Zhang Yining was born on October 5, 1981 in Beijing, China, and was trained in table tennis from the time she was a child. She first competed in the World Championships in 1999, when she was still 17 years old, and in early 2003, she reached #1 in the world rankings, which she would hold for more than 6.5 years straight.
Her first Olympic appearance came in 2004 in Athens. In the doubles event, she was paired with Wang Nan, who had won gold in 2000 in both the singles and doubles events. They were given a bye to the 4th round as the top seed, then swept their first opponent 4-0 in that round. The next two matches were a little closer, with 4-2 wins over Hong Kong and the other Chinese team, followed by a sweep of the South Koreans in the gold medal match.
In the singles event, Wang was the favorite, since she was defending Olympic champions and 3-time defending world champion. Wang, however, was upset in the quarterfinal round, while Zhang had no trouble with any other her opponents, losing only 2 games in the entire tournament. In the final, against Kim Hyang-Mi of North Korea, she won in a sweep, 44-19 in total points, and only 26 minutes actually spent on the court, making it the most dominant table tennis final in Olympic history.
She won the world championship for the first time in 2005, but came in third in 2007, heading into the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That year, the doubles event was replaced with a team event, in which the Chinese were heavy favorites. They swept their way through the tournament, losing only 4 games out of 49 played, 2 of those coming in the final against Singapore, whose 3 players were all Chinese nationals who had moved to Singapore to play table tennis.
Zhang was the favorite in the singles event, as the defending champion, and she again made easy work of the tournament. She won her first match in a 4-0 sweep, then won each of her next four matches 4 games to 1, including a defeat of Wang Nan in the gold medal match, where Wang won the first game, then Zhang took 4 in a row to take a repeat gold.
Zhang again won the world championship in 2009, then retired to start a family. At her retirement, she was defending World and Olympic champion, and the top-ranked player in the world. She initially indicated that she intended to compete in London in 2012, but that never happened, and she has remained retired. Even with her short Olympic career, she absolutely dominated all 4 events in which she participated, making her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Zou Kai was born on February 25, 1988 in Luzhou, China, and trained as a gymnast from a young age. He made his international debut at age 18 at the World Championships, where he won a gold medal in the team event. He specializes in the floor exercise and horizontal bar, rarely competing on any other apparatus.
He made the Chinese Olympic team in 2008, which took place in Beijing. The first event was the team competition, where China took first place in qualifying, having the highest score as a team on 3 of the six apparatuses. Zou was China's high scorer in his two best events. In the final, he only participated in those two parts, but he scored the highest score of anybody on both, and the Chinese team beat Japan by more than 7 points for the gold medal.
Because of those performances, he qualified for both event finals. Even with his high scores in the team event, he was not expected to medal in the floor exercise, but after falls from the two favorites, and a flawless performance with the most difficult routine, Zou won the gold medal by 0.275 points over his nearest competitor, which is a massive differential in gymnastics.
In the horizontal bar, the favorite was German Fabian Hambuchen, and Zou was not really considered a contender, but he again put on a perfect performance, scoring a 16.2, more than 0.3 ahead of Hambuchen, who finished third, with Jonathan Horton of the USA also surprising many by taking a medal. Zou became only the second Chinese Olympian ever to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympics.
In the next two World Championships, Zou showed that his performances in Beijing were not a fluke. He won silver in the floor exercise both times, and gold in the horizontal bar in each. He returned to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London, once again focusing on his two specialties.
China and Japan were considered co-favorites in the team event, but in qualifying they ended up in 6th and 5th place, respectively, which was luckily for them still enough to qualify for the final. In the final, Zou again had the highest score of any gymnast in both the horizontal bar and the floor exercise, and China was able to successfully defend their title, beating Japan by 4 points to take the gold.
He again qualified for both of his specialty finals. In the floor exercise, he and Kohei Uchimura were co-favorites, as defending Olympic champion and World champion. Zou had the slightly higher score in the qualifying round, then improved upon it in the final round, scoring a 15.933 to beat Uchimura by .133 points to win another gold medal, the fifth of his career.
