Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson was born on June 28, 1992 in Manchester, Jamaica, and sprinted while she was in high school, but never won a race. Once she was in college and had a professional coach, she started improving rapidly, and by 2015, she placed second in the 200m at the World Championships, and followed it up by making the Olympic team the next year.
She began her Olympic career in Rio with the 100m, where teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was the 2-time defending world and Olympic champion, but was battling injuries. Thompson won both of her heats to advance to the final, then took an early lead in the final and never gave it up, pulling away at the end to finish 0.12 seconds ahead of Tori Bowie of the USA and take the gold medal.
A few days later was the final of the 200m, where Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers was the favorite, with Thompson and Bowie expected to challenge for medals as well. Schippers had the fastest time in the semis, but Thompson again started quickly in the final, with Bowie close behind, but Schippers made a push toward the end of the curve to move into second. Once they hit the straightaway, Thompson started pulling away, and ended up winning by 0.1 seconds, becoming the first woman in 28 years to win both sprint golds.
She finished up in Rio with the 4x100m relay, which was expected to be a showdown between Jamaica and the USA. The US took the lead of the first curve, and Thompson ran the second leg, trying to chase down Allyson Felix, but couldn't quite make up the gap. English Gardner of the US pulled away on the last curve, and Fraser-Pryce didn't have a chance to make it up on the homestretch, coming up 0.35 seconds short of the gold medal, but still winning the silver.
She spent the next several years battling a recurring Achilles injury, but was healthy enough to make the Olympic team in 2021, thankfully gaining a little extra recovery time due to the postponement of the Tokyo games. She again qualified for the same 3 events. She was also married during that time, and started using the hyphenated surname Thompson-Herah.
She again started with the 100m, where she had lost to Fraser-Pryce in the Olympic trials, and both won both of their races to reach the final easily. In the final, the two started out almost even, but Thompson-Herah was able to maintain her speed a little longer, and ended up winning the gold medal by 0.13 seconds over her teammate, while posting the second-fastest time in history.
In the 200m, Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain was the defending world champion, but she was hurt in the 100m semifinals and withdrew from the 200m. That made Thompson-Herah, the defending Olympic champ, the favorite, and she lived up to it in the final, where she obliterated the entire field, winning by 0.28 seconds in the second-fastest time ever. With that win, she became the first woman ever to win both sprint events twice in a row, and only the second runner ever to do it, after Usain Bolt.
She finished up again with the 4x100m relay, where the Jamaicans had all 3 medalists from the 100m and were expected to win easily. Thompson-Herah ran the second leg again, and the USA remained almost even with Jamaica all the way through 300m, but they had a bad handoff at that point, and Jamaica was finally able to get some breathing room to cruise to victory, which made Thompson-Herah the first woman in 33 years to win the sprint triple at the Olympics.
After a strong 2023, she injured her Achilles in June 2024 and was forced to miss the Olympics that year. She took off the entire year 2025, and has recently returned to racing, breaking 11 seconds in a 100m race in April of this year, and she has her eye on a return to the Olympics in 2028. With or without a triumphant return, she has already proven herself to be one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky was born on March 17, 1997 in Washington, DC, and was raised in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. Her mother was a swimmer in college, and Katie started when she was 6. Her first senior competition was the 2012 US Olympic Trials, where she made the Olympic team by winning the 800m freestyle by more than 2 seconds.
She went to the London Olympics as a relative unknown, and was not considered likely to win. Becky Adlington, the British world record holder and defending champion, was expected to win again. Ledecky had the third-fastest time in qualifying, but she absolutely dominated the final, taking the lead right away, and increasing it until she couldn't be caught, before coasting in for the victory. She ended up just 0.53 seconds short of the world record, and won the event by 4.13 seconds, giving her a dominant gold medal at just 15 years of age.
The next year, she dominated the world championships, winning gold in all 4 of her events, and setting world records in each of her three individual events, the 400m, 800m, and 1500m, all before her junior year of high school. In 2015, she won gold medals in 5 events, the same 4 from 2013, plus the 200m, and she also set new world records in the two longest events again.
By the time she arrived in Rio in 2016, she was already recognized as one of the greatest swimmers in the world. She was competing in 5 events, with the first being the 4x100m freestyle relay. Australia was the big favorite in this event, and even with Ledecky swimming the anchor leg, the Americans weren't able to keep up, losing by 1.2 seconds, but still managing to take the silver medal.
Her first individual event was the 400m freestyle, where she was a massive favorite. She had the fastest time in qualifying by over 4 seconds, and was even better in the final, winning by almost 5 seconds and breaking her own world record by nearly two seconds to win her first gold in Rio.
Her next event was the 200m freestyle, which was the one where she was most vulnerable. She won her first heat, but came in second in her semifinal to Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who was expected to be her top challenger entering the event. In the final, she was in 5th at the first turn, but closed the gap and was nearly tied at the halfway point. She took the lead soon afterward, and held on as Sjostrom made a strong final push, but Ledecky still won by 0.35 seconds to take another gold medal.
The next event was the 4x200m freestyle relay, where the USA was a big favorite, with the past 2 Olympic champions on the team, but it didn't turn out to be easy. Sweden was ahead of them by 0.01 seconds at the first exchange, but both were passed by Australia on the second leg, with America still in second, now by 0.31 seconds. That deficit increased to 0.89 seconds by the time that Ledecky entered the pool as the anchor, but she swam the fastest leg of the competition by nearly a full second, and by the end she was nearly 2 seconds ahead of the Australian swimmer and had her third straight gold.
She finished up with the 800m, her strongest event. She won her heat by more than 6.5 seconds, in a time that was nowhere near her best. In the final, she put it out of reach almost immediately, leading by over 2 seconds after just 100m, then increasing her lead after every split, leading to her eventual win by 11.38 seconds, the second-largest margin in the history of the event. She also broke her world record again by almost 2 seconds, and now owned the 12 fastest times in the history of the event.
After the Olympics, she enrolled in college at Stanford, where she had no trouble with the competition, setting 12 NCAA records as a freshman. In 2017, she won 5 golds and a silver at the world championships, falling only in the 200m. She set 3 more NCAA records as a sophomore, then decided to turn pro, skipping her final 2 years. At the 2019 World Championships, she was sick and dropped out of most of her events, but still managed to win the 800m freestyle. She graduated from Stanford in 2020 with a degree in psychology.
