorer on the team behind Takashi Ono. Those performances led to the Japanese winning the team gold for the first time, 2.5 points ahead of the defending champion Soviets.

Tsurumi qualified for the event finals in two events, the vault and the pommel horse. He was the sixth and final qualifier in the vault, with a 9.5, which he improved to 9.65 in the final, but he still finished 6th. He was also the final qualifier in the pommel horse, but his final routine pushed him ahead of 3 other finalists, earning him a bronze medal.

In 1964, the Olympics went to Tokyo for the first time, and the Japanese were excited to compete in front of their home fans. In the Individual All-Around, the gold went to Tsurumi's teammate, Yukio Endo, by just over half a point, but Tsurumi took the silver in his hometown. This time all 6 Japanese team members were in the top 11, and they again won the team gold by 2.5 points ahead of the USSR.

This time Tsurumi qualified for 4 individual event finals, the same two as before, plus rings and parallel bars. He qualified 5th in the rings, and didn't improve in the final. He was the #3 qualifier in the pommel horse, where he had won bronze 4 years earlier, but this time he improved to win the silver, losing only to Miroslav Cerar of Yugoslavia, considered by many to be the greatest pommel horse athlete of all time.

Just like 4 years earlier, he was the final qualifier in the vault, but unlike last time, he was able to improve his standing, moving up to 4th place, falling less than one tenth of a point short of another medal. He was #2 in qualifying in the parallel bars, behind Endo, but after Endo had a nearly flawless routine to clinch the gold, Tsurumi was forced to settle for the silver, his third individual silver of 1964.

He continued competing for a couple more years, winning all-around individual silver in the 1966 World Championships, but he retired before the 1968 Olympics came around. He was a big part of the first two team championships of the Japanese gymnastics dynasty, and was in the top 4 of the individual competition both times. That, plus his 6 total Olympic medals, make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #124 - Matt Biondi

Matt Biondi

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#36 among American Olympians

#9 among Swimmers

#8 among American Swimmers

#7 among Male Swimmers

#6 among American Male Swimmers

Olympic Results

1984

4x100 Freestyle Relay - Gold

1988

50m Freestyle - Gold

100m Freestyle - Gold

200m Freestyle - Bronze

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x200 Freestyle Relay - Gold

100m Butterfly - Silver

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

1992

50m Freestyle - Silver

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x100 Medley Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 12

Gold - 8

Silver - 2

Bronze - 1

Matthew Nicholas Biondi was born on October 8, 1965 in Moraga, California, and began swimming at a young age. He was a standout swimmer and water polo player in high school, and earned a scholarship for both to Cal. 

As a freshman, he helped Cal win the national water polo title, but was not as successful in his races, only earning a medal in a relay, but he surprised everyone by finishing 4th in the 100m at the US Olympic Trials, which earned him a spot on the relay team in Los Angeles. He swam the 3rd leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay, and entered the pool just slightly behind Australia for the lead, but by the time he handed it off to anchor Rowdy Gaines, the USA was ahead by 0.4 seconds, and they ended up winning by 0.65 seconds and set a new world record.

Buoyed by his performance at the Olympics, Biondi went on a run over the next 3 years, winning every NCAA freestyle sprint title but one in that span, plus all of the freestyle relays, for a total of 14 NCAA titles. He also set numerous world records, becoming the first man to swim 100m in less than 49 seconds, and at one point he held the top 10 times of all time in that event. Heading into the 1988 Olympics, he qualified for 7 events, attempting to match Mark Spitz's record of 7 golds from the 1972 Olympics.

His dream of 7 gold medals didn't last long. His first event was the 200m freestyle, and he led the final through the final turn, but didn't have as much left in the tank as Duncan Armstrong of Australia, who sprinted out of third at the turn to win in world record time, with Biondi falling to bronze. In his next event, the 100m butterfly, he led the entire race, but was passed on the final stroke by Anthony Nesty of Suriname, losing by .01 seconds, the closest margin possible, leaving him with a silver.

Later that day, he swam the anchor leg of the 4x200 freestyle relay, entering the pool nearly a full second behind East Germany, but he quickly made up the difference, taking the lead before he was halfway done, and he ended up more than a second ahead after swimming the fastest relay split in history, while also setting a team world record in the event.

The next day was the 100m freestyle, his best event, and he finally won his first individual gold medal by setting a new Olympic record of 48.63 seconds, which was just short of his own world record from the Olympic trials. The next day he swam an even faster 100m as the anchor in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and the USA beat the USSR by nearly 2 seconds as they set another world record.

Next up was the 50m freestyle, where Biondi was a former world record holder, but he was facing the current record holder, Tom Jager, also American, in the final. Biondi got a great start off the blocks, and led the entire way across the pool, setting another world record of 22.14 in winning his 4th straight gold of the games.

The next day he finished off his Olympic run with the 4x100 medley relay, swimming the butterfly third leg. The US was a huge favorite in this one, and they lived up to it, winning by more than 2 seconds and setting yet another world record, the 4th Biondi was a part of in Seoul. Even though he didn't get his 7 golds, he did win 7 medals, a huge accomplishment.

He returned for one final hurrah in 1992, qualifying in 4 events for Barcelona. He started out with the 100m, his signature event, and led at the turn, but swam one of the slowest back halves of his career coming back, and he fell to 5th, the first time he had ever failed to medal in the Olympics.

He made up for it the next day in the 4x100m freestyle relay final, where he swam the second leg. The US was in 4th place after the first swimmer, but Biondi passed the field to give them a lead of more than half a second at the midway point, and they never gave up the lead, finishing nearly a second ahead of the Unified Team for gold, just short of their world record from 4 years earlier.

