Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #38 - Lyubov Yegorova

Lyubov Yegorova

Russia

Cross Country Skiing

Overall Ranks

#3 among Russian Olympians

#2 among Cross Country Skiers

#1 among Female Russian Olympians

#1 among Russian Cross Country Skiers

Olympic Results

1992

5 km - Silver

15 km - Gold

30 km - Silver

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Gold

1994

5 km - Gold

15 km - Silver

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 12

Gold - 6

Silver - 3

Lyubov Ivanovna Yegorova was born on May 5, 1966 in Seversk, USSR, which is now part of Russia, and began competing internationally in cross country skiing when she was 17 years old. It took her several years to get to the level where she could compete in the Olympics, but once she did, she was dominant.

She made her first Olympic team in 1992, competing for the Unified Team shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Her first event was the 15 km, and she destroyed the field, leading at every checkpoint on the course, and she ended up winning the gold medal by a minute and 9 seconds, a sign of what was to come.

The next event was the shortest, the 5 km, and this one was raced in a heavy snowstorm. She was slightly behind the leader at the midway checkpoint, and was able to close the gap a bit, but not quite enough, as she ended up losing by 0.9 seconds, and had to be content with a silver medal.

The next event was the skiathlon, where skiers took off based on their finish in the 5 km race the previous day. Since she was less than a second behind, she started at the same time as the leader, and both were quickly overtaken by Stefania Belmondo of Italy, who had started just 12 seconds later. She led for 6.5 km of the 10 km race, at which point Yegorova was able to take the lead, which she extended to 24 seconds by the finish, earning her a second gold medal.

A few days later she competed in the relay, skiing the anchor leg for the favored Unified Team. They held a decent lead after the first leg, but Norway caught them on leg 2, taking the lead by 9 seconds at the next exchange. Larisa Lazutina (#67) gave them back the lead by 2 seconds before Yegorova took off, and she close the door on Norway, bringing home the gold by over 21 seconds.

The final event was the longest, the 30 km, which was being contested by women for the first time. Yegorova started off a little slowly, but picked up the pace after the first checkpoint, and ended up spending nearly the entire race in second place, but she was never able to get closer than 8 seconds behind Belmondo, who would take the gold, while Yegorova ended up with another silver.

The next Olympics would happen just 2 years later, thanks to the schedule change to stagger the Winter and Summer Games. She competed in the same 5 events, this time representing Russia, starting with the 15 km, where she was the defending champ. This time, she would stay in second place for the entire race, unable to catch up to Manuela Di Centa of Italy, who built a lead of more than 37 seconds at the final checkpoint, then coasted in for an easy win, finishing 18.5 seconds ahead of Yegorova.

In the 5 km, which she had narrowly lost 2 years earlier, Yegorova changed the script. She had a slight lead at the midpoint, just under 4 seconds, but then pulled away in the second half, ending up 19.5 seconds ahead of Di Centa to take her first gold in Lillehammer, and 4th overall.

The skiathlon was held later that afternoon, and Yegorova got a nice headstart thanks to winning the 5 km. Belmondo skied the fastest time of the competition, 13 seconds faster than Yegorova, but she started out nearly a minute behind, and never truly challenged. Di Centa was able to close the gap slightly, but Yegorova still won the race by just over 8 seconds to win another gold medal.

The relay was next, and it was again a close competition between Russia and Norway. Russia held the lead by 8 seconds after the initial leg, but Norway had pulled ahead by nearly the same amount after leg 2. Russia close the gap to just one second after the third leg, then Yegorova took over for the anchor leg, and left no doubt who would win the gold medal, as she finished 30 seconds ahead of her Norwegian foe.

Her final event was the 30 km, and up to that point she had never finished worse than second in an Olympic race, but that would change in this one. She was in 8th place at the first checkpoint, and made steady progress upward throughout the race, reaching 4th place at the final checkpoint, but she was still 20 seconds behind the medalists, and was unable to close the gap, finishing up in 5th place.