She competed in 5 events again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, this time adding the new 1500m freestyle, while dropping the 4x100m relay, which was never her specialty. She started with the 400m freestyle, where Ariarne Titmus of Australia was expected to challenge her, and she did. Ledecky took the lead early in the final, and held it through 300m, but Titmus was always close behind, and pulled ahead before 350m, then had a strong finish to beat Ledecky by 0.67 seconds, the first individual Olympic loss of Ledecky's career, but still a silver medal and her second-fastest time ever.
Next was the 200m freestyle, her shortest event, and Titmus was the favorite in this one, as Ledecky was generally better at the longer distances. Ledecky had the best time in the prelim, and third-best in the semi, but was no match for Titmus in the final, and ended up coming in 5th, more than 1.5 seconds behind the gold medal time. It was the first, and so far only, time in Ledecky's career that she failed to win an Olympic medal.
Just over an hour later, she was competing in the 1500m final, the first time the event had been held in the Olympics. She had the 23 fastest times in history at that point, and even though she didn't attempt to beat her world record time, she had a comfortable lead for the entire race, and won by just over 4 seconds to win her first gold in Tokyo.
Next up, in the 4x200m relay, Ledecky was hoping for a repeat of her 2016 performance, but China's team was too strong. The Americans were nearly 2 seconds behind after the first leg, and remained around that point through the next two legs as well, leaving Ledecky a tough chore as the anchor. She again swam the fastest leg of anyone in the event, good enough to pass Australia for silver medal position, but she came up 0.4 seconds short of catching up to China, and had to settle for second this time.
She finished up with the 800m freestyle, where she was the 2-time defending champion, but this time Titmus was expected to challenge her. Ledecky ended up leading the entire race, with Titmus keeping herself in contention most of the way, but Ledecky never let her catch up, and won the race by 1.26 seconds, and the pair finished more than 4.5 seconds ahead of anyone else. This made Ledecky the first swimmer ever to win a distance event 3 times, and made her both the youngest and oldest winner of the event ever.
At the 2022 World Championships, she was back to form, winning gold in all 4 of her events. In 2023, it was 2 golds and 2 silvers in the same events, losing in the relay and the 400m, with Titmus winning that one. She qualified to swim in her 4th Olympics in Paris in 2024, this time competing in just 4 events.
Her first event was the 400m freestyle, where she had lost in 2021, but was still one of the top competitors. Titmus was back, and they were joined by Summer McIntosh of Canada, who had broken the world record the year before. In the final, Titmus took off fast, and by the halfway point, Ledecky was too far behind to catch up. McIntosh kept close for a while, but eventually fell back, and Titmus won the gold easily, with Ledecky finishing in third and winning her first-ever Olympic bronze.
Next was the 1500m, where she was the best ever by far. She easily qualified for the final, then easily beat her Olympic record from Toyko in the final, posting the 8th-best time in history and winning the event by over 10 seconds. That medal was the 12th of her career, which tied her for the most ever by a female swimmer.
She swam in the 4x200m relay next, this time being assigned the third leg. Australia jumped out to a big lead early, and was never really challenged, but Ledecky was able to erase a full second deficit to China during her leg to put the Americans in second place, which they held through the final leg to win the silver medal.
Her final event was the 800m, where she was the 3-time defending champ, but she had lost a race in the event for the first time ever just a few months earlier. In the final, Titmus again attempted to challenger her, keeping it close through the first 500m, but then she fell off the pace, and Ledecky pulled away to win the event for the 4th straight time at the Olympics, making her one of only 6 athletes to ever win the same individual event 4 times in a row.
Ledecky won 2 more gold medals at the 2025 World Championships, and earlier this year swam the second-fastest time ever in the 1500m, and has her eye on competing in her 5th Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. Though it seems like she has been around forever, she is still only 29 years old, and is already one of the greatest Olympians of all time, and who knows how much higher she may climb.
Ma Long was born on October 20, 1988 in Anshan, China, and won the World Junior Championship singles event when he was just 15. When he was 17, he won a team gold medal in the adult World Championships, the youngest ever to win gold there. He became the #1 player in the world just after turning 21, but fell from that ranking prior to the 2012 Olympics, and was selected to play only in the team event.
China was heavily favored in the team event, so it was a bit of a surprise when Russia beat Ma and Wang Hao in a doubles match, 3 games to 2. China swept their 3 singles matches, however, including one by Ma, so they still advanced 3 matches to 1. They had no trouble with Singapore in the next round, but in the semifinal, world #1 Zhang Jike lost his match to Germany's Timo Boll, but Ma won both of his, and China advanced to the final 3-1.
In the final, they faced South Korea, and won all 3 of their matches easily, only dropping 2 games, and China won the gold medal, though they had a little more trouble than expected along the way, and Ma had the first gold medal of what would become a legendary career.
He really started to put it all together in 2015. He started winning nearly every tournament he entered, including his first singles world championship, and he moved back to #1 in the world in March, a spot he wouldn't relinquish until early 2018. As a result, he finally got a chance to compete in singles at the Olympics.
He was given a bye to the third round thanks to his #1 ranking, and he won his first match easily, 4 games to none. He fell behind 2-0 in his next match, but won the next four games in a row to advance to the quarterfinals. He pulled off another sweep there, then took a 3-0 lead in his semifinal before having to battle it out to win in 6 games. He faced Zhang in the final, and this time he didn't let up, winning in 4 straight games to win his first individual Olympic gold.
That pair was joined by Xu Xin in the team event, and this time, they didn't allow their opponents to have a chance, unlike their run 4 years earlier. They did not lose a match in their first 3 rounds, winning 27 out of 33 total games, which put them in the final against Japan. In the final, Xu lost his singles match, but China won their other 3, including two singles wins from Ma, to take the team gold.
He successfully defended his world championship twice before the next Olympics, making him an easy choice to represent China in the singles event again, even though he was only ranked #3 in the world and the country at the time. He was joined by world #1 Fan Zhendong (#73). Both got byes into the third round due to their ranking.
Ma actually lost a game in each of his first 3 matches, but came through to win each one 4 games to 1. In the semifinal, he faced Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, and the match ended up taking more than an hour, as it kept going back and forth. Ma won the first two games, then Ovtcharov tied it up, Ma won the fifth game, then lost the 6th, and ended up winning 11-9 in the decisive 7th game to reach the final.
Fan had had just as much trouble in his semifinal, but he also won to make the final an All-China event once again. Ma and Fan split the first two games, but then Ma took a 3-1 lead before Fan won another to make it 3-2. In the sixth game, Ma finally got the victory with an 11-7 score to make him the first man ever to repeat as singles Olympic champion.
