Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #147 - Ding Ning

Ding Ning

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#10 among Chinese Olympians

#7 among Table Tennis athletes

#5 among Female Chinese Table Tennis Athletes

Olympic Results

2012

Singles - Silver

Team - Gold

2016

Singles - Gold

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

Silver - 1

Ding Ning was born on June 20, 1990 in Daqing, China, and by the age of 5 had begun training for a career in table tennis. She was assigned to study at Xiannongtan Sports School, and by age 19 had made the national team.

She had her first major individual victories in 2011, when she won both the World Championship and the World Cup of table tennis. She entered the 2012 Olympics as the #1 ranked player in the world, and the favorite to win the gold medal, with her Chinese teammate Li Xiaoxia picked to win the silver.

Individual matches in the Olympics are played in a best of 7 format, and Ding lost only 3 games on the way to the final, while Li lost 4. In the final showdown, Li won the first two games by a small margin, then lost the third to Ding, before taking the final two games to take the gold and leave Ding with the individual silver.

The two finalists teamed up with Guo Yue in the team competition next, and the three Chinese swept through the entire tournament without losing a single game, earning the trio gold medals, the second for Guo and Li, but the first for Ding.

Leading up to the 2016 Olympics, Ding again won the World Championship in 2015, and was again the #1 seed in the singles tournament, where she dominated the competition on her way back to the gold medal match, losing only a single game along the way. The final was a rematch with Li, and it was an extremely close match, going all the way to 7 games, with Ding winning the final 2 to take the gold medal 4-3.

The two finalists again competed in the team event with a new teammate, first-time Olympian Liu Shiwen, but the result was exactly the same, with the Chinese winning every single game on its way to another gold medal.

Ding won another World Championship in 2017, but did not make the Chinese team for the 2020 games, as only 2 are allowed from each nation. She retired in 2021 to pursue a masters degree in physical education, and last year she was appointed the principal of the same sports school she attended as a child.

China has dominated the table tennis events at the Olympics since they were added, and Ding Ning is one of the best athletes to come from the country during that time, with her only loss coming in an Olympic final to a fellow countryman, making her one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #148 - Vic Wild

Vic Wild 

Russia

Snowboard

Overall Ranks

#7 among Russian Olympians

#1 among Snowboarders

Olympic Results

2014

Parallel Giant Slalom - Gold

Parallel Slalom - Gold

2022

Parallel Giant Slalom - Bronze

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 2

Bronze - 1

Victor Ivan Wild was born in White Salmon, Washington on August 23, 1986, and originally competed for the United States in international competitions, but after the US Olympic Committee decided to stop funding snowboard racing in 2010, and after his marriage to Russian snowboarder Alyona Zavarzina in 2011, he moved to Russia and applied for citizenship.

He made his Olympic debut in 2014, competing in the Parallel Slalom and Parallel Giant Slalom. He posted the second-best qualifying time in the Parallel Giant, which moved him to the round of 16. Starting in that round, matches consisted of 2 snowboarders racing at the same time, with the best overall time after 2 races determining the winner. Wild won all but one race in the competition, taking the gold medal just hours after his wife won the bronze medal in the same event.

He earned the best qualifying time in the Parallel Slalom a few days later, getting him the top seed in the 16-man field, and again he won the competition while losing only a single race, a loss which came by 0.04 of a second to a 2-time world champion in the event. His win made him the first snowboarder ever to win multiple gold medals at the same Olympics, and he is still the only one to do it in 2 individual events.

The Parallel Slalom did not return after the 2014 Olympics, but Wild came back to defend his title in the Parallel Giant in 2018, but after placing 9th in qualifying, he lost in his first race and was eliminated.

Despite getting divorced in 2021, he decided to continue living in and competing for Russia, and he again competed in the Parallel Giant Slalom in 2022, again taking 9th place in the qualifying round. After upsetting fellow Russian Dmitry Loginov in the first round, he took down the #1 seed in the next, advancing to the semifinals. He lost his next race, then finished off the tournament with one final upset to earn himself a bronze medal.