In the horizontal bar, Zou was the favorite, having won the last Olympics and the past 2 World Championships. He was only in 7th after qualifying, but that was just a formality for him. In the final, he was the 4th to perform, and his routine was tied for the toughest in the competition. His execution score was high enough to put him into the lead, but Hambuchen and Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands both eclipsed his score later, leaving Zou to take home his first-ever bronze medal.
He continued competing for a couple more years, winning some medals at the 2014 Asian Games before retiring as an athlete. He technically competed in two other Olympic events, the vault and pommel horse, once each, but just to fill a spot more than to actually compete. In the events in which he was invested, he was near-perfect, with his 5 gold medals ranking #2 in Chinese Olympic history, and making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
*1 Gold medal stripped due to positive drug test by teammate
Angelo F Taylor Jr was born on December 29, 1978 in Albany, Georgia, and began running the hurdles in high school, then went to Georgia Tech, where he won the NCAA title in 1998 after finishing as runner-up the year before. He won a gold medal at the 1999 World Championships in the 4x400m relay, but the medal was later stripped when teammate Antonio Pettigrew was caught using PEDs.
Taylor qualified for his first Olympic team in 2000, running the best time in the world that year at the Olympic trials. He was a co-favorite entering the 400m hurdles, along with Llewellyn Herbert of South Africa, and after winning his prelim heat, he came in second to Herbert in their semifinal, but both qualified for the final. Taylor ran the final on the inside lane, and was in the middle of the pack halfway through, but sped up to get into second place by the 8th hurdle, then sprinted to the finish to beat Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia by .03 seconds in a photo finish for the gold.
He also ran the second leg in the first two rounds of the 4x400m relay that year, helping the American team qualify for the final, where they were big favorites, and they won the final by more than 2 seconds over Nigeria. That gold medal was later rescinded in 2008 when Pettigrew admitted to using PEDs at the time, and it has since been revealed that every runner on that team but Taylor and Michael Johnson was cheating at the time.
He also lost his 4x400m gold medal from the 2001 World Championships due to the same issue. He failed to qualify for the 2003 World Championships, but still made the 2004 Olympic team to defend his hurdle gold. He won his prelim heat, but came in 4th in his semifinal heat, and missed out on making the final by about half a second.
In 2007, he won a World Championship bronze in the regular 400m, along with another gold in the 4x400m relay, and this one he got to keep. He made the 2008 Olympic team, but his teammate, Kerron Clement, was considered the favorite in the 400m hurdles. Taylor had the fastest time in the semifinal round, and didn't give anyone else a chance in the final, pulling away early, and by the time Clement made his move, it was too late, and Taylor had won by 0.73 seconds.
He also ran in the 4x400m relay, where the USA was expected to win big, as they had swept the medals in both the 400m and the 400m hurdle events. Taylor ran the anchor leg in the prelim, but had such a huge lead that he just coasted to the finish. In the final, he ran the second leg, and was given a full second lead, which he held, and the Americans ended up winning by more than 2.5 seconds, giving him a relay gold that was not taken away.
He won a couple more relay golds at the World Championships before heading to his 4th Olympics in 2012, where he was team captain. In the 400m hurdles, he won his prelim and barely lost in his semi, but still made the final. In the final, he led through the 7th hurdle, but he switched legs over the next hurdle, and it threw off his rhythm, and he ended up finishing in 5th.
In the 4x400m relay, the Americans were not the favorites for the first time in memory, due to having a couple of their best runners unavailable due to injury. Taylor was asked to run the anchor leg in the final, and after Tony McQuay ran an amazing leg to pull the US into the lead by a half second, Taylor took the baton. He ran a good leg, but Ramon Miller of the Bahamas was faster, and passed him on the homestretch, leaving the US to take home the silver medal.