In the team event, they were joined again by Xu, and looked to dominate with the world's three best players, which is exactly what they did. They won every match, and lost only 7 total games in the tournament, with the win coming when Ma beat Boll 3 games to 1 in the third match of the final, which gave him his fifth Olympic gold, one more than any other table tennis player in history.
By 2024, Ma was no longer the player he had been in his youth, but was selected to compete in his 4th Olympics, this time just in the team event. Ma competed only in the doubles matches throughout the event, paired with Wang Chuqin, and the pair never lost a game on their way to the final, where China faced Sweden. The Swedish were a surprise, coming from the 7th seed to reach the final, but they put up a fight, losing all 3 matches 3-2, by far the closest China had ever come to losing the event, but it was enough for Ma to earn his unprecedented 6th gold medal.
Ma is still playing in tournaments, and even winning some, but he withdrew from the world rankings at the end of 2024, meaning that he is most likely done with Olympic competition, not that he needs to compete again. He has participated in 6 Olympic events, and won gold in all 6, two more gold medals than any other table tennis player in history, and he is the only man to win the singles title twice. He is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Sun Yingsha was born on November 4, 2000 in Shijiazhuang, China, and was trained in table tennis from an early age in a Chinese sports school. She made the national team at age 16, and competed in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games the next year, where she won gold in both the singles and team events.
By the time the 2020 Olympics came around in 2021, she was ranked #2 in the world behind Chen Meng (#39), so the pair were selected to represent China in the singles event. After receiving a bye to the third round, Sun swept 4 straight opponents 4-0 to reach the final, but after beating Chen in the first game of their match, she lost 4 of the next 5 and ended up with the silver medal.
The medalists were joined by Wang Manyu, ranked #4 in the world, for the team event, where China had never lost. Out of 40 games played in 4 rounds, the trio lost only 4 games, a win percentage of 90%, and they easily won the gold medal over Japan, who was responsible for 2 of the games lost by China. It was the first Olympic gold medal for Sun.
In February 2022, Sun surpassed Chen to take over the world #1 ranking for the first time. She maintained that ranking long enough to be the #1 seed in the 2024 Olympics, and she was chosen to represent China in the mixed doubles event, along with Wang Chuqin, the #1 ranked male player. The pair had competed together for a while, and were the #1 ranked pair in the world as well.
The doubles competition was closer than they would have liked. After an easy sweep of Egypt in the first round, they fell behind Taiwan 2-1 in the quarterfinals, before winning 3 games in a row to advance. Their semifinal match against South Korea was the same story, with China rallying from 2-1 down in games to win 4-2 to advance to the final. They faced a surprising North Korean team in the final, and this time they never fell behind, but still needed 6 games to win the gold medal.
In the singles event, she was the #1 seed, but there were no longer byes for higher seeds. Instead, she had to face 5 rounds to reach the final, which she did again with 5 straight sweeps, leading to a rematch with Chen. She won the first game against Chen, then fell behind 2-1 before tying it up at 2-2, but Chen finished stronger, and repeated as gold medalist 4-2, while Sun had to settle for another silver.
The same trio returned for the team event, with Wang now ranked #3 in the world, and the top 3 players didn't let anyone else have a chance. This time, they won 36 of 41 total games to sweep every match, defeating Japan 9-3 in the final to repeat as gold medalists.
Sun remained the #1 ranked player in the world until 3 weeks ago, when she was surpassed by Wang, her teammate. She is still in position to compete in the 2028 Olympics, and she would definitely like to finally win an individual gold medal, but with the medals she has already earned, she is one of the greatest Olympians of all time regardless.
Ryan Crouser was born on December 18, 1992 in Portland, Oregon, and raised in nearby Boring, and came from a family of great throwers. His father was an alternate on the 1984 Olympic team in discus, his uncle Brian competed twice in the Olympic javelin event, and his cousin Sam also competed in Olympic javelin.
He started throwing competitively in fifth grade, and by his sophomore year, he set a national sophomore record in the discus, which was broken the next year by his cousin, Sam. During his senior year, he broke the national high school records in both discus and shot put, then went to the University of Texas, where he won 4 straight NCAA titles in shot put.
At the 2016 Olympic Trials, Crouser upset defending world champion Joe Kovacs to earn a spot on the team in Rio, where Kovacs joined him. Crouser led after qualifying with a throw of 21.59 meters on his only throw, passing on his final 2 attempts since he already knew he would make the final.
After the first round of throws in the final, Crouser was in third place, with Kovacs in the lead, but on his second throw, he cleared 22.22 meters, which would be enough to win the gold medal. He beat that distance twice more during the competition, and set a new Olympic record with his 5th throw, which went 22.52 meters, and ended up winning the gold easily, by 0.74 meters (more than 2 feet), after posting the 4 best throws of the competition.
He finished 6th in the world championships the next year, and finished #2 in 2019, .01 meters behind Kovacs. Early in 2021, he set a new world record of 22.82 meters, then broke it again at the Olympic Trials, where he threw 23.37 meters, earning the right to defend his gold medal in Tokyo.
In that event, the three medalists were all returning, but Crouser was the favorite after his amazing spring. He led after qualifying again, and again used only 1 throw in that round, to advance to the final. He broke his own Olympic record on his first throw of the final, throwing 22.83 meters, then beat the old record on the next 5 throws as well, finishing up with a new record of 23.3 meters, just short of his own world record. This time, in winning the gold medal, he had the 5 best throws of the competition, and he won by 0.65 meters.
He finally won his first World Championship in 2022, then repeated in 2023, while also setting a new world record of 23.56 meters in 2023. He again won the Olympic Trials, earning him the right to represent the USA at his third straight Olympics.
At the Olympics in Paris, he was the favorite to become the first ever to threepeat in the shot put. He qualified easily for the final on a single throw again, but this time it was only the #4 throw in qualifying. In the final, he threw 22.64 on his first throw, which would be enough for the gold medal. He beat that distance on each of his next two throws, eventually finishing with 22.90 before the rain started to fall and he faulted or passed on his final 3 throws. He ended up winning by 0.75 meters, his largest margin of victory yet, and became the first to win three in a row.
He also won his third straight world championship in 2025, and is still actively competing and is still the best in the world. He has 6 of the 8 best throws in history, and has a real chance to win an unprecedented 4th gold medal in the event in 2028. Even if he were done today, he would have already established himself as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Sydney Michelle McLaughlin was born on August 7, 1999 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, into a family of track stars. Her father was a 3-time All-American and competed at the Olympic trials in 1984, and her mother ran the 800m in 2:12 in high school, so it was no surprise that she started running at an early age, and excelling at it.