Though Wild has only competed in 4 Olympic events in his career, and failed to medal in one of them, he dominated in both of his events in 2014, and another strong performance in 2022 earned him the title of best Olympic snowboarder of all time so far.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #149 - Aleksandr Karelin

Aleksandr Karelin

USSR - Unified Team - Russia

Wrestling

Overall Ranks

#8 among Russian Olympians

#5 among Wrestlers

#4 among Russian Wrestlers

Olympic Results

1988

Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight - Gold

1992

Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight - Gold

1996

Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight - Gold

2000

Greco-Roman Super Heavyweight - Silver

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

Silver - 1

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Karelin was born on September 19th, 1967 in Novosibirsk, USSR. His father was a boxer, but Aleksandr decided at age 13 to train as a wrestler, and at that point he already stood 5'10" and weighed 174 pounds. 

He scored his first major victory in 1988, when he won the USSR Olympic trial against the nation's defending champion, after which he went on to win every match in the Olympics on the way to his first gold medal, becoming the youngest-ever champion in the super heavyweight class, just 2 days after his 21st birthday.

Over the next 3 years, he ran undefeated through the World Championships each time, then returned to the Olympics as a heavy favorite, this time representing the Unified Team after the breakup of the USSR the previous year. He once again flew through the tournament undefeated, even winning his 4th match in only 14 seconds on his way to gold medal number two.

He won 3 more World Championships from 1993 to 1995, never losing a match, but injured his shoulder and had to have surgery, returning just before the 1996 Olympics. He was considered vulnerable for the first time due to this, but swept through the Olympics undefeated, not even giving up a single point on his way to a third straight gold medal, this time representing Russia.

From 1997-1999, he ran his streak of World Championships up to 9, never surrendering a point in any of those matches, and was expected to continue his streak at the 2000 Olympics. He made it to the final match without giving up a point, but lost in the final to Rulon Gardner of the USA by a score of 1-0. It was the first point he had given up in 6 years, and his first loss in 13 years, and he went home with a silver medal.

He retired after that loss, turning to his new career in politics, where he had been elected to the Russian Duma in 1999, and he has served in Russian politics in some role ever since. Even with his long post-athletic career, he is still best-known as one of the most dominant wrestlers of all time, and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes - #150 - Nastia Liukin

Nastia Liukin

USA

Artistic Gymnastics

Overall Ranks

#46 among American Olympians

#26 among Artistic Gymnasts

#11 among Female Artistic Gymnasts

#3 among American Artistic Gymnasts

Olympic Results

2008

Individual All-Around - Gold

Team - Silver

Uneven Bars - Silver

Balance Beam - Silver

Floor Exercise - Bronze

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 1

Silver - 3

Bronze - 1

Anastasiya Valeryevna Luikin, nicknamed Nastia, was born on October 30, 1989 in Moscow, USSR. Her father, Valery, was an Olympic gymnast who competed for the USSR the year before she was born, earning 2 gold medals and 2 silvers, including the Individual All-Around silver. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the family moved to the United States, eventually settling in Plano, Texas, where her father opened a gymnastics training gym.

She began doing gymnastics at age 3, and by 2002, she was competing at the national level, taking second place in the Individual All-Around junior division at the 2003 Pan-Am Games, but she was just slightly too young to compete at the 2004 Olympics.

Over the next 3 years, she won 9 total medals at the World Championships, including two golds in the Balance Beam. She was the #2 overall finisher at the 2008 US Olympic Trials and made the team easily. In the qualifying round, she qualified to compete in 3 event finals, the Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise, as well as the Individual All-Around.

In the Team competition, she participated in 3 events, earning her highest score of 16.9 on the Uneven Bars, which was the highest score in the entire Olympics, helping the Americans earn the silver medal. In the Individual All-Around, she got through all 4 events without a single mistake, which earned her the gold medal, just ahead of teammate Shawn Johnson.

