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: #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: #118 - Veronica Campbell Brown

Veronica Campbell Brown

Jamaica

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#34 among Track & Field Athletes

#9 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#6 among Jamaican Olympians

#3 among Female Jamaican Olympians

Olympic Results

2000

4x100m Relay - Silver

2004

100m - Bronze

200m - Gold

4x100m - Gold

2008

200m - Gold

2012

100m - Bronze

4x100m - Silver

2016

4x100m - Silver

Total

Events - 11

Gold - 3

Silver - 3

Bronze - 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #126 - Misty May Treanor

Misty May Treanor

USA

Beach Volleyball

Overall Ranks

#38 among American Olympians

#1 among Beach Volleyball players

Olympic Results

2004

Women - Gold

2008

Women - Gold

2012

Women - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #131 - Chris Hoy

Chris Hoy

Great Britain

Track Cycling

Overall Ranks

#3 among British Olympians

#2 among Track Cyclists

Olympic Results

2000

Team Sprint - Silver

2004

Individual Time Trial - Gold

2008

Sprint - Gold

Keirin - Gold

Team Sprint - Gold

2012

Keirin - Gold

Team Sprint - Gold

Total

Events - 9

Gold - 6

Silver - 1

Christopher Andrew Hoy was born on March 23, 1976 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was inspired to begin cycling after seeing the film E.T., and he began competing in BMX racing starting from age 7. By the time he was 14, he was the #2 ranked BMX racer in Britain.

He made the switch to track cycling in 1990, and after winning his first World Championship medal, a silver in team sprint, in 1999, he was selected for the 2000 Olympic team. His first event, the Keirin, didn't go well, as he lost in the first round, but the team sprint went much better. The event involves two teams of three riders on opposite sides of the track, racing to finish 3 laps first, with each rider leading one of the laps. The Brits won a close race over Australia in qualifying, then beat Slovakia by more than a second to advance to the gold medal race, but the favored French set an Olympic record to defeat Great Britain and leave them with the silver.

After 2000, Hoy decided to focus on the Individual Time Trial, and he won the World Championship in that event in both 2002 and 2004, making him one of the favorites heading to Athens in 2004, along with world record holder Arnaud Tournant of France. Hoy was the last to race, and the Olympic record had been broken 3 times already that day, but Hoy started fast and stayed ahead of the pace the whole way, winning the gold medal by 0.18 seconds over Tournant.

The Individual Time Trial was removed from the Olympics after 2004, so he wasn't able to defend his title, but he switched successfully to other sprint events and had his best Olympic performance in 2008. He started off in the team sprint, where his team had the best time in qualifying, then beat the USA by more than 2 seconds in the semifinals, before beating the French in the gold medal race, avenging their loss 8 years earlier.

Up next was the Keirin, where an electronic bike paces the racers for 3 quarters of the race, gradually picking up speed as it goes, before leaving the track while the racers sprint to the finish. Hoy was the defending world champ, and he didn't disappoint in the final race, as he took the lead immediately after the pace bike left and pulled away from the rest of the racers to win another gold.

His final event was the Individual Sprint, where he was also the defending world champion. Most rounds were contested as a best of 3, and after posting the best time in qualifying, Hoy won every single race in every round, culminating in a 2-0 win over countryman Jason Kenny in the gold medal round. In doing so, he became the first British man to win 3 gold medals in the same Olympics since 1904.

When the Olympics went to London in 2012, Hoy was favored to win both of his events in front of a home crowd. He and Kenny were back to defend their team sprint title, and after setting the best time in qualifying, they set world records in the semifinals and the finals to take the gold again.

His final event was the Keirin, where he had won 4 recent World Championships and was the defending Olympic champion. When the pace rider left the track, the Malaysian rider sprinted out to the lead right at first, but was quickly caught by Hoy, who led most of the rest of the way, only being briefly passed by Maximillian Levy of Germany with just over a lap to go before taking the inside track and pulling away.

He retired from racing in 2013, and since retirement has started his own bike brand, and has been an announcer for cycling events on BBC. He also announced in 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, and that he had between 2 and 4 years to live. As of today, he is still alive, and his 6 gold medals spread over 3 Olympics makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #136 - Kerri Walsh Jennings

Kerri Walsh Jennings

USA

Beach Volleyball

Overall Ranks

#14 among American Olympians

#2 among Beach Volleyball players

Olympic Results

2004

Women - Gold

2008

Women - Gold

2012

Women - Gold

2016

Women - Bronze

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 3

Bronze - 1

Kerri Lee Walsh was born on August 15, 1978 in Santa Clara, California. She was a star in both basketball and volleyball in high school, winning the state title in basketball as a senior, and in each of her final 3 years in volleyball, and she was name National Volleyball Player of the Year as a senior.