When she was 15, she won the 400m Hurdles at the World Youth Championships, then the next year took third place in the US Olympic Trials, earning her a spot on the team at age 16, the youngest American track Olympian in more than 30 years. Her first Olympic experience ended with a 5th place finish in her semifinal heat, but there was a lot more to come.
In 2019, she came in 2nd at the World Championships, just 0.07 seconds behind defending gold medalist Dalilah Muhammad (#62), and in 2021, she not only beat her at the US Olympic Trials, she broke her world record as well, lowering it to 51.9 seconds, making her the first woman ever to break 52 seconds.
The two would face off again a couple months later at the Tokyo Olympics, where both easily advanced to the final. In that race, Muhammad took the early lead, and was a step ahead of McLaughlin at the 8th hurdle, but McLaughlin caught up by the final hurdle, then had a stronger finishing kick to beat her rival for gold, while also lowering the world record again, this time to 51.46 seconds.
She also ran in the 4x400m relay later that week, with a powerhouse team expected to dominate. She ran the first leg in 50.2 seconds, handing off to Allyson Felix with a tiny lead over Poland. Felix, Muhammad, and Athing Mu (#85), stretched the lead throughout the rest of the race, and by the end, the Americans had won by 3.68 seconds.
In 2022, she won her first World Championship gold medal, and broke her own world record again, setting it down to 50.68 seconds, making her the first to ever break 51 seconds as well. She injured her knee shortly before the 2023 World Championships, and was unable to defend the title, but she was healthy before the 2024 Olympic Trials, where she broke the record again, this time by just 0.03 seconds.
In Paris, she was the clear favorite to win the 400m hurdles again. She reached the final easily, then after a brief early challenge from Femke Bol of the Netherlands, she pulled away before the halfway point, and came across the finish line 1.5 seconds ahead of anyone else, and setting a new world record for the 6th time in just over 3 years.
She also competed again in the 4x400m relay, where they were again favored. She took the second leg, and was given a lead of 0.77 seconds when she started, which she expanded to 2.63 seconds by the end of her lap, which was the fastest of the entire competition by almost a full second. The final two runners also ran great times, and the USA won by 4.23 seconds in another dominant showing for gold.
McLaughlin was married in 2024, and now competes under the hyphenated name Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. She gave birth to her first child less than 3 months ago, and is naturally taking a break from competing, but she expects to be back on the track next year, aiming for more gold medals in Los Angeles in 2028. Even if she doesn't get there, her performances at the last 2 Olympics have already made her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Chen Meng was born on January 15, 1994 in Qingdao, China, and made her provincial team at age 9, and the national team when she was 13 in table tennis. She first reached the world #1 ranking in 2018. She finally earned one of the coveted spots on the Chinese Olympic table tennis team in 2020, and she finally made her Olympic debut in 2021, at age 27.
She was the #1 seed in the singles tournament, which meant that she got a bye to the third round. All matches were best of 7, and she started out strong, sweeping the first match, then winning 4-1 in the next. In the quarterfinal against Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong, she had a scare as she lost the first two games before rebounding to win 4 straight to move on to the semifinal. She swept her semifinal opponent to move on to the final, against Sun Yingsha, the other Chinese competitor, who was ranked #2 in the world. This match was very close, with Sun winning the 1st and 4th games, before Chen won the next two to end it and take home the gold medal.
In the team event Sun and Chen were joined by Wang Manyu, ranked #4 in the world, so they were the obvious favorites, and they destroyed the competition, winning 36 of 40 total games, and all 12 of their matches, as they swept their way to another gold medal for China in an event that they have never lost.
At the 2023 World Championships, Chen ended up winning the silver medal, with Sun defeating her for the gold. Both were back for the 2024 Olympics, with Sun as the top seed and Chen #2. This time there were no byes for top seeds, so they had to get through all 6 rounds, and Sun got to the final without losing a single game, while Chen lost 2 games early, but still made the final easily. The final went exactly as it had 3 years earlier in Tokyo, with Sun winning the first and 4th games, but Chen coming through by winning 2 in a row at the end to win the gold medal.
The team event featured the same three Chinese players, with Wang ranked #3 by that time, meaning that China had the three best players in the world all competing together. The result was almost exactly the same as in Tokyo as well, with China losing only 5 games out of 41, with 3 of those coming in the final against Japan, but the end result was another gold medal for China.
Chen, like Fan Zhendong (#73), has withdrawn from participation in international table tennis since the Olympics in protest of a new policy penalizing top players for skipping tournaments. She is not retired, and hopes to make the 2028 Olympic team, but it's unclear whether she will be allowed due to her current status. Even if she doesn't compete again, her 4 gold medals in the past 2 Olympics, both of which required a tough win over a top-2 player in the final, have already made her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Caeleb Remel Dressel was born on August 16, 1996 in Green Cove Springs, Florida, into a family of swimmers. He learned to swim at age 4, and by age 8 was swimming competitively while training daily. He competed in the 2012 Olympic Trials when he was just 15 years old, but wasn't close to making the team, but he made it a goal to get there by 2016.
The following year, he earned 6 medals at the World Junior Championships, then began attending the University of Florida the next year, and when the 2016 Olympic Trials came around, he placed 2nd in the 100m freestyle, which earned him a spot on the team, where he was also included on 2 relay teams.
In the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, the French were the favorites, as they were defending world and Olympic champions. In the final, Dressel swam the first leg, and finished just .02 seconds behind the French swimmer to put the USA in a great spot. The next swimmer was Michael Phelps, who gave the Americans a lead of more than a second, which the French were able to cut in half, but never overcome, and the USA ended up winning by 0.61 seconds, earning Dressel his first gold medal.
In the 100m Freestyle, Dressel finished just behind Kyle Chalmers of Australia in his first heat, then came in third in his semifinal, but still qualified through to the final. In that race, he was in third place at the turn, but slowed down a bit on the back half, and ended up finishing in 6th place. He also swam the freestyle anchor leg in the heats of the 4x100m Medley relay, which the USA won to advance to the final, where a new set of swimmers won the gold by over a second, getting Dressel his second gold at just 19 years of age.
In the NCAA Championships the next year, he won 3 golds and 2 silvers, and then won 7 gold medals in the World Championships the same year. He followed that up with 6 golds and 2 silvers in 2019, and he looked primed for a breakthrough in the 2020 Olympics, which ended up being postponed by a year.