In 1997, she won the gold medal in the 5 km race at the World Championships, but afterward she failed her drug test, testing positive for bromantan, a stimulant. Her medal was stripped, and she was banned from competition for two years. She retired at that point, but did decide to attempt a comeback for the 2002 Olympics. 

She competed in 2 events in the 2002 Olympics, starting with the 10 km. She was one of the faster skiers in the event, but was still nowhere near the medalists, at least 30 seconds behind the entire time, and finished in 7th, though that was eventually moved up to 5th after 2 of her teammates were disqualified for failed drug tests. She also competed in the sprint event, but failed to advance out of the quarterfinal round, ending up ranked 11th. She retired for good in 2003.

Though she was caught doping after her Olympic successes, there is no evidence that she was cheating while winning all of those Olympic medals, although the history of Russian Olympians suggests that she may have. Still, it was never proven, and the fact that she won 9 total gold and silver medals between the 1992 and 1994 games makes her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #40 - Johann Olav Koss

Johann Olav Koss

Norway

Speed Skating

Overall Ranks

#2 among Norwegian Olympians

#1 among Speed Skaters

Olympic Results

1992

1500m - Gold

10000m - Silver

1994

1500m - Gold

5000m - Gold

10000m - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 4

Silver - 1

Johann Olav Koss was born on October 29, 1968 in Drammen, Norway, and grew up skating. He was Norway's national junior champion in 1987, but struggled for a few years after moving up to senior races. He finally started to see some success in 1990, and by the time the 1992 Olympics came around, he was one of the better speed skaters in the world.

The week before the Olympics, he had to undergo surgery due to an inflamed pancreas, but he still pushed through it and competed. His first event was the 5000m, where the ice was impacted by rainfall earlier in the day, and he was one of the first skaters to go, resulting in a slower time than he wanted on the soft ice. After the first several pairs had finished, they touched up the ice, and the later skaters had more success, while Koss ended up finishing 7th, which would end up being the worst finish of his career.

His next event was the 1500m, and though he should have been the favorite, it was unclear how healthy he was after the surgery and his last race. Two Dutch skaters had the top times when Koss took the ice in the 8th pair, with Leo Visser in the lead. Koss matched Visser's pace exactly through the entire race, then sped up slightly on the final lap to take the lead by 0.09 seconds. Another Norwegian skater threatened that time in the next pair, but came up 0.04 seconds short, and none of the remaining 28 skaters came very close, and he was able to hold on for his first gold medal.

In the 10000m race, the top time kept getting lowered by one skater in each successive pair. Robert Vunderink of the Netherlands set the time to beat in the second pair, but that time was immediately beaten by Geir Karlstad of Norway, who skated nearly 5 seconds faster. Koss was up next, and he beat his teammate's time by 3.5 seconds, but then Bart Veldkamp of the Netherlands beat his time by 2.46 seconds in the next pair. There were still 20 skaters to go, but none got within 10 seconds of a medal, and Koss was able to take home the silver.

The next Olympics were held just two years later, due to an adjustment made to stagger the years for the Summer and Winter Games, and they were held in Lillehammer, in his native Norway. Just before the 1994 Olympics, Koss had broken the world record in the 5000m, which was his first event that year. His teammate, Kjell Storelid, broke the Olympic record while racing in the second pair, but after Koss went in the 4th pair, it was all over. Koss beat Storelid's time by 7.72 seconds, and broke his own world record by more than half a second, and no other skater came close the rest of the way.

Next up was the 1500m, where Rintje Ritsma of the Netherlands had just broken the world record the month before, so when Koss took the ice in the second pair, he had that in mind. He needed a final lap that was nearly a full second better than anyone else to pull it off, but he was able to break the world record by 0.31 seconds. Only 2 more skaters were able to get within a second of his time, including Ritsma himself, but none was able to defeat him, and he took his second gold of the games.