He retired after the Olympics and became a youth track coach, which was unfortunately illegal, because he had been convicted in 2006 of molesting multiple 15-year-old girls. When the US Center for SafeSport finally noticed, he was given a lifetime ban from participating in any capacity with events involving minors. Even though he is not a good person, he was a great athlete, winning 4 gold medals, two of them individually, and was one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Diana Lorena Taurasi was born on June 11, 1982 in Glendale, California, to parents who had emigrated from Argentina. She was named the National Player of the Year in high school, then attended UConn, where she won 3 consecutive national championships, and won 2 straight NCAA Player of the Year awards as well as 2 awards for Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament.
She was the #1 overall draft pick by the Phoenix Mercury in 2004, and was also named to the USA Olympic team. She was a starter on that team, which won its 8 games by an average of 25 points each, with only Russia getting close, losing by 4 in the semifinal. They cruised to the gold medal, and then she made her WNBA debut, and won Rookie of the Year.
She led the WNBA in scoring in 2006, then won a championship in 2007. She was again a starter on the 2008 Olympic team, where she started every game and was 3rd on the team in scoring, and the team was even more dominant than before, winning by an average of 38 points per game, with their closest win again coming against Russia, this time by 15 points in the semifinal.
Taurasi led the WNBA in scoring in each of the next 4 seasons, and in 2009 was the regular season and Finals MVP as she won her second championship. In 2012, she was the leading scorer for the American Olympic team, which won its 8 games by an average of 35 points per game, with a 13-point win over Australia in the semifinal the closest they came to a loss.
In 2014 Taurasi won her third WNBA championship, leading the league in assists that year, and winning her second Finals MVP award. In 2016, she again led the American Olympic team in scoring, with 15.6 per game, the highest of her Olympic career, and the team again dominated everybody, winning by 37 points per game, with France coming within 19 in the semifinal as the closest result.
She competed in the Olympics again in 2021, though she took on a lesser role, but it didn't really matter. The Americans won their games by an average of 16 points, with only one opponent coming within single digits, and she and Sue Bird together became the first to win 5 gold medals in the same team event.
She played in one final Olympics in 2024, though she hardly saw the court, and only scored 5 total points throughout the tournament, but they didn't really need her on the court as much as they needed her veteran presence. They again won their games by an average of 16 points, though they nearly lost in the final, beating France by a single point. With that victory, Taurasi became the first Olympian ever to win 6 gold medals in a single team event.
She retired after the 2024 season, and is the WNBA's all-time scoring leader, a three-time champion in both the pros and in college, a two-time Championship MVP in both the pros and college, two-time college player of the year, one-time WNBA MVP, and the only 6-time Olympic basketball champion. There is no doubt that she is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Maria Valentina Vezzali was born on February 14, 1974 in Jesi, Italy, and began her fencing training with her father when she was a young girl, and quickly proved to be talented at it. She competed in her first world championship at age 19, finishing 6th, which would be the worst finish in any event in her entire career.
She finished 2nd in the World Championships in 1994, and 3rd in 1995, so she was one of the main medal contenders heading to Atlanta in 1996 for her first Olympics. The individual foil event was contested as a single-elimination tournament, with each bout going to 15 touches. As the #1 seed, Vezzali had a bye in the first round, then had a couple of close early matches before winning 15-10 in the quarterfinal and 15-7 in the semifinal. In the final, she faced Laura Badea of Romania, the defending world champion, and she ended up falling 15-10, leaving her with a silver medal.
The team event was also single-elimination, and Italy was the #1 seed, as they had two of the top 3 in the individual event. They destroyed China 45-24 in the quarterfinal, then had a close call against Hungary before beating Romania in the final 45-33, avenging their losses to Badea in the individual event and taking home the gold.
In 1999, she finally won her first World Championship gold in individual foil, after getting other medals in the previous three, and she was the favorite in Sydney in 2000, again starting as the #1 seed. This time, she made easy work of the entire competition, never allowing an opponent to score more than 8 touches, and winning the final 15-5 to take home a dominant gold medal, her first individual Olympic gold.
In the team event, Italy was again the top seed, thanks to again having two medalists on the team. They won all three of their matches without much trouble, scoring at least 6 points more than each opponent, and they successfully defended their gold medal from Atlanta.