His first event in Tokyo was the 4x100m Freestyle relay. The held him out until the finals to preserve his energy, as he was competing in 6 events, and he swam the first leg of the final, finishing with a lead of 0.26 seconds, which remained steady through the next two legs, before Zach Apple pulled away on the final leg to give the Americans a win by 1.14 seconds, and Dressel his third gold medal.
In the 100m Freestyle, he was a co-favorite with defending champion Kyle Chalmers, and in the semifinal round, he had the second-fastest time, giving him one of the prime lanes for the final. He had a great start, and led by 0.1 seconds at the turn, but Chalmers came charging from third place on the back half, and nearly caught him, but Dressel was slightly too fast for him, winning by 0.06 seconds to set a new Olympic record and win another gold medal.
His next event was the 100m Butterfly, where he put on a show. In the preliminary heat, he tied the Olympic record with a time of 50.39 seconds, they destroyed that in the semifinal with a new record of 49.71 seconds. In the final, he took a huge lead early, leading by 0.65 seconds at the turn, then he cruised to the finish in a time of 49.45 seconds, which was a new world record.
His next event was the final of the mixed 4x100m Medley relay, where he swam the anchor freestyle leg. Ryan Murphy was tied for the lead on the opening leg, but the next two Americans were much slower, and they had fallen to last place by the time Dressel entered the water. He swam the fastest split in the freestyle, but it was only enough to get them up to 5th, as he was 8 seconds behind at the start.
He next swam in the 50m freestyle, where he was the favorite, and he didn't disappoint. He had the best time in each of the first two rounds, and even after a slow reaction time in the final, he took the lead quickly, and pulled away from the field, winning by 0.48 seconds and setting a new Olympic record while also getting his 4th gold medal of the games.
His final event was the 4x100m medley relay, where he swam the third leg, the butterfly. Ryan Murphy again gave the USA the lead after the first leg, but they dropped back to third after the breaststroke, which is when Dressel jumped in. He was the fastest swimmer in his leg by far, and gave a lead of 0.6 seconds to the anchor, who brought home the gold by 0.73 seconds, and set a new world record by more than a full second. It was Dressel's fifth gold medal in Tokyo, and 7th overall.
He won 2 gold medals in the 2022 World Championships before withdrawing from his other events for medical reasons, but he still performed well enough in the Olympic trials to make his third straight Olympic team, competing in 5 events.
His first event in Paris was again the 4x100m relay, where he swam the anchor leg in the final, but he really wasn't needed. The Americans were second after the first leg, behind China by 0.75 seconds, but they had a lead of nearly half a second at the midway point, which exploded to more than 2 seconds before Dressel entered the water. He swam a very controlled leg to bring home the gold by more than a second over Australia.
Because he was just returning from more than a year off dealing with injuries, people were unsure how he would perform in his first individual event, the 50m freestyle, where he was the defending champ. He made it to the final, but in that race, the two leaders had pulled away from the pack, while the other 6 were all practically even to the end, all finishing within 0.08 seconds of each other, and after it was all reviewed, Dressel ended up being the 6th to touch the wall.
He then swam in the 100m Butterfly, but came in 5th in his semifinal and failed to make the final for the first time in his Olympic career. He then swam in the prelim of the 4x100m mixed medley relay, where the USA won its heat to advance to the final, where they won gold narrowly over China, which earned Dressel his 9th overall gold medal.
His final event was the 4x100m medley relay, where he swam the butterfly third leg in the final. The Americans had never lost this event when they had competed, but they were in 4th place when Dressel entered the pool. He swam the fastest butterfly leg, moving the Americans up to 2nd place, just 0.03 seconds behind France, but the Chinese anchor swam an insanely fast final leg to jump from third to first and beat the Americans by 0.55 seconds, giving Dressel his first-ever silver medal.
Dressel is still actively swimming and hopes to qualify for his 4th Olympic games in 2028 in Los Angeles, but whether he makes that team or not, he has already shown his greatness by winning 9 gold medals in the past decade, which makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Shelly-Ann Fraser was born on December 27, 1986 in Waterhouse, Jamaica, and was a good sprinter from the time she was a small girl. As a young adult, she was somewhat nervous about competing in big competitions, and wasn't super dedicated to training, but after going to the World Championships in 2007 as a relay alternate, she realized that she enjoyed the experience, and became more focused on her craft, and the results were almost immediate.
The next year, she finished second in the Jamaican Olympic trials in the 100m, earning a coveted spot on the team headed to Beijing. Once there, Fraser won each of her 3 heats to advance to the final, along with her two Jamaican teammates. In the final, Sherone Simpson of Jamaica had a slight lead on Fraser early, but Fraser pulled away in the second half to win easily by 0.2 seconds, with Simpson and Kerron Stewart of Jamaica tying for the silver medal, giving Jamaica all 3 medals, and Fraser her first gold in her first Olympic event.
With the top three 100m runners on the team, Jamaica was expected to cruise to victory in the 4x100m relay, and they had the fastest time in the semifinal heat, but in the final, after Fraser had given them the lead on the first leg, they missed the second handoff and were disqualified.
She won the 100m World Championship the next year, becoming just the second woman ever to win the two major titles in back-to-back years. The following year, she was suspended for 6 months for testing positive for oxycodone, which is not performance-enhancing, but required to be disclosed, which she failed to do. She was married in early 2011, and changed her last name to Fraser-Pryce, then spent much of the year recovering from a calf injury.
Because of the rough couple of years she had endured, it was a bit of a surprise when Fraser-Pryce won both the 100m and the 200m at the Jamaican Olympic trials, earning her spot on the team headed to London. In the 100m, she won both of her heats to get back to the final, and she had the best start in the final, but by the halfway point, Carmelita Jeter of the USA had pulled even, and the two remained tied right through the finish, where Fraser-Pryce was able to win the gold with a lean at the line, triumphing by .03 seconds to become the third woman ever to repeat as 100m champion.
In the 200m, she won her first heat, but came in second to Sanya Richards-Ross of the USA in her semifinal, though both advanced to the final. In the final race, Allyson Felix of the USA took a slight lead by the end of the turn over Jeter, then pulled away down the stretch to win gold, while Fraser-Pryce came from behind to pass Jeter at the finish to end up with a silver medal.
Her final event in London was the 4x100m relay, which was expected to come down to Jamaica and the USA, who had the top five 100m runners between them. Fraser-Pryce gave Jamaica a small lead after her lead-off leg, but on the second leg, Felix pulled away from Simpson, and the USA had a solid lead the rest of the way, beating Jamaica by 0.59 seconds in world record time, giving Fraser-Pryce another silver medal.