He was also the world record holder going into the 10000m race, and he was the first of the favorites to take the ice, skating in the 5th pair. He kept a steady pace throughout the entire race, and by the end, he had obliterated his own world record by 13 seconds, and left everyone else to compete for the other medals. Storelid ended up coming in second for silver, but he was 18.7 seconds behind Koss, who won an absolutely dominant 3rd gold medal of the games.

He abruptly retired right after his record-setting performance to attend medical school. Many years later, accusations were made that he had been using PEDs during his triple gold performance, and that that had been the reason for his early retirement, but there has still not been any proof of this. He won 4 gold medals in only 6 Olympic events, and set new world records in all 3 events in 1994, which makes him the greatest speed skater of all time, and one of the greatest Olympians.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #59 - Nicole Uphoff

Nicole Uphoff

Germany

Equestrian Dressage

Overall Ranks

#2 among Dressage Riders

#2 among German Olympians

Olympic Results

1988

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

1992

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 4

Nicole Uphoff was born on January 25, 1967 in Duisburg, West Germany, and began riding in competitions with her horse, Rembrandt, when she was 18 years old, and by the time she was 21, she was recognized as one of the best in the world, and made her first Olympic team, riding for West Germany.

In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, her first event was the team competition, where up to 4 riders from each nation went through the process, and the three highest scores counted toward the overall score. Uphoff was the highest scorer of any competitor overall, and with one of her teammates finishing in 3rd, the German team won easily, 138 points above the Swiss, who came in second.

The top 18 riders advanced to the final in the individual event, with only 3 per nation allowed to compete, leaving one West German out. Uphoff had scored 1458 in the team round, just 3 points ahead of the next qualifier, but in the final, she was nearly perfect, and raised the bar to 1521 points, which allowed her to run away with the gold by 59 points.

She followed up her pair of Olympic golds with 2 pairs of World Championship golds, and she was the favorite heading to Barcelona in 1992, competing for the newly reunified Germany. In the team event, she again had the highest score, with 1768 under a different scoring system than before, and she was 6 points ahead of Isabell Werth, her teammate, which helped them win the team gold by nearly 500 points.

The top 16 riders advanced to the individual final, except that the 4th German rider was left out again, even though they were #4 in qualifying. In the final, the German trio again finished at the top, sweeping the medals, with Uphoff finishing 75 points ahead of Werth to successfully defend her gold medal, becoming just the second rider in history to win twice in a row, while Rembrandt became the first horse ever to repeat as champion. 

In the next World Championship, she ended up only in second place, and by 1996, she failed to make the German team for the Atlanta Olympics, but as defending individual champion, she had the right to compete in the individual event, which she accepted. That event was expanded by a round that year, and she was in 9th after qualifying and 8th after the first round of the final, but dropped out before the final round, which was won by Werth, her teammate.

Rembrandt retired after the 1996 Olympics, and Uphoff spent a few years looking for a new horse. She won a competition in 1999 on a new horse, Borbet Rubinstein, but again failed to make the Olympic team in 2000, and never again attempted to return to the Olympics, though she didn't officially retire until 2013. While she was at the top of her game, she was unbeatable, winning all 4 of her Olympic gold medals in blowout fashion, making her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #67 - Larisa Lazutina

Larisa Lazutina

Russia

Cross Country Skiing

Overall Ranks

#5 among Cross Country Skiers

#4 among Russian Olympians

#2 among Female Russian Olympians

#2 among Russian Cross Country Skiers

Olympic Results

1992

Relay - Gold

1994

Relay - Gold

1998

5 km - Gold

15 km - Silver

30 km - Bronze

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Gold

2002

15 km - Silver*

30 km - Gold*

Skiathlon - Silver*

Total

Events - 17

Gold - 6*

Silver - 4*

Bronze - 1

*Medals later rescinded due to failed drug test

Larisa Yevgenyevna Ptitsyna was born on June 1, 1965 in Kondopoga, USSR, which is now part of Russia. She first competed internationally in cross country skiing when she was 18 years old, and won her first World Championship medals in 1987, then won the World Cup in 1990. She made her first Olympic team in 1992, competing for the Unified Team shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