She won the next two World Championships, running her total to 3 in a row, and was again the favorite in Athens. The team events are held on a rotating basis, so there was no team event that year, so she made the most of her time in the individual. She made it back to the final again without allowing an opponent to score more than 8, but her final match was closer, facing teammate and 2-time bronze medalist Giovanna Trillini. The score went back and forth, but Vezzali pulled away at the end to win 15-11 for a repeat gold.
She won 2 more World Championships before the Olympics headed to Beijing in 2008, and she was the #1 seed for the 4th straight time in the individual foil. She once again dominated all the way to the final, where she faced Nam Hyeon-Hui of South Korea. The bout was a defensive struggle, and was tied at 5 with just a few seconds left when Vezzali scored the winning touch to take her third straight gold medal, becoming the first athlete ever to win the event three times in a row.
The Italians were again heavy favorites in the team event, with 3 of the top 4 individuals, and they beat the Chinese hosts easily to reach the semifinal, but they were surprised by the Russians in the semifinal, losing a low-scoring battle 22-21, with Vezzali scoring 13 of her team's points. They rebounded to beat Hungary 32-23 in the bronze medal match, but it was still a disappointment for the favorites.
In the 2009 World Championships, she failed to medal for the first time since 1993, when she was a rookie. She bounced back to win again in 2011, but she was starting to show a little weakness. In London in 2012, she was the #2 seed, behind Nam, but it didn't matter much in the early rounds, as she easily reached the semifinals again. In the semifinal, however, she was upset by Arianna Errigo, also from Italy, losing 15-12, and was forced to face Nam again, this time for bronze rather than gold. She would take care of business, winning another close match 13-12, giving her a fifth straight medal in the individual foil event.
Italy won all 3 medals in the individual event, so they were heavy favorites in the team foil. They destroyed the host Brits 42-14, then did the same to the French, 45-22, to advance to the final. They faced Russia in the final, and they got their revenge, beating them 45-31, giving Vezzali a third gold medal in the team event, and a 6th overall.
She was elected to the Italian Parliament in 2013, but continued to compete, winning several medals in the World Championships, but after she failed to make the Olympic team in 2016, she retired from competition. She competed in 9 Olympic events over 5 Games, and won medals in every single one, six of them gold, and she is one of only 5 athletes in history to win a medal in the same individual event at 5 straight Olympics, making her easily one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner was born on April 7, 1989 in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, a Caribbean island that is a territory of France, and moved with his family to Paris while he was still a toddler. He grew up playing multiple sports, but preferred judo because it was all up to him. In 2007, the day after he turned 18, he won the European judo championship, then won the World Championship later that year, the youngest ever to do so, and he repeated as champion in 2008.
He competed in the heavyweight division in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he was expected to win. He won his first two bouts to advance to the semifinal round, but lost in sudden death to Abdullo Tangriyev of Uzbekistan. This put him into the repechage pool, where he won all 3 of his bouts easily, which earned him a bronze medal.
After the Olympic disappointment, he went back and won the World Championship 3 times in a row, and went into 2012 in London as a huge favorite. He competed in 5 bouts, with all 5 either ending in ippon (the highest score possible), or waza-ari (the second-highest score), and finally had his Olympic gold medal to go with all of his World Championships.
After the Olympic win, he went and won 3 more World Championships in a row, stretching his streak to 8 in a row, so he was obviously the huge favorite to take gold in Rio in 2016. As the top seed, he got a first-round bye, then won 3 straight bouts by ippon or waza-ari, which put him in the final, against Hisayoshi Harasawa of Japan, who had won 3 straight by ippon. The final ended in a tie, which was broken by total penalties, with Riner winning 1-2, giving him a repeat gold medal.
Between 2010 and 2020, Riner had a streak of nearly 10 years without losing a single bout in any competition, which was broken in the Paris Grand Slam that year. The next year, in Tokyo, he was still a favorite, but was upset in the quarterfinal round by Tamerlan Bashayev of Russia, requiring him to win a repechage bout to make it to a bronze medal bout. He won the repechage and bronze medal bouts by ippon, which earned him another bronze medal, 13 years after his first.