She had graduated from college just before the London Olympics, and felt that she was able to focus more fully on her training after that. In 2013, she won all 3 of her events at the World Championship, the first woman ever to do that. She also became the first woman ever to own the Olympic and WC 100m titles at the same time twice.
In early 2016, she injured her toe, which made running difficult, so she didn't run in many events, but she still was able to qualify for the Olympic team. She was attempting to become the first woman ever to win the 100m three straight times, and she won both of her heats to reach the final, but in the last race, her teammate, Elaine Thompson, got off to a better start and would not be caught, while Fraser-Pryce finished third to take the bronze medal.
She also ran the anchor leg for Jamaica in the 4x100m relay. It was again expected to be a battle between Jamaica and the USA, but the Americans held the lead the entire way, despite Jamaica's efforts to catch up on the middle legs. Fraser-Pryce was behind by a bit when she took the baton, and was unable to catch up, and Jamaica ended up 0.35 seconds behind and took another silver medal in the event.
In 2017, Fraser-Pryce gave birth to her first child via emergency C-section, which took her away from training for a long time, but she started training again 11 weeks after giving birth, and ran in her first meet in Jamaica in May 2018. By 2019, she was back to form, and even won the 100m World Championship, becoming the oldest woman ever to win the event, and the first mother to win it in 24 years.
In early 2021, she ran a new personal best in the 100m, then won the Jamaican Olympic trials in both the 100m and the 200m, despite being 34 years old. She went to Tokyo for her 4th Olympics, where she and Thompson, now Elaine Thompson-Herah, were the favorites in the 100m. Both won their heats to advance to the final, and they were even early, but Thompson-Herah maintained her top speed longer, and Fraser-Pryce finished 0.13 seconds behind to take silver, her fourth straight medal in the event, making her the first athlete ever to win four 100m medals, regardless of gender.
In the 200m, the first half went almost the same as the 100m, with an even start, followed by Thompson-Herah pulling away by the end of the turn. On the straightaway, she pulled away to win in the second-fastest time ever, while Fraser-Pryce was passed twice on the way home, finishing 0.07 seconds short of a medal in 4th place.
Jamaica had swept the medals in the 100m, making them clear favorites in the 4x100m relay. Fraser-Pryce ran the third leg, and Jamaica had the lead through the first half, though just barely ahead of the USA. Fraser-Pryce was also unable to pull away, handing off to Shericka Jackson with a tiny lead, but the USA had a rough handoff, and that enabled Jamaica to finally create some space, and they won by 0.43 seconds, finally getting Fraser-Pryce her first relay gold.
She considered retirement after the Olympics, but decided to keep competing since she had run personal bests in both of her events in 2021, and she made history again in 2022 when she won her 5th 100m World Championship, becoming the first ever to win 5, and the oldest athlete ever to win a track world championship. She suffered a knee injury in 2023, which hampered her training over the next year, but she still qualified for her 5th Olympics.
She went to Paris in 2024 to try for a fifth medal in the 100m, and she got off to a good start, leading early in her first heat, but she injured her hamstring late in the race and finished second, which advanced her to the semifinal, but she was unable to continue and withdrew from the competition.
She competed through the world championship in 2025, after which she retired at age 38. Her longevity was legendary, and she won medals at 4 straight Olympic games, finishing her career with 8 total medals, including the pair of 100m golds she won to kick off her career. She is obviously one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Dalilah Muhammad was born on February 7, 1990 in Jamaica, New York, and began training as a runner when a local coach saw her running through the streets at age 7. When she was 17, she won the World Youth Championship in the 400m hurdles, then after graduating from high school, moved across the country to attend USC.
While at USC, she competed in the 2012 US Olympic trials, but failed to make the team. The next year, she took silver in the World Championships in the hurdles, but injuries slowed her down over the next couple of years, and she returned to competition just before the 2016 Olympic trials, where she won, earning her place on the team heading to Rio.
When she got to the Olympics, the favorite was Zuzana Hejnova of Czechia, who had won the last 2 World Championships, but Muhammad started to get noticed after running the fastest time in the semifinal round. By the fourth hurdle in the final, Muhammad had a clear lead, and she never let anyone else make it close, winning the race by 0.42 seconds to become the first American woman to ever win the event.
After finishing second in the 2017 World Championships, she set a new world record at the US Championship in 2019, then added a World Championship win later that year, also setting a new world record in the process. But at the 2021 Olympic trials, she finished second behind Sydney McLaughlin, who broke the world record again, setting it at 51.9 seconds.
The pair was expected to fight it out for gold in Tokyo, and the race lived up to expectations. Muhammad took the lead early, and was a step ahead of McLaughlin and Femke Bol of the Netherlands through the 8th hurdle, but McLaughlin closed the gap by the final hurdle, then had a better finishing kick to win gold. Both runners broke the previous world record, but Muhammad lost by 0.12 seconds.
Both of them also competed in the 4x400m relay later that week, and the squad that ran in the final was one of the strongest ever assembled. McLaughlin ran the first leg, and held a slight lead when she handed off to Allyson Felix, who extended the lead to 5 meters when Muhammad took the baton and pulled away, leaving a gap of 15 meters at the final handoff. Athing Mu (#85 in this countdown) ran the anchor leg, and the USA won by nearly 4 seconds.
She tried to make the US team for the 2024 Olympics, but did not qualify after the trials. She is still running, and has even started running the 800 meters this year, possibly with an eye toward the 2028 games, but she is starting to age out of competitive running. Even with her limited Olympic experience, she had two very strong gold medal wins, plus a silver medal that was faster than the world record, and she stands today as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Jason Francis Kenny was born on March 23, 1988 in Bolton, England, and learned to ride a bike early like most children, then fell in love with track cycling when he was introduced to it by his uncle as a teenager. He began competing on the senior circuit in 2006, and made his first Olympic team in 2008, at the age of 20.
Kenny's first Olympic event was the team sprint, where he was the #2 racer on the British team, behind Chris Hoy (#131 in my countdown). The team beat Germany by over a second in their prelim heat, then beat the American team by over 2 seconds in the semifinal, which put them in the final round against France, who had beaten them in the most recent World Championship. Britain held the lead through the entire race, avenging their earlier loss by over half a second, and Kenny began his Olympic career with a gold medal.
His only other event in Beijing was the sprint, where Hoy was one of the favorites, and Kenny was more of an unknown. Each round before the semifinals consisted of a single winner-take-all race, but the final 3 rounds were all best-of-three. Both Kenny and Hoy won every single race on their way to an all-British showdown for gold. In the end, the favorite came through to defeat the newcomer, but Kenny still came away with an unexpected silver medal.