She first competed in the 5 km race in Albertville, and finished in a respectable 7th place out of 62 skiers who finished the race, though she was 19 seconds short of the bronze medalist. The next day was the skiathlon, where they started in the order in which they finished the 5 km, based on how many seconds behind they finished, so Lazutina started 27 seconds after the leaders. She finished 8th in that race, more than a minute and a half behind the gold medalist.

Her next event was the relay, where she was asked to ski the third leg. Russia had fallen behind Norway at the midway point by 9 seconds, but Lazutina was able to overtake the Norwegian skier and handed off with a 2.5 second lead, which was stretched to more than 21 seconds by the end, which earned Lazutina her first Olympic gold.

Her final event was the 30 km, the first time women had competed at that distance in the Olympics. She came in 5th, but there was a gap of over 2 minutes between the medalists and the next group of skiers, which included Lazutina. She won her first individual world championship gold the next year in the 5 km race, just in time for another Olympic Games in 1994.

She was considered one of the favorites in the 15 km race in Lillehammer, but finished in 5th place, 47 seconds behind the medalists. She came in 6th in the 5 km, then moved up to 4th in the skiathlon, but still didn't have an individual medal. She also competed in the relay, running the second leg, where she was handed an 8 second lead, but fell behind Norway during her run, before Lyubov Yegorova took the lead back on the anchor leg and won the gold for Russia.

She won 4 gold medals at the 1995 World Championships, 3 in individual events, and had higher hopes for the 1998 Olympics. She started out with the 15km race, where she was a favorite, and she led almost the entire race, but she was passed on the homestretch by her teammate, Olga Danilova, who won the race by 5.6 seconds, leaving a silver for Lazutina, who was more than 51 seconds ahead of the bronze medalist.

Next she competed in the 5 km race, in the final time it would be contested at the Olympics, and she was expected to win, and she finally came through, winning the gold by 4.8 seconds, her first individual Olympic gold. That gave her a 5-second head start in the skiathlon, and she was able to hold her lead through that entire race, winning by 6.5 seconds to take her second gold of the games.

She skied the anchor leg in the relay that year, and by the time she took off, Russia had a huge lead, which she maintained for her entire leg, giving the Russians a gold medal by 24.5 seconds over the Norwegians. Her final event was the 30 km, where her teammate, Yuliya Chepalova, took the lead early, and led nearly the entire race, while Lazutina skied on her own a good distance behind. In the end, she won the bronze medal, more than a minute behind the silver medalist, but more than a second ahead of 4th place, giving her medals in all 5 events in Nagano.

She returned for her 4th Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City, starting again with the 15 km race. Chepalova had the lead early, then was passed by Stefania Belmondo of Italy, but her pole broke with just over 4 km to go, and Lazutina took the lead at that point. Belmondo got a replacement pole and made a hard push, and was able to pass Lazutina just before the finish, and Lazutina ended up with a silver medal.

In the 10 km, which was now the shortest race, Lazutina was in contention throughout, but ended up falling behind and finishing in 4th place, 12 seconds short of the bronze medal. The skiathlon was next, but was different this time, since the 5km was no longer a separate event. Instead, they held a 5km race to determine the order for the second half of the race, held the same afternoon. Lazutina finished #2 in both halves, taking home another silver medal.

Her final race was the 30 km, which had never been her strongest race, but this time, she took the lead early, and never gave it up, ending up almost 2 minutes ahead at the end as she won her first gold medal of the Salt Lake games. The next year, Olga Danilova, her teammate, was disqualified for using PEDs, and Lazutina moved up to gold in the skiathlon and bronze in the 10 km. Two months later, however, Lazutina was also disqualified for using the exact same substance, forfeiting all of her medals from the 2002 Games.