She began the event finals with her weakest event, the Floor Exercise, but was able to put together a performance good enough to win her the bronze. In the Uneven Bars, she ended up tied with He Kexin of China for the best score, but was awarded the silver medal based on the third tiebreaker. She also won the silver in the balance beam, becoming only the 3rd American to win 5 gymnastics medals in the same Olympics.

She retired the following year, but attempted a comeback ahead of the 2012 Olympics, but after failing to qualify for the American team, she retired again for good in 2012. She may have only competed in 5 events in her Olympic career, but she was so impressive on each of them that she has earned this spot on the list of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes of All Time - Intro

During the 2024 Summer Olympics, while watching several legendary performances, I started to think about how to determine the greatest Olympic athlete of all time. It couldn't just be determined based on medal count, since some medals are not as impressive as others, and some athletes have more opportunities to win medals than others, based on their sport, the era in which they competed, Games cancelled due to war or boycott, or even their gender. For the past two years, I have been working through all of the data to try to answer this question.

I determined that using the mean and standard deviation to determine how much above average each performance was would be the most fair way to decide how impressive each athlete was in each event. I imported the data for all 175,939 athletes in Olympic history (since 1896), and broke down the scores for all 8013 events for which medals have been awarded, finding the mean and standard deviation in each event, then giving each athlete a score based on how far above the mean they finished. I then removed any low outliers (more than 2 standard deviations below the mean), and tabulated the results for every athlete who had ever finished at least 1 standard deviation above the mean in any event, resulting in 30,161 athletes to rank.

To take care of the issue with athletes who competed in fewer events, I created a multiplier for each athlete based on the total number of events in which they competed, which took into account the number of points they would have been expected to gain if they had performed at the average level of the full list of athletes in subsequent events. I also included a multiplier for each event that helped balance out events that regularly had the highest scores with those that usually were lower in order to prevent a couple dozen events from completely dominating the rankings. 

Over the next several months, I will be revealing the top 150 athletes from my list one at a time in a countdown. As each is revealed, I will include a link to that athlete's profile on this page. Before the countdown begins, here is a breakdown of those athletes by country, sport, gender, and when they competed:

Athletes by Gender

Male - 103

Female - 47

Athletes by Country

United States - 46

USSR - 11

China - 10

Italy - 8

Japan - 8

Russia - 8 (includes independent athletes from Russia in recent games)