He was back in 2012 to compete in his home Olympics in London, and again teamed up with Hoy in the team sprint event, where they were favored to repeat as champs. The team set a new Olympic record in the first round, then a new world record in the semifinal, before breaking it again in the final against France, giving them another gold medal.
In the sprint event, Hoy was not competing, instead focusing on other events, but Kenny was still not the favorite, as Gregory Bauge of France had won the last 3 World Championships. Both Kenny and Bauge were undefeated all the way to the final, but in the final, Kenny pulled off the upset this time, winning both races against Bauge to take the gold.
In 2016, Kenny was back for more in Rio, but Hoy had retired after the London Olympics, and his space in the team sprint was filled by Callum Skinner. New Zealand was the defending world champion and the favorite, but it was Britain that set a new Olympic record in the first round, which the Kiwis broke in the semifinal, leading to a showdown for gold. New Zealand took the lead on the first lap, but Kenny was able to overtake them during his turn, after which Skinner pulled away to set another Olympic record, and give the Brits their third straight gold in the event.
In the sprint, Kenny had struggled since the previous Olympics, so he wasn't necessarily the favorite, but he set a new Olympic record in qualifying, then won all of his races up to the semifinal round, where he lost his first race to Denis Dmitriyev of Russia, then had to fight back to win two straight races to advance to the final. In the final, he faced Skinner, his new teammate, and beat him in two straight races to successfully defend his gold from London.
He also raced in the keirin for the first time in the Olympics in 2016, where Hoy had won the past two golds. He was able to reach the final after winning each of his first two heats, and in the final, he was in third place for most of the race, but when the two leaders began to fade on the final lap, Kenny came around them on the outside to beat them both to the gold, tying Hoy for the most gold medals ever for a British Olympian in the process.
Kenny came back for one final Olympic run in Tokyo, where both of his teammates in the team sprint had been replaced, and their longtime coach had left to coach the Dutch team. The Dutch ended up setting new Olympic records in all 3 rounds, while the British were able to make it to the finals, but were no match for the Netherlands, who beat them by over 3 seconds, leaving a silver for the Brits.
In the sprint, where Kenny was 2-time defending champion, he was able to win his first two races, but lost in round 3 to Dmitriyev, forcing him into the repechage pool. He won that race to advance into the quarterfinal, but there he lost again, to Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands, who went on to win the gold medal, while Kenny missed out on a medal for the first time in his Olympic career.
In the keirin, Kenny was back to defend his gold as well, but came in 4th in his first round heat, dropping him into the repechage. He won that heat to get back into the field in the quarterfinal, where he advanced after finishing #2 in his heat. He ran his strongest race in the semifinal to get back to the final, where he changed strategies, sprinting ahead as soon as the pace bike was removed, and the change worked, as his surprised opponents didn't follow soon enough, and Kenny was able to finish his career off with one final gold medal.
Kenny married fellow British track cyclist Laura Trott in 2016, and she is a 5-time Olympic gold medalist herself. Kenny retired after Tokyo, and now coaches the British track cycling team. His 7 gold and 9 medals overall are both British records, as well as records for cyclists, making him easily one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Rai Benjamin was born on July 27, 1997 in Mount Vernon, New York, and was a 3-time New York State Champion in the hurdles before he graduated, first attending UCLA for a year, then USC for 2. He then decided to turn pro, but it took a year before he was approved to compete for the USA, because he had competed as a teen for Antigua & Barbuda, his father's home country, in one meet.
After winning silver in the 400m hurdles at the 2019 World Championships, Benjamin won the US Olympic Trials in 2021 in a personal-best time to qualify for the Tokyo Games. In the 400m hurdles, the favorite was Karsten Warholm of Norway, who had just broken the 33-year-old world record, setting it at 46.7 seconds. Warholm started fast, but Benjamin caught up by the third hurdle, then briefly lost his stride and fell behind again. He slowly worked his way back through the rest of the race, sitting just behind Warholm over the last hurdle, but his finish wasn't fast enough, and he took the silver medal with a time of 46.17 seconds, more than 0.5 faster than the world record, and still not good enough for gold.
He also competed in the 4x400m relay, where he ran the anchor leg for the favored Americans in the final. The USA was behind Botswana after the first lap, but took a slight lead by the midway point. The third American runner extended the lead to 0.7 seconds when he handed off to Benjamin, who ran the fastest leg of anyone in the race, finishing in 43.4 seconds to give team USA the gold by almost 1.5 seconds.
When he returned to the Olympics in 2004, the competition was the same, with Warholm and bronze medalist Alison dos Santos both competing and among the favorites. Benjamin won both of his heats, but Warholm had his signature fast start in the final, leading Benjamin clear until the 9th hurdle, when Benjamin pulled ahead, then turned on the jets, finishing the race 0.6 seconds ahead of his rival to take the gold medal.
He also ran the anchor leg in the 4x400m relay again, but it ended up much closer this time. Botswana led after the first lap again, and Great Britain passed both to take the lead at the halfway point, but Bryce Deadmon passed them both on the third leg to give Benjamin a lead of 0.24 seconds going into his leg, which turned out to be just enough, as Letsile Tebogo of Botswana ran the fastest leg of the race to nearly catch him, but Benjamin ran the second-fastest time of all to hold him off and win another gold, this time setting a new Olympic record in the process.
Last year, Benjamin announced that he would be focusing more on the 400m than the hurdles going forward, but two weeks ago he ran the hurdles in a meet in Switzerland and won the race, so he may be able to win more than 2 medals at the next Olympics in Los Angeles. Even if he doesn't, he has already established himself as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Yohan Blake was born on December 26, 1989 in Saint James, Jamaica, and grew up playing cricket, but after a coach saw how fast he could run, he was encouraged to become a sprinter. In 2009, he became the youngest sprinter ever to break 10 seconds in the 100m, though his record was broken 6 months later. In 2011, he became the youngest-ever World Champion in the 100m, a record he still holds.
He made the Jamaican Olympic team in 2012 by beating Usain Bolt in the Olympic trials, and in the 100m event, he won both of his heats to advance to the final, where he was joined by Bolt, along with Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin from the USA. Bolt was the defending Olympic champion and world record holder, while Blake was the defending world champion, but in the final, Bolt came from behind early to pass the field and finish in 9.63 seconds, while Blake finished just behind in 9.75 seconds, the fastest Olympic time ever not by Bolt, winning the silver medal.