She was given a 2-year ban for the failed drug test, and decided to retire at that point. She went on to become a sports advisor to Putin after retiring from competition. Even though she was caught cheating, and there is a chance that she wasn't clean in 1998, her 5 medals in those games were very impressive, and she had 11 medals overall briefly, though only 7 are still recognized. Even with all of that, she had a long and strong Olympic career, and was one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #68 - Jenny Thompson

Jenny Thompson

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#22 among American Olympians

#8 among Swimmers

#7 among Female American Olympians

#7 among American Swimmers

#2 among Female American Swimmers

Olympic Results

1992

100m freestyle - Silver

4x100m freestyle relay - Gold

4x100m medley relay - Gold

1996

4x100m freestyle relay - Gold

4x200m freestyle relay - Gold

4x100m medley relay - Gold

2000

100m freestyle - Bronze

4x100m freestyle relay - Gold

4x200m freestyle relay - Gold

4x100m medley relay - Gold

2004

4x100m freestyle relay - Silver

4x100m medley relay - Silver

Total

Events - 17

Gold - 8

Silver - 3

Bronze - 1

Jennifer Beth Thompson was born on February 26, 1973 in Danvers, Massachusetts, and began swimming when she was 7 years old. At age 13, she moved to Dover, New Hampshire for training, and by the time she was 19, she held the world record in both the 50m and 100m freestyle races, just in time for the Barcelona Olympics.

Going into the 100m race in 1992, she was the favorite going into the event, thanks to her world record at the Olympic trials. In the prelim, she set a new Olympic record of 54.69 seconds, but in the final Zhuang Yong of China took the lead early and was able to hold off Thompson clear to the end, winning by 0.2 seconds and beating Thompson's new Olympic record, while leaving her with the silver medal.

She next competed in the 200m freestyle, and she was able to qualify for the B final, but decided not to race in order to focus on other events where she could win a medal. The next day, she swam the anchor leg in the 4x100m freestyle relay final. China took the lead on the first leg behind a great split from Zhuang, with the USA in third, but Dara Torres pulled them into second after her leg. When Thompson entered the pool, China was still ahead, but it was close. Thompson went out and swam the fastest relay leg in history to bring home the gold medal for the Americans, who finished 0.66 seconds ahead of China.

Next up was the 4x100m Medley Relay, where she again swam the freestyle anchor leg in the final. Germany and the Unified Team kept it close through the first half of the race, but the USA pulled away during the butterfly, and then Thompson swam the third-fastest split of all time to bring home another gold in world record time.

Her final event in Barcelona was the 50m, where she was also the world record holder. She won her prelim heat, but in the final, she came in 5th place, which was a major disappointment, but she still left her first Olympics with 2 golds and a silver.

In 1996, she failed to qualify for any of the individual events, but was still added to the Olympic team to compete in relays. In the 4x100m freestyle relay, she again had the honor of swimming the anchor leg in the final, and after Amy Van Dyken gave the USA the lead on the second leg, Thompson put it away at the end, giving the Americans the gold medal by more than a second over China.

In the 4x100m medley relay, Thompson swam the butterfly leg in the prelim, in which America had the bets time, and then they went on to win gold in the final without Thompson, instead using gold medalist Angel Martino in that slot. She also swam the anchor leg in the 4x200m relay final, where she was given a 1.5 second lead, which she held through the finish, as the Americans won the gold medal in world record time, beating the world record set in the prelim by 4.5 seconds.

Over the next three years, she won 3 straight world championships in the 100m freestyle, so she went to Sydney in 2000 expecting big things. She started again with the 4x100m freestyle relay, where she swam the anchor in the final, and stretched a 1.8 second lead to 3.2 seconds to set another Olympic record and win another relay gold.

