Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #29 - Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#9 among American Olympians

#4 among Swimmers

#3 among Female American Olympians

#1 among Female Swimmers

Olympic Results

2012

800m Freestyle - Gold

2016

200m Freestyle - Gold

400m Freestyle - Gold

800m Freestyle - Gold

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Silver

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

2020

400m Freestyle - Silver

800m Freestyle - Gold

1500m Freestyle - Gold

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Silver

2024

400m Freestyle - Bronze

800m Freestyle - Gold

1500m Freestyle - Gold

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Silver

Total

Events - 15

Gold - 9

Silver - 4

Bronze - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #30 - Ma Long

Ma Long

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#1 among Chinese Olympians

#1 among Table Tennis Players

Olympic Results

2012

Team - Gold

2016

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

2020

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

2024

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 6

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #33 - Sun Yingsha

Sun Yingsha

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#2 among Chinese Olympians

#2 among Table Tennis Players

#1 among Female Table Tennis Players

Olympic Results

2020

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2024

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

Mixed Doubles - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 3

Silver - 2

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #34 - Ryan Crouser

Ryan Crouser

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#11 among American Olympians

#8 among Track & Field Athletes

#8 among Male American Olympians

#6 among American Track & Field Athletes

#6 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#5 among American Male Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2016

Shot Put - Gold

2020

Shot Put - Gold

2024

Shot Put - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 3

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #37 - Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#12 among American Olympians

#9 among Track & Field Athletes

#7 among American Track & Field Athletes

#4 among Female American Olympians

#3 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#2 among Female American Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2020

400m Hurdles - Gold

4x400m Relay - Gold

2024

400m Hurdles - Gold

4x400m Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 4

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #39 - Chen Meng

Chen Meng

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#3 among Chinese Olympians

#3 among Table Tennis Players

#2 among Female Table Tennis Players

Olympic Results

2020

Singles - Gold

Team - Gold

2024

Singles - Gold

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 4

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #49 - Caeleb Dressel

Caeleb Dressel

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#16 among American Olympians

#12 among Male American Olympians

#7 among Swimmers

#6 among American Swimmers

#6 among Male Swimmers

#5 among Male American Swimmers

Olympic Results

2016

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

2020

50m Freestyle - Gold

100m Freestyle - Gold

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

100m Butterfly - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

2024

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x100m Mixed Medley Relay - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Silver

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 9

Silver - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #53 - Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Jamaica

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#13 among Track & Field Athletes

#4 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#3 among Jamaican Olympians

#2 among Female Jamaican Olympians

Olympic Results

2008

100m - Gold

2012

100m - Gold

200m - Silver

4x100m Relay - Silver

2016

100m - Bronze

4x100m Relay - Silver

2020

100m - Silver

4x100m Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 11

Gold - 3

Silver - 4

Bronze - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #65 - Rai Benjamin

Rai Benjamin

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#21 among American Olympians

#17 among Track & Field Athletes

#15 among Male American Olympians

#12 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#10 among Male American Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2020

400m Hurdles - Silver

4x400m Relay - Gold

2024

400m Hurdles - Gold

4x400m Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

Silver - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #73 - Fan Zhendong

Fan Zhendong

China

Table Tennis

Overall Ranks

#6 among Chinese Olympians

#5 among Table Tennis Players

#2 among Male Table Tennis Players

Olympic Results

2020

Singles - Silver

Team - Gold

2024

Singles - Gold

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 4

Gold - 3

Silver - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #77 - Diana Taurasi

Diana Taurasi

USA

Basketball

Overall Ranks

#25 among American Olympians

#8 among Female American Olympians

#1 among Basketball Players

Olympic Results

2004

Women - Gold

2008

Women - Gold

2012

Women - Gold

2016

Women - Gold

2020

Women - Gold

2024

Women - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 6

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #82 - Mondo Duplantis

Mondo Duplantis

Sweden

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#23 Among Track & Field Athletes

#18 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#2 among Swedish Olympians

#1 among Swedish Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2020

Pole Vault - Gold

2024

Pole Vault - Gold

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #84 - Teddy Riner

Teddy Riner

France

Judo

Overall Ranks

#2 among Judoka

#2 among French Olympians

#1 among French Judoka

Olympic Results

2008

Heavyweight - Bronze

2012

Heavyweight - Gold

2016

Heavyweight - Gold

2020

Heavyweight - Bronze

Mixed Team - Gold

2024

Heavyweight - Gold

Mixed Team - Gold

Total

Events - 7

Gold - 5

Bronze - 2

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.

 

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #87 - Ethan Katzberg

Ethan Katzberg

Canada

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#26 among Track & Field Athletes

#20 among Male Track & Field Athletes

#1 among Canadian Olympians

Olympic Results

2024

Hammer Throw - Gold

Total

Events - 1

Gold - 1

Ethan Katzberg was born on April 5, 2002 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, and started throwing the hammer when he was 14, after watching his sister compete in the event. He moved to Kamloops after high school to train with Dylan Armstrong, who had won a bronze medal in shot put in 2008. His first international competition was in 2001, and by 2003 he was the world champion, breaking the Canadian national record twice during that competition.

He was the favorite to win the gold medal in Paris in 2024, and he didn't disappoint. After the qualifying round, he was in first place, more than 2 meters ahead of anyone else. In the final, he started with a throw of 84.12, just short of the Olympic record of 84.8 meters. He only had one more valid throw in the final, which went 82.28, while no other competitor reached 80 meters, giving him a dominant gold medal by 4.15 meters.