A mixed team event was also introduced in the 2020 Olympics, where each team had up to 12 judoka competing, which 6 taking the mat in each round, and the round ending when a country reached 4 wins. Riner won by ippon in his first bout, with France winning 4-3 over Israel after a tiebreaker bout, then wasn't needed in a 4-0 win over the Netherlands in the semifinal, before winning by waza-ari in the final round, as France beat host Japan 4-1, giving him his third Olympic gold medal.
He won another World Championship in 2023, and hoped to win another Olympic gold at home in Paris in 2024. He dominated his way to the gold medal, winning all four of his bouts by ippon, becoming the second judoka in history to win 3 individual gold medals.
In the mixed team event, Riner wasn't needed in France's 4-0 sweep of Israel in the first round, then he had the decisive ippon in their quarterfinal 4-1 with over South Korea. They also dominated Italy 4-1 in the semifinal, with another ippon from Riner, leading to a final rematch with Japan, this time with the home team switched. In the final, Riner won by ippon to give France its first win, then after France tied the match at 3-3, the heavyweights were randomly selected to battle for the gold in the tiebreaker, where Riner completed another ippon to give his team the repeat gold medal, his fifth overall.
Riner had elbow surgery shortly after the 2024 Olympics, but has not retired and plans to compete again in 2028, hoping to add to his medal collection. He has competed in 7 Olympic events so far, and has won his final bout every time, leading to a record of 5 golds and 2 bronzes so far. He has already established himself as one of the greatest Olympians of all time, but he may still improve his standing in the future.
Sylvia Shaqueria Fowles was born on October 6, 1985 in Miami, Florida, which is also where she grew up, and led her high school teams to 3 state championships and was MVP of the high school All-American game. She then attended college at LSU, where she led the Tigers to the Final Four in each of her 4 seasons.
She was the #2 draft pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky, and made her Olympic debut that same year. She shot 64.3% from the field for the tournament, and led the USA in scoring with 13.4 points per game, as the Americans swept their way to an easy gold medal, with a 27-point win over Australia in the gold medal game.
In 2012, she was again chosen for the USA team, and played a slightly smaller role, but still averaged 6.0 points per game while shooting 61.1% from the field as the USA again went through the tourney without a loss, and beat France by 36 in the final game. She shot 69.0% in the 2016 Olympics, and the USA won another gold medal with a 29-point win over Spain.
She was selected for her 4th Olympic team in 2020, and again had an enormous shooting percentage of 63.2% for the tournament. This time, the games were a little closer, and the Americans only managed to beat the host Japanese team by 15 in the gold medal game, but Fowles had earned her 4th gold medal.
She retired after the 2022 WNBA season as the league's all-time leader in field goal percentage, at 59.9%, and rebounds per game, at 9.8. She led the league in blocks twice, rebounding twice, and field goal percentage 7 times, and won 2 championships, in 2015 and 2017. Four gold medals in separate Olympics is a rare feat, and Fowles was a large part of those teams, which makes her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Suzanne Brigit Bird was born on Oct 16, 1980 in Syosset, New York, and began playing AAU basketball in sixth grade. By the time she reached high school, she was a big star, and in her senior season, she led her team to an undefeated season and a state and national championship.
She attended the University of Connecticut, and after missing most of her freshman season to a torn ACL, she led the Huskies to a 36-1 record as a sophomore and a national championship. After a disappointing junior season where they lost 3 games and didn't win a title, her senior season was perfect, with a 39-0 record and another national title. She was drafted by the Seattle Storm with the #1 pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft.
For her entire time as a pro, which covered 20 seasons, she was also a member of the US national team, starting with the 2002 World Championships, and stretching clear until the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She wasn't one of the big stars on the 2004 Olympic team, averaging only about 3 points per game, but she came out of that year with both a gold medal and a WNBA championship.