She went to Stanford on a volleyball scholarship, where she led the Cardinal to national championships as a freshman and again as a sophomore, winning the Final Four MVP as a freshman. She was named National Player of the Year as a senior, when her team finished as the national runner-up.

The next year she was selected to the 2000 USA Olympic volleyball team, but she missed several of the early matches after a false positive drug test, but she was cleared a few days later after a retest and cleared to play. The USA team reached the semifinals, where they fell to the Russians in a tough 5-set match, then fell to Brazil in the bronze medal game.

The next year she switched to beach volleyball, teaming up with Misty May, and by the end of the year they were ranked #5 in the world, and then reached #1 the following year, a ranking they held until Misty's retirement in 2012. The pair were heavily favored to win the gold medal in 2004, and they did not disappoint, winning all 7 of their matches without losing a single set, finishing off the Brazilian pair 21-11 in the final set.

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

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

May Treanor retired after the 2012 Olympics, so Kerri poached April Ross to become her new partner in preparation for the 2016 Games. They were ranked #3 in the world going into the Olympics, but many still expected them to win the gold due to Walsh Jennings' perfect Olympic record. They lost just one set in group play before advancing easily to the semifinals, but the perfect run came to an end 22-20, 21-18 against a pair from Brazil. They faced the other Brazilian pair, who were ranked #1 in the world, in the bronze medal match, and came out victorious to earn them a bronze medal.

Walsh Jennings picked up a new partner, Brooke Sweat, in an attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, but they failed to make the team, and she retired soon afterward. The switch to beach volleyball was a great move, even though she was a great indoor volleyball player, as it helped make her a world-famous 4-time Olympic medalist, and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #143 - Amy Van Dyken

Amy Van Dyken

USA

Swimming

Overall Rankings

#43 among American Olympians

#10 among Swimmers

#9 among American Swimmers

#3 among Female Swimmers

Olympic Results

1996

50m Freestyle - Gold

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

100m Butterfly - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

2000

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 8

Gold - 6

Amy Deloris Van Dyken was born on February 15, 1973 in Englewood, Colorado, and attempted to make the Olympic team right out of high school, but fell just short of making the team for the 1992 Olympics in the 50m Freestyle.

In 1994, she set a national record in the 50 yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships, and also took second place in two other events. In 1995 she broke the world record in the 50m butterfly, which had stood for nearly 3 years, but she held it for only 12 days before it was broken by Angela Kennedy of Australia.

She easily made the 1996 Olympic team, and after finishing in a close 4th place in her first event, she rattled off 4 consecutive gold medals, beginning with the 4x100m relay, where she swam the fastest leg as the USA beat China by more than a second. She followed that with an upset over the favored Liu Limin in the 100m Butterfly, which she won by one hundredth of a second.

Next, she swam the anchor freestyle leg in the 4x100m Medley Relay, starting out with a full second lead and extending it to more than two seconds by the time she finished. Her final event was the 50m Freestyle, where she came from behind in the final 5 meters to overtake Le Jingyi to win by 3 hundredths of a second. That win made her the first American woman ever to win 4 gold medals in a single Olympics.

She suffered a shoulder injury not long after her Olympic breakthrough, and multiple surgeries caused her to lose more than a year of training, but she worked hard to make it back and earned a spot on the 2000 Olympic team.

She started off with the 4x100m freestyle relay, where she swam the leadoff leg. She had the USA in second place behind Australia at the handoff, but each of her 3 teammates swam faster times as the Americans set a new Olympic record and won by more than 3 seconds. In the 4x100m Medley Relay, she swam the anchor leg in the heat round, which qualified the Americans for the final, where Dara Torres took the freestyle leg and the USA set a World Record and again won by more than 3 seconds. 

In her final event, the 50m Freestyle, she caused some controversy in the semifinal heat when she finished second to eventual champion Inge de Bruijn, then spit in her opponents lane and accused her of being a man, which, unfortunately, is the same kind of crap that we still hear today from sore losers. She ended up finishing in 4th place in the final, just short of another medal.

She retired after the 2000 Olympics, and afterward has spent time competing in triathlons, coaching high school swimming, and hosting radio shows. She was in a serious ATV accident in 2014, which left her temporarily paralyzed, but she was able walk again after several months of rehab. Based on her performance in the pool, where she earned 6 gold medals and two 4th place finishes in her 8 events, she is obviously 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.