In the 200m, Blake had also beaten Bolt in the Olympic trials, but Bolt was healthier now, and was the favorite after winning the 100m. Blake again won both of his heats to advance to the final, but Bolt ran a blistering curve and was 2 meters ahead of Blake entering the straightaway. He was not able to make up any distance, but he finished in 19.44 seconds, 0.12 behind Bolt, to win another silver medal, again in the fastest Olympic time ever not by Bolt.
The two medalists teamed up with Nesta Carter and Michael Frater in the 4x100m relay a couple of days later, and they were the favorites, with only the USA given any chance to beat them. Carter gave Jamaica a slight lead on the first leg, which Frater and Blake were able to maintain, and then Bolt took the baton and pulled away slightly to beat the Americans by 0.2 seconds to set a new world record and take home the gold.
He returned to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio, after recovering from multiple hamstring injuries since 2012, competing in the same 3 events. In the 100m, he won his prelim heat, but came in 2nd in his next heat, behind Justin Gatlin, who had won silver at the World Championships the year before, but he still reached the final. In the final, Bolt made his patented move during the middle of the race, while Blake was left chasing, and this time he finished just short of a medal, 0.02 second short of taking the bronze.
In the 200m, he had the third-fastest time in the prelim, but after finishing 6th in his semifinal race, he failed to reach the final. The Jamaicans were still heavy favorites in the 4x100m relay, and Blake was given the second leg in the final, which they won for the third straight Olympics, this time by 0.33 seconds, but not in world record time this time.
Blake returned to compete in Tokyo in 2021, but wasn't as successful this time. He advanced out of the first round of the 100m, but came in 6th in his semifinal, which kept him out of the final for the first time. He also ran in the 4x100m relay, but with Bolt retired, they were no longer favored. He ran the third leg, and they won their heat, but in the final they ended up in 4th place, falling short of a medal by 0.05 seconds.
Blake retired in 2022, and has started a new career as a track coach. Even though both of his Olympic gold medals came in relays, his two silver medals were the fastest losing times in history, and he was always in contention, which makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Fan Zhendong was born on January 22, 1997 in Guangzhou, China, and began training to play table tennis at the age of 5, and by the time he was 15, he had won the national youth table tennis championship. He won his first individual world championship medal at age 18, a bronze, followed by a silver in 2017.
In 2021, he was finally chosen to represent China in the Olympics, and making the Chinese Olympic table tennis team is tougher than winning an Olympic medal. Fan was given the #1 seed in the singles event, earning him a bye to the third round. Matches were played in a best of 7 games format, and Fan lost only one game in his first three rounds, putting him in the semifinal.
In the semifinal, he faced Lin Yun-Ju of Taiwan, and it was a close battle, going the full 7 games, with only 2 games not being decided by 2 points, the minimum for a win. It went back and forth, but in the end, Fan won the decisive 7th game 11-8 to advance to the final, where he would face the other Chinese player, Ma Long, who was the #3 seed. Ma won the first game 11-4, before Fan evened it up. Ma then won two in a row, then allowed Fan an 11-3 win in game 5 before finishing him off 11-7 in the sixth game. The upset loss left Fan with a silver medal.
In the team event, the pair was joined by Xu Xin, giving China the three top players in the world in the event. As expected, they never lost a game, winning all 4 of their matches 3 games to 0, sweeping their way to an easy gold medal.
In 2024, Fan was again chosen to be one of China's two representatives in the singles event, and this time, there were no byes for top seeds. He again won his first 3 matches with only 1 game lost, putting him in the quarterfinals. In that round, Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan jumped out to a lead of 2 games to none, forcing Fan to win 4 of the final 5 games in order to advance to the semifinal.
In the semifinal, he faced Felix Lebrun of France, a 17-year-old who had just burst onto the scene. He quickly put him away in 4 games, which put him in the final against Truls Moregardh of Sweden. Moregardh won the first game 11-7, but then Fan beat him in 4 straight games to take home the individual gold medal, with only 5 games lost in the entire tournament.
In the team event, Fan and Ma were joined by Wang Chuqin, who was ranked #1 in the world at the time of the Olympics. As usual, the Chinese dominated, winning all four matches 3 games to zero, and giving the team another totally expected gold medal.
Immediately following the Olympics, Fan announced his retirement from international competition in protest of a new rule that fined top players for skipping major tournaments. He has not ruled out an attempt to compete in the 2028 Olympics, however, but he would have to face the Chinese Olympic trials without facing outside competition for 4 years. No matter what happens for him going forward, he has already proven in the past 2 Olympics that he is 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.
Armand Gustav Duplantis was born on November 10, 1999 in Lafayette, Louisiana, to an American father who was a pole vaulter, and a Swedish mother who was a heptathlete. He was raised in Louisiana, but spent his summers in Sweden with his grandparents, and holds dual citizenship. He first tried pole vaulting at age 4, and it was quickly apparent that he was special. He set his first age group world record at age 7, and still holds the records for all ages 7 through 12.
He began competing for Sweden in 2015, when the Swedish team agreed to bring his father on as a coach. He won the World Youth Championship that year, and the World Junior Championship in 2018, and began competing as an adult in 2019. In his first World Championship appearance that year, he came in second, something he hasn't done since in a major outdoor competition.
He set his first world record in February 2020, when he cleared 6.17m, (20'3"), which he broke again the next week by another centimeter. He was the favorite entering his first Olympics in Tokyo, and in the final, the field quickly dropped from seven at 5.8 meters, down to just three at 5.87 meters, then to two that cleared 5.92 and 5.97. He cleared 6.02 on his first try, while his opponent failed in three attempts, giving him the gold medal. He then raised the bar to 6.19m to try to break his world record, but failed to complete it, once knocking down the bar on his way down.
He won the next 2 World Championships, and broke his world record by a centimeter 6 more times, with 6.24m the new height to beat. In the 2024 Olympics, the only question was how high he would go. Only 7 vaulters were still alive after 5.9 meters, then 3 after 5.95. Neither of the others was able to clear 6 meters, which Mondo did easily, after which he cleared 6.1 meters on his first try as well, setting a new Olympic record. He then raised the bar to 6.25 meters, and finally cleared it on his third attempt to set a new world record again. He also became only the second pole vaulter ever to repeat as Olympic champion.
Since the Olympics, he has won another World Championship, and has broken his world record 6 more times by a centimeter each, and it currently sits at 6.31 meters. He believes that he can push the record to 6.4 meters eventually, and in 2028 he has the chance to have the first-ever three-peat in the event, but even if he doesn't, he has already established himself as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