Hungary - 6

Jamaica - 6

Norway - 6

Germany - 5

Australia - 4

Cuba - 3

Finland - 3

France - 3

Great Britain - 3

East Germany - 3

Netherlands - 3

South Korea - 2

Switzerland - 2

Sweden - 2

Czechoslovakia - 2

Belarus - 1

Canada - 1

Denmark - 1

Kenya - 1

Romania - 1

Ukraine - 1

Athletes by Sport

Athletics (Track & Field) - 38

Artistic Gymnastics - 26

Swimming - 10

Fencing - 9

Table Tennis - 7

Boxing - 6

Cross Country Skiing - 6

Road Cycling - 5

Wrestling - 5

Basketball - 4

Speed Skating - 4

Archery - 3

Equestrian Dressage - 3

Alpine Skiing - 2

Beach Volleyball - 2

Biathlon - 2

Bobsled - 2

Track Cycling - 2

Diving - 2

Judo - 2

Golf - 1

Field Hockey - 1

Modern Pentathlon - 1

Nordic Combined - 1

Rowing - 1

Sailing - 1

Shooting - 1

Ski Jumping - 1

Snowboard - 1

Tennis - 1

Athletes by Olympic Games

Summer - 131 total

1920 - 4

1924 - 4

1928 - 4

1932 - 3

1936 - 7

1948 - 9

1952 - 14

1956 - 15

1960 - 16

1964 - 10

1968 - 14

1972 - 15

1976 - 11

1980 - 4

1984 - 6

1988 - 11

1992 - 13

1996 - 14

2000 - 20

2004 - 21

2008 - 28

2012 - 31

2016 - 34

2020 - 26

2024 - 19

Winter - 19 Total

1936 - 1

1980 - 1

1984 - 2

1988 - 2

1992 - 4

1994 - 5

1998 - 3

2002 - 5

2006 - 3

2010 - 3

2014 - 5

2018 - 7

2022 - 7

2026 - 6

Overall Rankings

150. Nastia Liukin - USA - Artistic Gymnastics - 2008

149. Aleksandr Karelin - URS/EUN/RUS - Wrestling - 1988-2000

148. Vic Wild - RUS/ROC - Snowboard - 2014-2022

147. Ding Ning - CHN - Table Tennis - 2012-2016

Top 100 NBA Players of All Time - 2026 Update

The New York Knicks won the NBA title for the first time in 53 years, and one of their star players reached the all-time top 100 as a result of that historic run. As usual, I have added all of this season's data to my all-time player rankings, and 3 players joined the top 100 this season, with DeMar DeRozan sneaking in late in the regular season at #99, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Karl-Anthony Towns made it early in the playoffs, reaching #81 and #78 respectively at the end of the postseason. Wes Unseld, Amare Stoudemire, and Bob Lanier dropped out of the top 100 to make room for the 3 new members. In addition, there has been a change in the top 10 for the first time in over a decade, with Kevin Durant passing Hakeem Olajuwon to grab spot #10. Next season, there should be 2 new additions to the top 100, with a decent chance at 4 new faces. Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson should get there by midseason, while Devin Booker and Rudy Gobert both look likely to get there near the end of the season, barring any major injuries. Paul George also has an outside chance, but he would need to play much better than he has in the past 2 seasons. Here is my current top 100:

100 (95) Gus Williams - PG - SEA - 1980s

99 (NR) DeMar DeRozan - SF - TOR - 2010s*

98 (94) Dennis Rodman - PF - DET - 1990s

97 (93) Tom Heinsohn - PF - BOS - 1960s

96 (92) John Wall - PG - WAS - 2010s

95 (97) Trae Young - PG - ATL - 2020s*

94 (96) Mike Conley - PG - MEM - 2010s*

93 (90) Rod Strickland - PG - POR - 1990s

92 (89) Cliff Hagan - SF - STL - 1960s

91 (88) Walt Frazier - PG - NYK - 1970s

90 (87) Ray Allen - SG - MIL - 2000s

89 (86) Alonzo Mourning - C - MIA - 1990s

88 (85) Terry Porter - PG - POR - 1990s

87 (84) Dikembe Mutombo - C - ATL - 1990s

86 (83) Louie Dampier - PG - KEN - 1970s

85 (91) Jrue Holiday - PG - NOP - 2010s*

84 (82) Tracy McGrady - SG - ORL - 2000s

83 (81) Tim Hardaway - PG - GSW - 1990s

82 (80) Chris Webber - PF - SAC - 2000s

81 (NR) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - PG - OKC - 2020s*

80 (78) Sam Cassell - PG - MIL - 2000s

79 (77) Dominique Wilkins - SF - ATL - 1980s

78 (NR) Karl-Anthony Towns - C - MIN - 2020s*

77 (76) Jimmy Butler - SF - MIA - 2010s*

76 (74) Carmelo Anthony - SF - DEN - 2010s

75 (73) Alex English - SF - DEN - 1980s

74 (72) Maurice Cheeks - PG - PHI - 1980s

73 (79) Joel Embiid - C - PHI - 2020s*

72 (71) Deron Williams - PG - UTA - 2000s

71 (70) Ben Wallace - C - DET - 2000s

70 (75) Jayson Tatum - PF - BOS - 2020s*

69 (69) Bob McAdoo - C - BUF - 1970s

68 (68) Sam Jones - SG - BOS - 1960s

67 (67) Manu Ginobili - SG - SAS - 2000s

66 (66) Reggie Miller - SG - IND - 1990s

65 (65) Kevin McHale - PF - BOS - 1980s

64 (64) George McGinnis - PF - IND - 1970s

63 (63) Paul Pierce - SF - BOS - 2000s

62 (60) Chauncey Billups - PG - DET - 2000s

61 (59) Kyrie Irving - PG - CLE - 2010s*

60 (61) Draymond Green - PF - GSW - 2010s*

59 (57) George Gervin - SG - SAS - 1970s

58 (62) Luka Doncic - PG - DAL - 2020s*

57 (56) Pau Gasol - C - LAL - 2010s

56 (55) Scottie Pippen - SF - CHI - 1990s

55 (58) Kawhi Leonard - SF - SAS - 2010s*

54 (54) Clyde Drexler - SG - POR - 1990s

53 (53) Mark Jackson - PG - IND - 1990s

52 (52) Damian Lillard - PG - POR - 2010s*

51 (51) Rajon Rondo - PG - BOS - 2010s

50 (50) Kevin Johnson - PG - PHX - 1990s

49 (48) Elvin Hayes - PF - WAS - 1970s

48 (47) Dolph Schayes - PF - SYR - 1950s

47 (46) Gary Payton - PG - SEA - 1990s

46 (49) Anthony Davis - PF - NOP - 2010s*

45 (45) Dan Issel - C - DEN - 1970s

44 (44) Robert Parish - C - BOS - 1980s

43 (43) Dwight Howard - C - ORL - 2010s

42 (42) John Havlicek - SF - BOS - 1970s

41 (41) Bob Pettit - PF - STL - 1960s

40 (40) Allen Iverson - SG - PHI - 2000s

39 (39) Artis Gilmore - C - KEN - 1970s

38 (38) Rick Barry - SF - GSW - 1970s

37 (37) Isiah Thomas - PG - DET - 1980s

36 (36) Patrick Ewing - C - NYK - 1990s

35 (35) Charles Barkley - PF - PHI - 1990s

34 (34) Elgin Baylor - SF - LAL - 1960s

33 (33) David Robinson - C - SAS - 1990s

32 (32) George Mikan - C - MNL - 1950s

31 (31) Tony Parker - PG - SAS - 2010s

30 (30) Kevin Garnett - PF - MIN - 2000s

29 (28) Dirk Nowitzki - PF - DAL - 2000s

28 (27) Moses Malone - C - HOU - 1980s

27 (29) Giannis Antetokounmpo - PF - MIL - 2020s*

26 (26) Steve Nash - PG - PHX - 2000s

25 (25) Dwyane Wade - SG - MIA - 2010s

24 (24) Jason Kidd - PG - NJN - 2000s

23 (22) Oscar Robertson - PG - CIN - 1960s

22 (21) Larry Bird - SF - BOS - 1980s

21 (23) Nikola Jokic - C - DEN - 2020s*

20 (18) Chris Paul - PG - LAC - 2010s*

19 (19) Russell Westbrook - PG - OKC - 2010s*

18 (17) Bob Cousy - PG - BOS - 1950s

17 (20) James Harden - SG - HOU - 2010s*

16 (16) Julius Erving - SF - PHI - 1970s

15 (15) Karl Malone - PF - UTA - 1990s

14 (13) John Stockton - PG - UTA - 1990s

13 (12) Jerry West - PG - LAL - 1960s

12 (14) Stephen Curry - PG - GSW - 2010s*

11 (10) Hakeem Olajuwon - C - HOU - 1990s

10 (11) Kevin Durant - SF - OKC - 2010s*

9 (9) Kobe Bryant - SG - LAL - 2000s

8 (8) Bill Russell - C - BOS - 1960s

7 (7) Tim Duncan - PF - SAS - 2000s

6 (6) Magic Johnson - PG - LAL - 1980s

5 (5) Shaquille O'Neal - C - LAL - 2000s

4 (4) Wilt Chamberlain - C - PHW - 1960s

3 (3) Michael Jordan - SG - CHI - 1990s

2 (2) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - C - LAL - 1970s

1 (1) LeBron James - SF - CLE - 2010s*

NBA Playoff Odds - 2026

The playoff field is finally set, and games will begin later today on the journey to crown this season's NBA champion, with the defending champions as the clear favorite to repeat. Using the results of every game from this season, and after calculating the odds of any possible playoff scenario, I've come up with each team's odds of advancing through this season's playoffs and ending up with the title, and have included my own picks as well.