The 50m freestyle was supposed to be a rematch between Biondi and Jager, the only 2 swimmers to hold the world record in the past 7 years, but Aleksandr Popov of the Unified Team surprised everyone by winning the event, after he had also pulled off an upset in the 100m. Biondi still came in second ahead of Jager, but had to settle for the silver. The next day he swam the anchor leg in the 4x100 medley relay heat, which qualified the USA for the final, where he was replaced by Jon Olsen, and the USA went on to win another gold in world record time, giving Biondi his 8th gold medal overall.

He retired right after the 1992 Olympics, having won 11 medals in 12 events, 8 of them gold, though 6 of the golds came in relays. He later went on to become a math teacher and swimming coach. He made a valiant attempt at winning 7 events in Seoul, and even though he didn't quite get there, his impressive haul over 3 Olympics makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #125 - Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#37 among American Olympians

#36 among Track & Field Athletes

#27 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#22 among American Track & Field Athletes

#17 among American Male Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

 1976

400m Hurdles - Gold

1984

400m Hurdles - Gold

1988

400m Hurdles - Bronze

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 2

Bronze - 1

Edwin Corley Moses was born on August 31, 1955 in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who were both educators. He attended Morehouse College to study physics, and also competed on the track team, mostly in the 400 m dash and the 110m hurdles. Before 1976, he had only run the 400m hurdles once, but when he switched his focus to it that year, he quickly became unstoppable.

Just a few months after beginning to run the 400m hurdles, he qualified for the US Olympic team in that event, and his very first international race was at the Montreal Olympics. He had the fastest time in all 3 rounds of the event, and won the final by more than a second, breaking the world record in the process, with a time of 47.63 seconds. He came into the race as an unknown and left a star.

One year later, he lost a race to Harald Schmid of West Germany. That race is only notable because it was the last one that Moses lost for nearly 10 years. He easily qualified for the 1980 Olympics, and would have been a heavy favorite to win another gold medal if the USA hadn't boycotted the games.

By the time the 1984 Olympics rolled around, Moses had won 89 races in a row, and was asked to recite the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremony of the games in Los Angeles. When the racing started, he was a machine as usual, posting the best time in every round and winning the gold medal easily, though 2 runners finished within half a second of him.

When he finally lost a race, in 1987, it was to Danny Harris, who had won the silver medal behind him in 1984. After that, he won his next 10 races, including the US Olympic Trials over Harris, and went to Seoul looking for a third gold. Even though his time was better than it had been during his two gold medal runs, it still wasn't enough that time, as Andre Phillips, another American, set a new Olympic record of 47.19 seconds to take the gold, while Moses finished with the bronze. 

He retired soon after that Olympic defeat, but was still involved in the sports world. He helped develop new drug testing programs that helped reduce cheating in sports, which added another layer to his greatness. He should have been a three-time gold medalist, but even with the two he did win, he is one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #126 - Misty May Treanor

Misty May Treanor

USA

Beach Volleyball

Overall Ranks

#38 among American Olympians

#1 among Beach Volleyball players

Olympic Results

2004

Women - Gold

2008

Women - Gold

2012

Women - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

Misty Elizabeth May was born on July 30, 1977 in Los Angeles, California, to a father who had been an Olympic volleyball player and a mother who was a pro tennis player. Her parents both struggled with alcoholism, so she was primarily raised by her grandparents.

She won two state volleyball championships in high school, and as a senior in 1995 was named the USA Today national player of the year. She attended college at Long Beach State, where she was named National Player of the Year as both a junior and a senior, and led her team to the first undefeated volleyball season in NCAA history as well as a national championship as a senior.

She briefly joined the USA National Volleyball team after graduation, but left a few months later to focus on beach volleyball. She partnered with Holly McPeak, and a year later the pair qualified for the 2000 Olympics. Back then, matches were just one set until the final round, which was best of three. They won their first match easily, 15-5, followed by a 15-13 win in the next round, but they fell in the quarterfinal round to the eventual bronze medalists from Brazil, by a score of 16-14.

Following that loss, she changed partners, pairing up with Kerri Walsh, who had just switched to beach volleyball from the indoor national team. By the end of the year they were ranked #5 in the world, and then reached #1 the following year, a ranking they held until Misty's retirement in 2012. The pair were heavily favored to win the gold medal in 2004, and they did not disappoint, winning all 7 of their matches without losing a single set, finishing off the Brazilian pair 21-11 in the final set.

Walsh and May both married in the months following the 2004 Olympics, with Misty marrying Matt Treanor, who was also a pro baseball player. They returned to the Olympics in 2008, again winning every set and every match, though this time the margins were much closer, and they even trailed 18-17 in the first set of the gold medal match before scoring 4 in a row to keep their streak alive.

Misty tore her Achilles while competing on Dancing With the Stars between Olympic appearances, but came back in time to win a World Championship in 2011 with Walsh Jennings. They returned to defend their Olympic title again, and once again won every match, but they lost a set for the first time, dropping the first set to an Austrian pair in pool play. Both sets of their semifinal match against China went to extra points, but they still advanced to beat April Ross and Jen Kessy of the USA for their third straight gold.

She retired following the third gold medal, and has primarily worked as a college volleyball coach since then. Although her longtime playing partner Kerri Walsh Jennings ended up with a bronze medal to add to the three golds they won together, Misty ranks slightly higher on my list due to having retired closer to her peak, ending up with one less mediocre finish in her career, where she is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.