Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #111 - Marianne Vos

Marianne Vos

Netherlands

Road/Track Cycling

Overall Ranks

#5 among Road Cyclists

#2 among Dutch Olympians

#1 among Dutch Cyclists

#1 among Female Cyclists

Olympic Results

2008

Points Race - Gold

2012

Road Race - Gold

2024

Road Race - Silver

Total

Events - 8

Gold - 2

Silver - 1

Marianne Vos was born on May 13, 1987 in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, and began racing bicycles when she was 6 years old, tagging along with her older brother. She was allowed to train with her brother's team, but was not allowed to compete because she was too young at the time, but as soon as she turned 8, she joined the races as well, and when she was 15, she won her first national championship.

She is primarily a road cyclist, but in 2008 she qualified for the Beijing Olympics in both road and track cycling. In the road race, two dozen riders remained together until the last lap, when 5 riders broke away from the pack. Vos remained with the main pack, and was the first of the pursuers to cross the finish line, getting her a 6th place finish. The individual time trial was next, held on the same course as the road race, but consisting of a single timed lap by each rider. Vos finished near the middle of the 25 riders, just over 2 minutes behind the gold medal time. 

Next, she competed in the track cycling points race, where she was the current world champion. The race consists of 100 laps of the track, with every 10th lap being a sprint, where the first 4 finishers are awarded points, and the racer with the most points at the end winning gold. She won the first sprint, and by the halfway point was solidly in the lead. She held back during the 6th sprint lap, then took advantage of her tired opponents to take off ahead of the field, lapping everyone, which earned her 20 points, which was equivalent to winning 4 sprints. After that, she only needed to finish the race to earn gold.

She fractured her collarbone during a race in May 2012, two months before the Olympics, and took over a month off to recover, then competed in the Dutch Olympic trials to make the road racing team. She had been the runner-up at the last 5 world championships in road racing, but was considered the favorite in London.

The pack all stayed together through the first 100km of the race, but with 40km to go, a Russian rider attempted to break away from the pack. Vos and two other riders followed, creating a breakaway pack of 4 riders. The American punctured a tire soon afterward, and the three leaders were left to compete for the medals. As the finish closed in, Vos and Lizzie Armitstead of Great Britain pulled slightly ahead and sprinted for the finish, with Vos winning by a nose, and the majority of the racers coming across the line 27 seconds later. Vos now had a gold medal in each of her cycling disciplines.

She competed in the time trial a few days later, but finished in the middle of the pack, just like 4 years earlier. She took some time off in 2015 and 2016, but returned to compete in the 2016 Olympic road race, but this time, she fell behind the first two packs of riders, and ended up finishing 9th, more than a minute behind the winner.

She competed again in 2020, which saw 5 riders break away from the pack only 2 km into the race, which was rare. Vos stayed with the main pack, which eventually fell more than 10 minutes behind the leaders. With 40km left, a rider from Austria broke away from the leaders and built a huge lead, while Vos and the rest of the pack caught up with the others breakaway riders. In the end, Vos ended up in 5th place, her 4th straight top 10 finish in the event in the Olympics.

She raced in her 5th Olympics in 2024, again just in the road race. With 22 km remaining, she was one of 3 riders to break away from the pack, one of which dropped back to the pack at the next big climb. Two other riders caught up soon afterward, and the four remained together until 3 km remained, at which point Kristen Faulkner of the USA pulled away from the others, who were unable to match pace, leaving 3 riders to fight for 2 medals. All three were even at the final sprint, but Vos was ahead by a tire at the finish, giving her a silver medal.

Vos is still actively competing in cycling events, and given her history of always finishing near the top in road races, there is no reason to believe that she won't continue to compete for Olympic medals, but what she has done so far has already made her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #112 - Iolanda Balas

Iolanda Balas

Romania

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#33 among Track & Field Athletes

#8 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#1 among Romanian Olympians

Olympic Results

1960

High Jump - Gold

1964

High Jump - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 2

Iolanda Balas was born on December 12, 1936 in Timisoara, Romania, to Hungarian parents. Her father served in the Hungarian army during World War II and was captured by the Soviets, who eventually returned him to Hungary, where he was forced to stay. Balas and her mother tried to return to Hungary to reunite the family after the war, but were not allowed to leave by the Romanian government.

She began jumping at age 13, and by 1955, when she was 18 years old, she had set the world record with a jump of 1.75 meters (5'9"). She went to the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne as the favorite as a result, and easily cleared both heights in qualifying, along with 17 others jumpers. She was one of 6 jumpers to clear 1.64 meters without missing a jump, and one of 10 to clear the height eventually.