She then swam in the 100m butterfly, and she won both of her heats to qualify for the final, but in the final, she was never really in contention, finishing 5th, more than 2 seconds behind the winner. She then swam anchor in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and the Americans trailed for most of the final, before Thompson pulled ahead of Australia at the final turn, and ended up winning by 0.7 seconds, again setting an Olympic record.

Next up was the 100m freestyle, where she was 3-time defending world champion, but she came in second in the semifinal round behind eventual gold medalist Inge de Bruijn, and ended up finishing in a tie for 3rd with Dara Torres of the USA for the bronze medal. In the 4x100m medley relay, she swam the butterfly leg in the final, and all 4 Americans had the fastest split for their stroke, and they easily beat Australia by over 3 seconds and set a world record.

She retired after the Olympics to pursue a medical degree, but decided to begin training again in 2002 for a possible Olympic return, and she ended up making the team. For the 4th straight Olympics, she swam the anchor leg in the final of the 4x100m freestyle, but unlike the last three times, she was passed on the final stretch by Jodie Henry of Australia, and the USA had to settle for a silver medal.

She qualified for the final in both the 100m butterfly and the 50m freestyle, but she ended up finishing 5th in the fly and 7th in the freestyle, ending her quest for an individual Olympic gold. She also swam the butterfly leg in the 4x100m medley relay final, where she was again passed during her leg, and the Americans finished with another silver medal. 

She retired again after the Olympics to return to finish medical school, graduating in 2006, and she has worked since then as a pediatric anesthesiologist. Even though she never won individual gold in the Olympics, her 8 gold medals in the relays are a record, and only 1 behind Katie Ledecky for the most golds for an American woman, making her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #72 - Kim Su-Nyeong

Kim Su-Nyeong

South Korea

Archery

Overall Ranks

#1 among Korean Olympians

#1 among Archers

Olympic Results

1988

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

1992

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2000

Individual - Bronze

Team - Gold

Kim Su-Nyeong was born on April 5, 1971 in Chungcheongbuk, South Korea, and took up archery at a very early age, and was a phenom. When she was only 17 years old, she made the Korean Olympic team, already a tough feat, but what she did in Seoul was even more impressive.

In the individual event, which consisted of 144 arrows, she set a new world record with a score of 1331, 33 points ahead of any other archer. The next 4 rounds each consisted of 36 arrows, and Kim improved her score in each round, starting with a 331 in the first round, and ending with a 344 in the final round, 12 points ahead of any other archer, giving her a dominant gold medal at age 17.

In the team event, each nation was represented by 3 archers, which made South Korea the huge favorite, since they won all 3 medals in the individual event. Each archer shot 36 arrows per round, for a total of 108 per nation, and after scoring 1000 in the first round, they won the gold in the final with a score of 982, 30 points ahead of the runners-up, Indonesia and the USA.

Kim won the next 2 World Championships, and was a heavy favorite to repeat as champion in Barcelona. In the individual ranking round, her teammate, Jo Yun-Jeong, broke the world record by scoring 1375, 11 points ahead of Kim. The rest of the event was held in single-elimination matches of 12 arrows. Kim won her first three matches by at least 10 points, which put her in the semifinal round.

In the semifinal, she faced Wang Xiaozhu of China, and it went right down to the wire, with Kim pulling out the victory by a single point on the last arrow. She advanced to the final, where she would face Jo, but this time she fell short, losing 112-105 to her teammate to end up with a silver medal.

They were again heavily favored in the team event, and they won their first match easily, but then were given a bit of a surprise by Sweden, who tied with them in the quarterfinal, before the Koreans won in a shootout. They didn't let that happen again, as they beat France by 25 in the semifinal, and China by 8 in the final to take the gold medal again.