Odds of Winning First Round

(1) Thunder - 95.25%

(2) Spurs - 94.2%

(1) Pistons - 90.3%

(2) Celtics - 90.2%

(3) Knicks - 73.6%

(5) Rockets - 68.1%

(3) Nuggets - 66.8%

(4) Cavaliers - 62.3%

(5) Raptors - 37.7%

(6) Timberwolves - 33.2%

(4) Lakers - 31.9%

(6) Hawks - 26.4%

(7) 76ers - 9.8%

(8) Magic - 9.7%

(7) Trail Blazers - 5.8%

(8) Suns - 4.75%

The only lower seed that is favored in the first round is Houston, who is facing a Lakers team with multiple injuries and is far worse than its record would suggest, even when healthy.

Odds of Reaching Conference Finals

(1) Thunder - 84.9%

(2) Spurs - 73.8%

(1) Pistons - 71.0%

(2) Celtics - 62.9%

(3) Knicks - 29.3%

(3) Nuggets - 19.1%

(4) Cavaliers - 18.1%

(5) Rockets - 11.2%

(5) Raptors - 8.0%

(6) Timberwolves - 5.9%

(6) Hawks - 5.6%

(8) Magic - 2.9%

(4) Lakers - 2.4%

(7) 76ers - 2.2%

(8) Suns - 1.6%

(7) Trail Blazers - 1.3%

The top seeds in each conference are heavy favorites to reach the Conference Finals, but several other teams have at least a chance.

Odds of Reaching NBA Finals

(1) Thunder - 62.2%

(1) Pistons - 41.5%

(2) Celtics - 35.8%

(2) Spurs - 28.9%

(3) Knicks - 13.1%

(4) Cavaliers - 5.6%

(3) Nuggets - 3.9%

(5) Rockets - 3.6%

(5) Raptors - 1.8%

(6) Hawks - 1.4%

(6) Timberwolves - 0.7%

(4) Lakers - 0.415%

(8) Magic - 0.411%

(7) 76ers - 0.34%

(8) Suns - 0.26%

(7) Trail Blazers - 0.07%

Only the Spurs really threaten the Thunder in the West, while there are 3 or possibly 4 teams in the East with a realistic shot.

Odds of Winning NBA Championship

(1) Thunder - 48.2%

(2) Spurs - 18.3%

(1) Pistons - 14.1%

(2) Celtics - 12.1%

(3) Knicks - 3.0%

(3) Nuggets - 1.4%

(5) Rockets - 1.3%

(4) Cavaliers - 0.9%

(5) Raptors - 0.18%

(6) Timberwolves - 0.16%

(6) Hawks - 0.13%

(4) Lakers - 0.08%

(8) Suns - 0.05%

(8) Magic - 0.023%

(7) 76ers - 0.019%

(7) Trail Blazers - 0.008%

Oklahoma City is the favorite again by a wide margin, but it's much smaller than last year, when they had a 65.8% chance of winning it all. If the Spurs can defeat the Thunder, their odds of winning the Finals are 63.5%, as they would have home court over any team in the East.

My Picks

First Round

(1) Pistons over (8) Magic in 5

(2) Celtics over (7) 76ers in 4

(3) Knicks over (6) Hawks in 6

(5) Raptors over (4) Cavaliers in 6

(1) Thunder over (8) Suns in 6

(2) Spurs over (7) Trail Blazers in 5

(3) Nuggets over (6) Timberwolves in 4

(5) Rockets over (4) Lakers in 6

Second Round

(1) Pistons over (5) Raptors in 5

(2) Celtics over (3) Knicks in 5

(1) Thunder over (5) Rockets in 5

(2) Spurs over (3) Nuggets in 5

Conference Finals

(2) Celtics over (1) Pistons in 6

(1) Thunder over (2) Spurs in 7

NBA Finals

(1) Thunder over (2) Celtics in 7

In a matchup of the 2 most recent champions, the Thunder become the first team to repeat since the 2018 Warriors, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins his second straight Finals MVP.