Only 7 jumpers were able to succeed at 1.67 meters, with 4 doing it on the first try, while Balas needed a second attempt. and 2 others made in on the third and final try. When the bar went up to 1.7 meters, only Millie McDaniel of the USA was successful, giving her the gold medal. She then had the bar raised to 1.76 meters, which she cleared on her second attempt to break Balas' world record. Because she had missed a jump on the previous height, Balas was awarded 5th place behind the jumpers who didn't need an extra attempt.

Balas took the world record back in 1958, becoming the first woman to reach 1.8 meters, and she was once again the favorite in 1960 in Rome. She was the last to start jumping that year, waiting until the bar was at 1.6 meters to take her first attempt, which she made easily. 15 jumpers cleared 1.65 meters to advance to the final round, but only 6 had made it without a miss.

The entire field cleared 1.65 again in the final, but 10 jumpers were unable to get to 1.68, leaving 5 jumpers, none of whom had missed yet. Three jumpers were successful on the first jump at 1.71, with another making it on her final attempt, but at 1.73, only Balas was successful, and she had her first gold, but she didn't stop there, going over at 1.77, then 1.81, and then 1.85, before failing at 1.87. Her new Olympic record jump was about 6'1", 6 inches higher than any other jumper in the competition.

The next year, she set another new world record of 1.91 meters (6'3"), which would not be broken for 10 years. She had a torn ankle tendon when the 1964 Olympics came around, but competed anyway. At that point she hadn't lost a single competition in 8 years, since her failure in her first Olympics, but she was seen as possibly vulnerable due to the injury.

15 jumpers cleared 1.68 meters to qualify for the final, but 3 dropped when attempting that height again in the final. One more was lost at 1.71, but the field really narrowed at 1.74, with 7 missing at that height. Balas skipped that height to nurse her injury, but made it over 1.76 on her first jump, along with Michele Mason Brown of Australia, with one other jumper making it on the final attempt. 

All 3 were successful again at 1.78, but the Soviet challenger dropped off at 1.8. At 1.82, Mason-Brown was unable to clear, giving Balas a second straight gold medal, but she kept going despite her injury, clearing both 1.86 and 1.90 on the first try, setting a new Olympic record. She then attempted to break her world record by jumping 1.92, but missed on all 3 attempts. She had again beaten all of her competition by a big margin.

She sat out for the next few years due to injury before officially retiring in 1967, at which point she married her coach, Ioan Soter, and became a physical education teacher. If she had performed up to her potential in her first Olympics, she would have been much higher on this list, but as it stands, her two dominant gold medal wins still make her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #113 - Paul Elvstrom

Paul Elvstrom

Denmark

Sailing

Overall Ranks

#1 among Sailers

#1 among Danish Olympians

Olympic Results

1948

One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy - Gold

1952

One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy - Gold

1956

One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy - Gold

1960

One-Person Heavyweight Dinghy - Gold

Total

Events - 8

Gold - 4

Paul Bert Elvstrom was born on February 25, 1928 in Hellerup, Denmark. His father was a sea captain who died when Paul was young. He lived right along the strait between Denmark and Sweden, and became obsessed with sailing from a very young age. A neighbor who recognized his talent and interest gave him his first boat.

His first Olympic appearance came in 1948, when he was just 20 years old. He competed in the one-person heavyweight dinghy, which used a boat called the Firefly that year, which was usually manned by two sailors. All competitors sailed in 7 races, with scores given after each race based on order of finish, and each sailor's worst race not counted. 

Elvstrom got his worst race out of the way early, as he failed to finish the first race, resulting in no points scored. He improved over the next several races, and was in 8th place after the fifth race, but after winning the final two races, he pulled into the lead and walked away with a gold medal.

After the 1948 Olympics, 4th-place finisher Rickard Sarby of Sweden designed a new ship which he called the Finn, which was designed for a single sailor, and became the model used in the event starting in 1952. Elvstrom returned to defend his gold medal, and had an easy time of it, winning 3 of the first 4 races outright, which gave him a big enough lead that he could have skipped the final 3 races and still won the gold. Instead, he finished 3rd, 4th, and 1st in those three races and ended up with the largest win ever in the event.

He was expected to win again in 1956, and he started out well, winning the first race, but he struggled in the next two races, finishing in the middle of the pack in each, which left him in second place nearly halfway through. After that point, he figured it out, winning 4 straight races to run away with the gold medal yet again.

He returned in 1960 looking to make history. No Olympian had ever won the same individual event 4 straight times, and he was favored to be the first. He won 3 of the first 6 races, and finished in the top 5 in the others, leaving him with a large enough lead that he didn't need to compete in the final race, so he sat out and took the easy gold. 

He skipped the 1964 Olympics, then made his return in 1968, but in a different event, the two-person keelboat, sailing with partner Poul Mik-Meyer. The pair remained in contention for a medal throughout the competition, and was in third place entering the final race, but they already couldn't reach gold at that point. Unfortunately, they finished 5th in that race, which put them in 4th place overall, leaving them just short of a medal.