Kim retired after the 1992 Olympics, at age 21, to marry and raise two children, but she unretired in 1999, hoping to return to the Olympics in 2000, which she achieved. In the individual event ranking round, which was now just 72 arrows, she had the best score, with 671. The first three tournament rounds consisted of 18 arrows each, and Kim had no trouble getting through those to the quarterfinals.

Starting in that round, each match was just 12 arrow. She won her quarterfinal match by 6 points, the largest margin in that round, which put her up against Yun Mi-Jin, also of South Korea, in the semifinal. The match was close, but Kim fell short by 2 points, while Yun went on to win gold. Kim faced Choe Ok-Sil of North Korea for the bronze, and came out victorious, 103-101.

With all 3 medalists in the individual event, the Koreans were again the favorites in the team event by a large margin, and they lived up to that, winning all 3 of their matches by at least 12 points, giving them an easy gold medal, the 4th that Kim had won in her Olympic career. 

Soon after that triumphant Olympic return, Kim retired for good. She is widely regarded as the greatest archer of all time, and I agree. She won medals in all 6 events in which she competed, won 4 gold medals, and held the world record at every single distance before her first retirement. Add that all together, and you have one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #101 - Fu Mingxia

Fu Mingxia

China

Diving

Overall Ranks

#7 among Chinese Olympians

#1 among Divers

Olympic Results

1992

Platform - Gold

1996

Springboard - Gold

Platform - Gold

2000

Springboard - Gold

Synchronized Springboard - Silver

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 4

Silver - 1

Fu Mingxia was born on August 16, 1978 in Wuhan, China. She began practicing gymnastics at age 5, but the coaches felt that she wasn't flexible enough for gymnastics, and that her body control would make her a good diver, so she switched sports at age 7 and never looked back.

She won a gold medal at the World Championships when she was just 12 years old, and qualified for the Chinese Olympic team at age 13. She competed in the platform diving event in Barcelona, which was only allowed because she was weeks away from turning 14, and absolutely crushed the competition, placing first in qualifying by nearly 32 points, then winning in the final by just short of 50 points. She was the youngest gold medalist in Barcelona, and is still the 5th-youngest of all time.

In 1994, she won another World Championship in platform diving, making her a big favorite to repeat her gold medal in Atlanta in 1996, and it went just as expected. She led after qualifying and the semifinal, increasing her lead as she went, and in the final she put it completely out of reach, winning by more than 42 points.

She also competed in the springboard in Atlanta, where the favorite was Tan Shuping, another Chinese woman and defending world champion. Tan had two bad dives in a row in the qualifying round, however, and failed to advance to the semifinal. Fu, meanwhile, qualified in 4th place, then held that spot through the semifinal round, before making her move in the final, which consisted of 5 dives. Vera Ilyina, the leader to start the final, succumbed to the pressure, and after two dives, Fu had moved ahead of her and into the lead, a lead which she extended over the next three dives to win the gold medal going away, with a final margin of 35.49 points, making her the first woman to win both diving events at the same Olympics since 1960.

After the 1996 Olympics, she retired in order to attend college, feeling burned out from nonstop training for nearly a decade. After a couple of years away from the sport, she started diving on the university's team, and rediscovered her love for it, and decided to give the Olympics another try. She once again made the team, and headed to Sydney for the 2000 Games.

Her first event was the Synchronized Springboard, a new event that year, paired with Guo Jingjing, an up-and-coming diver who would go on to win 4 Olympic gold medals herself in future Olympics. The pair was expected to win, but the Russian pair started strong and kept a safe distance ahead of the Chinese throughout, winning by 11 points and giving Fu her first-ever silver medal.

Her final event was the springboard, where she was defending champion, but not the favorite. That would be Guo, who had beaten her at the Chinese Olympic trials. Fu led the competition through the qualifying and semifinal rounds, but Guo closed the gap throughout, and took the lead after two dives in the final round. That's when Fu made her move, posting the best score among all divers on each of her final three dives, and she ended up defeating Guo by 11 points to win a final gold medal. 