Katzberg was the youngest hammer throw winner in history, the first Canadian thrower to win gold since 1904, and had the largest margin of victory in the event since 1912. He also repeated as world champion in 2025, and looks to have a very good career still in front of him. All taken together, he has already proven himself to be one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #107 - Valarie Allman

Valarie Allman

USA

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#33 among American Olympians

#31 among Track & Field Athletes

#21 among American Track & Field Athletes

#7 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#5 among American Female Track & Field Athletes

Olympic Results

2020

Discus - Gold

2024

Discus - Gold

Total

Events - 2

Gold - 2

Valarie Carolyn Allman was born on February 23, 1995 in Newark, Delaware, and grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. While attending Stanford, she participated in the World Junior Championships as a freshman, and took a silver medal in her first major international competition.

Though she had never won a major international competition before competing in the 2020 Olympics, she was considered one of the favorites, as she had been able to beat the other favorites in some recent meets. Her throw of 66.42 meters was the best in the qualifying round, and she opened the final with a throw of 68.98, which stood up for the rest of the day, and she won gold by more than 2 meters.

Before her Olympic win, she had never won a medal at the World Championships, but in the next two years, she won bronze and then silver. This made her the favorite heading into the 2024 Olympics, along with Feng Bin, who had won the 2023 World Championship. She took only 1 throw in qualifying, but it was more than enough, with 69.59 meters beating all others by more than 4 meters.

In the final, she completed 4 throws, each traveling more than 68 meters, a mark no one else reached in the entire competition, meaning that Allman's five throws were the 5 longest of the Olympics. She easily won her second straight gold. 

In 2025, she won her first World Championship, and also set a new national record with a throw of 73.52 meters in April. Earlier this year, she married Zeb Sion, her longtime coach. She has only competed twice in the Olympics so far, but won both by a big margin, and she only appears to be getting stronger, so she could climb even higher among the ranks of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #111 - Marianne Vos

Marianne Vos

Netherlands

Road/Track Cycling

Overall Ranks

#5 among Road Cyclists

#2 among Dutch Olympians

#1 among Dutch Cyclists

#1 among Female Cyclists

Olympic Results

2008

Points Race - Gold

2012

Road Race - Gold

2024

Road Race - Silver

Total

Events - 8

Gold - 2

Silver - 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #116 - Mijain Lopez

Mijain Lopez

Cuba

Wrestling

Overall Ranks

#3 among Wrestlers

#2 among Cuban Olympians

#1 among Cuban Wrestlers

Olympic Results

2008

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2012

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2016

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2020

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

2024

Super-Heavyweight Greco-Roman - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 5

Mijain Lopez Nunez was born on August 20, 1982 in Entronque de Herradura, Cuba, and began wrestling when he was just 10 years old. His older brother, Michel, was an amateur boxer who competed in the 2004 Olympics, winning a bronze medal.

Mijain also made his Olympic debut in 2004, competing in the super-heavyweight class of Greco-Roman wrestling, which was now considered wide open due to the retirement of Aleksandr Karelin, who had dominated for over a decade. The wrestlers were split into 6 pools of three to four wrestlers, with the winner of each pool advancing to the knockout round. Lopez beat both opponents in his pool without surrendering a point, but lost 2-0 in the next round to Khasan Baroyev of Russia, the eventual gold medalist. It would be the only loss of Lopez's Olympic career.

He won the World Championship in both 2005 and 2007, losing to Baroyev in 2006, so the winner was expected to be one of the two. Lopez won each of his three matches by at least 3 points, setting up a showdown with Baroyev for the gold, but Lopez dominated him, winning 6-1 to win the gold medal. Several years later, Baroyev's sample from 2008 tested positive for PEDs, and his silver medal was taken away.

Lopez won the next 2 World Championships, but came in second in 2011, right before the next Olympics, to Riza Kayaalp of Turkey. Although both men who had previously beaten him were competing in 2012, Lopez was still a big favorite, and he cruised to the final match without giving up a point, beating Kayaalp in the semifinal. Baroyev lost early, so Lopez faced Heiki Nabi of Estonia, who had just moved up from heavyweight class, for the gold, and won easily, 3-1, to successfully defend his gold medal.

Lopez and Kayaalp's rivalry grew over the next few years, as they faced off in the World Championship final in both 2014 and 2015, with Lopez victorious first, and Kayaalp the next year. By 2016, they were expected to meet again with Olympic gold on the line, and that's exactly what happened, with neither one giving up a point before the final. The final, though, belonged to Lopez, who beat his rival 6-0 to take his third straight gold, only the second wrester ever to win 3 in a row, after Karelin.

Lopez failed to medal in the World Championships over the next few years, so when he went to Tokyo to defend his title again, he was not the favorite for the first time in a long time. That would be Kayaalp, who was defending World Champion again. Lopez won by shutout in his first two matches, setting up a rematch with the favorite, and just like last time, he shut him out, 2-0 this time. He went on to win the gold in another shutout, meaning he didn't give up a single point on his way to gold medal #4.

Lopez didn't compete in any international events over the next two years, but decided to return for the 2024 Olympics to try for an unprecedented 5th straight wrestling gold. He faced the favorite, Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran, in the second round, and beat him 3-1, clearing a path for another triumph. His final two matches were easier, and he won the gold medal 6-0 in the final match, making him the first Olympian in history to win gold in the same individual event 5 times.

Immediately after winning gold, Lopez removed his shoes and left them in the middle of the mat, a common practice among wresters to signify their retirement. He was just days short of his 42nd birthday at the time, and had just made history, so it was a perfect time to end his career as one of the greatest Olympians of all time.