In 1968, he competed in the three-person keelboat, which was shortened to 6 races due to the hostage situation in the Olympic village, but his team finished around the middle in the first two races, leaving them far behind the pack. They won the third race, which put them in 5th overall, but they dropped to 12th after race four, and after they bumped another boat in race five, resulting in a disqualification, and they refused to finish the event in protest.

He skipped the next two Olympic games, but returned in 1984 to compete in Los Angeles in the Multihull event, partnering with his daughter, Trine. They kept themselves in third place through the first four races, but then fell to 4th place after finishing #14 in race five, and remained there for the rest of the event, falling just short of a medal again.

The father-daughter pair returned for one final attempt at a medal in 1988, but they only finished in the top 5 in one race, and were never in medal contention. His Olympic career spanned 40 years, and he competed in 8 different games, and while he was in contention for medals late in his career, winning 4 straight gold medals in the same event made his one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #114 - Laszlo Papp

Laszlo Papp

Hungary

Boxing

Overall Ranks

#6 among Hungarian Olympians

#2 among Boxers

#1 among Hungarian Boxers

Olympic Results

1948

Middleweight - Gold

1952

Light-Middleweight - Gold

1956

Light-Middleweight - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 3

Laszlo Papp was born on Mar 25, 1926 in Budapest, Hungary, and began boxing at the age of 16. His training was interrupted soon afterward by World War II, but as soon as the war ended, he picked up his gloves again, and became one of the greatest boxers ever.

He made his Olympic debut in 1948 in London, and he made a big splash immediately. He knocked out his first opponent in the second round, then won on a TKO early in his next match, followed by a first-round knockout in the quarterfinals. His next two fights were a little tougher, but he still won both in unanimous decisions, with the final coming over Johnny Wright, who was in front of his home crowd.

In 1952, new weight classes were added to the Olympic boxing schedule, allowing Papp to fight in the light middleweight division instead of middleweight, where he had won in 1948. He started out dominant again in Helsinki, with two straight second-round knockouts to open the tournament, followed by 3 straight unanimous decisions to give him his second straight gold medal.

The field in Melbourne in 1956 was much smaller, and Papp was a big favorite to win again, which would make him the first boxer ever to win 3 gold medals. After a first-round bye, he knocked out his first opponent in the third round, then defeated the defending European champion by unanimous decision in the semifinal. He faced Jose Torres, an American from Puerto Rico, in the final, and won again by decision, but for the first time it was not unanimous, but it didn't matter, as Papp had made history with his 3rd gold medal.

Turning pro was not allowed in communist Hungary, so when Papp turned pro in 1957, he did all of his training and fighting in Austria. He fought 29 professional fights over the next 7 years, never losing a single fight, before Hungary revoked his visa, ending his pro career, making him one of the few fighters to ever retire without a loss.

It may have been a long time ago, but Papp was completely dominant right up until his final Olympic bout, winning nearly half of his bouts by KO or TKO. He was the first boxer ever, and one of only 3 so far, to win 3 Olympic gold medals, and is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #115 - Mario Kindelan

Mario Kindelan

Cuba

Boxing

Overall Ranks

#3 among Boxers

#1 among Cuban Olympians

Olympic Results

2000

Lightweight - Gold

2004

Lightweight - Gold

Total

Events - 2

Gold - 2

Mario Cesar Kindelan Mesa was born on August 10, 1971 in Holguin, Cuba, and began boxing at a young age, then began boxing in international tournaments in 1993, winning the Caribbean Games title that year. He went on to win his first World Championship in 1999, which was near the beginning of a winning streak that lasted more than 5 years.

He entered his first Olympics in 2000 as a big favorite in the lightweight division, having won every major tournament in the past 2 years, and he won all 4 of his bouts easily, including a TKO in the second round and a 14-4 domination in the gold medal match. 

He didn't lose a single match between the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, including World Championship victories in 2001 and 2003, plus wins at the Goodwill Games and the Pan Am Games. He was already a heavy favorite heading into Athens when he got more good news: the silver medalist from the 2003 World Championships did not qualify for the Olympics.

His path to the gold medal match in 2004 was extremely smooth. After a first round TKO, he won each of his next three bouts by double digits, setting up a showdown with Amir Khan, a 17-year-old British phenom who had been just as dominant so far. The match was the closest that Kindelan faced in 2004, but he still won handily, 30-22, taking his second Olympic gold.

He retired right after that match, with his 5-year winning streak intact. Turning pro is frowned upon in Cuba, so he never had any earnings from his boxing career, and years later, he attempted to sell his 2004 gold medal, but Khan stepped up and gave him $5000 and told him to keep the medal. Though he only competed in the Olympics twice, he won every bout easily, making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

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.