Following those games, Fu, now 22 years old, retired from diving for good. Even when she was just a child, she dominated the competition, with two of the biggest blowouts in Olympic diving history, and her 5 medal in 5 events make her the greatest Olympic diver of all time, and one of the greatest Olympians.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #104 - Xiong Ni

Xiong Ni

China

Diving

Overall Ranks

#8 among Chinese Olympians

#2 among Divers

#1 among Male Divers

Olympic Results

1988

Platform - Silver

1992

Platform - Bronze

1996

Springboard - Gold

2000

Springboard - Gold

Synchronized Springboard - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 3

Silver - 1

Bronze - 1

Xiong Ni was born on January 11, 1974 in Changsha, China, and was trained as a diver from a young age. At the age of 8, he was selected for the Hunan Province team, and by age 12 he was selected for the national training center. The next year, he won his first international competition, and at age 14, he represented China in the Olympics for the first time.

The favorite to win the Platform diving event in Seoul was Greg Louganis, the defending champion, but many were excited to see the young Xiong. He finished the qualifying round in second place, and was the only diver anywhere close to Louganis' score, sitting 16 points behind at that point. In the final round, which consisted of 10 dives, the two quickly pulled away from the rest of the field, and there were never more than 10 points separating them. After each had done his ninth dive, Xiong held a 3 point lead on the favorite, but Louganis pulled out the most difficult dive in his arsenal, and it was enough to put him ahead of the youngster by just more than a point, leaving Xiong with a hard-fought silver in his first Olympic appearance.

Louganis retired after the 1988 Olympics, leaving Xiong as the new face of platform diving, but in 1990, a new young Chinese diver named Sun Shuwei appeared, and in 1991 he beat Xiong at the World Championship. The two were co-favorites heading to Barcelona in 1992, at just 18 and 16 years of age.

The two Chinese teammates were far ahead of the competition in qualifying, with Xiong ahead by almost 6 points, but in the final, Sun showed why he was the world champion, performing every dive perfectly and pulling far ahead of everyone else. Xiong attempted a couple of very difficult dives that didn't end well, and as a result, he dropped down to bronze medal position by the end of the competition.

After Barcelona, Xiong switched his focus to the springboard rather than the platform, and it would be a great move for him. Another teammate, Yu Zhuocheng, was the favorite in Atlanta, but Xiong held a big lead through qualifying and the new semifinal round. In the final, Yu took the lead after their 4th of 6 dives, and still held it heading into the final dives, but Xiong performed his final dive nearly perfectly, and ended up winning the gold medal by 10.53 points.

He graduated from Hunan University with a degree in foreign trade in 1997 and announced his retirement, but changed his mind a year later and returned to competition. He competed in Sydney in the springboard again, and he also participated in the first Olympic synchronized springboard competition, with Xiao Hailiang as his partner.

The springboard came first, and Dmitry Sautin of Russia was the favorite, though Xiong was the defending champion and always a threat. Xiong led after qualifying by 12 points, with Fernando Platas of Mexico a surprise in second place, followed by Sautin. Sautin moved up to 2nd after the semifinal, and took the lead after the 5th dive in the final. On the final dive, Sautin missed slightly, opening the door for Xiong, who nailed his final dive and ended up with a gold medal, just 0.3 points ahead of Platas.

The synchronized springboard event was nowhere near as close. Each of the 8 pairs performed 5 dives, with only a single round determining the winner. The Chinese pair were the highest-scoring on every single dive, and they ran away with the gold medal by 35.61 points over the Russians.

After winning his second and third golds in 2000, Xiong retired again in 2001, this time for good. After his amazing performance as a 14-year-old in 1988, it seemed like greatness was on the way for Xiong, and he lived up to that potential, winning 5 medals in his 5 events, including 3 golds to close out his career, making 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: #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.