By 2008, she had become the national team's starting point guard, and in the 2008 Olympic tournament, she led the team with 14 steals in 8 games, and they team went undefeated again en route to the gold medal. In 2012, she raised her scoring average to 6.1 per game and her assists to 4.5 while helping guide the US to its fifth straight gold medal, and her third.
She led the USA team in assists in each of the next two Olympics as well, tying the old record with 4 Olympic gold basketball medals in 2016, then breaking it in 2020, along with Diana Taurasi, when the pair won their fifth. Though she was never a big scorer, especially in the Olympics, her mastery at distributing the ball made her a very important piece of all of those gold medals.
In her professional career, she won 4 WNBA titles, 5 Euro League titles, and 5 Russian league championships. Add in her high school championship and 2 NCAA championships to her 5 Olympic gold medals, and you have one of the greatest champions ever in any sport, and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Seimone Delicia Augustus was born on April 30, 1984 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she attended high school and college. While at LSU, she led the Tigers to 3 straight appearances in the Final Four, and then was the #1 pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft.
She finished as the #2 scorer in the league as a rookie and was named Rookie of the Year, then set a career-high with 22.6 points per game in 2007. She made the 2008 Olympic team, which ran through the tournament, winning their games by an average of over 37 points each and earned her first gold medal.
She tore her ACL in 2009, missing most of that season, but when she was back at full health in 2011, she led the Minnesota Lynx to a championship and was named the Finals MVP. This helped her make the Olympic team again in 2012, and that team again swept their way to the gold medal, winning by an average of almost 35 points per game.
She won another WNBA title in 2013, then missed much of the 2015 season to a knee injury before returning in time for the playoffs, where she earned her 3rd league title. She was back on the Olympic team in 2016, and that team again won every game they entered by an average of more than 37 points, and Augustus had her third gold medal.
In 2017, she and the Lynx reached their 6th WNBA Finals in 7 years, and won it for the 4th time, giving her one more WNBA title than Olympic gold medal. She played 3 more years before retiring in early 2021, taking a role as an assistant coach with the LA Sparks. She is currently an assistant coach at LSU, her alma mater.
Augustus was not the top scorer on any of her Olympic teams, but she was always one of the biggest contributors, and the 3 Olympic teams she belonged to were the three most dominant women's teams in history, which earns her a spot as one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.
Anastasiya Valeryevna Luikin, nicknamed Nastia, was born on October 30, 1989 in Moscow, USSR. Her father, Valery, was an Olympic gymnast who competed for the USSR the year before she was born, earning 2 gold medals and 2 silvers, including the Individual All-Around silver. When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, the family moved to the United States, eventually settling in Plano, Texas, where her father opened a gymnastics training gym.
She began doing gymnastics at age 3, and by 2002, she was competing at the national level, taking second place in the Individual All-Around junior division at the 2003 Pan-Am Games, but she was just slightly too young to compete at the 2004 Olympics.
Over the next 3 years, she won 9 total medals at the World Championships, including two golds in the Balance Beam. She was the #2 overall finisher at the 2008 US Olympic Trials and made the team easily. In the qualifying round, she qualified to compete in 3 event finals, the Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise, as well as the Individual All-Around.
In the Team competition, she participated in 3 events, earning her highest score of 16.9 on the Uneven Bars, which was the highest score in the entire Olympics, helping the Americans earn the silver medal. In the Individual All-Around, she got through all 4 events without a single mistake, which earned her the gold medal, just ahead of teammate Shawn Johnson.
She began the event finals with her weakest event, the Floor Exercise, but was able to put together a performance good enough to win her the bronze. In the Uneven Bars, she ended up tied with He Kexin of China for the best score, but was awarded the silver medal based on the third tiebreaker. She also won the silver in the balance beam, becoming only the 3rd American to win 5 gymnastics medals in the same Olympics.
She retired the following year, but attempted a comeback ahead of the 2012 Olympics, but after failing to qualify for the American team, she retired again for good in 2012. She may have only competed in 5 events in her Olympic career, but she was so impressive on each of them that she has earned this spot on the list of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time.
