Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #9 - Nikolay Andrianov

Nikolay Andrianov

USSR

Artistic Gymnastics

Overall Ranks

#4 among Gymnasts

#2 among Male Gymnasts

#2 among Soviet Olympians

#1 among Male Soviet Olympians

Olympic Results

1972

Team - Silver

Floor Exercise - Gold

Vault - Bronze

1976

Individual All-Around - Gold

Team - Silver

Floor Exercise - Gold

Vault - Gold

Parallel Bars - Silver

Rings - Gold

Pommel Horse - Bronze

1980

Individual All-Around - Silver

Team - Gold

Floor Exercise - Silver

Vault - Gold

Horizontal Bar - Bronze

Total

Events - 24

Gold - 7

Silver - 5

Bronze - 3

Nikolay Yefimovich Andrianov was born on October 14, 1952 in Vladimir, USSR, now part of Russia. He was enrolled in a Soviet gymnastics school when he was 11, and by age 18 he had won a couple of gold medals at the European championships, and by the next year, he was on the Soviet Olympic team.

The Munich Olympics began with the team competition, which had been dominated by Japan for more than a decade, and 1972 was no different. Japan won the gold medal by 7.2 points, and the USSR was left with the silver, just like the past 3 Olympics. Andrianov, though only 19, was the highest-scoring member of the Soviet team.

That year, the top 36 athletes in the team competition advanced to the individual all-around, and the medals were determined by adding their scores from each half of the competition together. He was #5 in qualifying, behind 4 Japanese gymnasts, but posted the top score of anyone in the final, which was enough to move him up to 4th, but not quite into the medals, just 0.125 points short.

He qualified for the event finals in 4 events, and missed out on the rings final due to a tiebreaker. He was #2 in qualifying for the floor exercise, behind Sawao Kato of Japan, but Kato had a poor final performance, while Andrianov's 9.65 was the highest, moving him up to win the gold medal.

He was the #1 qualifier in the vault, but he only scored a 9.2 in the final, which allowed him to be passed by two others, and he ended up having to settle for the bronze medal. He got into the parallel bars final through a tiebreaker, and only scored an 8.45 in the final, which left him far behind the others in 6th place. He was also the final qualifier in the horizontal bar, and was unable to improve his standing. His first Olympics ended with 3 medals, one of each color, while coming somewhat close to 4 others.

In the 1974 World Championships, he won a gold medal in the rings, and 5 silver medals to go with it, and he was still improving, so that by 1976 he was the top gymnast in the world. Starting out with the team event again in Montreal, he gave it his all, but the Soviet Union fell just short, losing to Japan by 0.4 points, their closest margin in the 5 straight Olympic losses.

This time, the individual all-around limited each nation to 3 gymnasts, but that didn't affect Andrianov, who was the top qualifier from the team event. In the final, just as he had 4 years earlier, he had the best overall score, leading to a dominant gold medal win by a full point over Kato.

He qualified for 5 of the event finals, only missing out on the horizontal bar. He was the defending champ in the floor exercise, but came into the final tied for third. After scoring a 9.8 in the final, he was able to overcome the deficit and move up to the top, repeating as the gold medalist.

In the vault, he was #2 after qualifying, behind Imre Molnar of Hungar, but Molnar faltered in the final, and Andrianov posted the top score again, allowing him to move up to win his third gold medal of the games. In the parallel bars, Kato was the defending champ and the top qualifier, and he followed it up with the top final score as well, leaving Andrianov no chance to move up from second, so he earned the silver in that event.

In the rings, he was on top after qualifying, and with a 9.8 in the final, he was able to win his 4th gold medal in Montreal, and 5th overall. On the pommel horse, he was tied for third entering the final, and he again scored a 9.8 in that round, but it wasn't enough this time to move up, and he ended up with the bronze medal.

At the 1978 World Championships, he repeated his gold medal in the rings, and took the individual all-around gold as well, further validating his win in Montreal. The 1980 Olympics would be held in Moscow in his home nation, and he was chosen to recite the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremonies.

Japan joined the USA-led boycott of the 1980 Games, taking away the Soviet Union's chief rival in the team event, and as a result, the Soviets won gold in the event by 8.45 points, with Andrianov #2 on the Soviet team in scoring, behind Aleksandr Dityatin, who would go on to win medals in all 8 events in Moscow, the first Olympian ever to win 8 medals in the same Olympics. 

Those two were the top two in qualifying for the individual all-around, and they remained in the same places afterward, leaving Andrianov with the silver medal and his third straight top 4 finish in the event. He qualified for 5 individual event finals, everything but the pommel horse, but elected to sit out of the parallel bars and rings to allow younger teammates the chance to compete.

In the floor exercise, he was the 2-time defending champ, and the top qualifier, and he scored a 9.85 in the final, which would usually have been enough to win, but Roland Bruckner of East Germany scored a 9.9 to leapfrog him, leaving him just short of the three-peat in silver position.

He was also the top qualifier in the vault, in addition to being the defending champion, and a 9.925 in the final was enough to hold off Dityatin, earning Andrianov his 6th individual gold medal, and 7th overall in his career. He was #3 in qualifying for the horizontal bar, and was able to hold his position in the final, which earned him the bronze medal in the only event he hadn't won a medal in before.

He retired soon after his home Olympics, and went on to become a coach, coaching the national Junior team for several years, and later becoming the final coach of the national team before the fall of the Soviet Union. Later, he would develop MSA, a neurological disorder that caused him to lose the ability to speak or use his arms or legs, and he passed away in 2011 at age 58.

At the time of his retirement, he had the most Olympic medals of any man in history, trailing only Larisa Latynina overall, and currently is #3 in overall medals, as he has also been passed by Michael Phelps. He still holds the records for most gold and overall medals for a male gymnast, and he was easily the best performer at the 1976 Olympics, and he is easily one of the best Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #11 - Isabell Werth

Isabell Werth

Germany

Equestrian Dressage

Overall Ranks

#1 among German Olympians

#1 among Equestrians

Olympic Results

1992

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

1996

Individual - Gold

Team - Gold

2000

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2008

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2016

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2020

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

2024

Individual - Silver

Team - Gold

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 8

Silver - 6

Isabell Regina Werth was born on July 21, 1969 in Issum, West Germany, and competed in her first international event, the European Championships, in 1989, right around her 20th birthday, and she remains active to this day. 

Her first Olympic experience came in Barcelona in 1992, riding Gigolo. In the team event, each team used 4 riders, with the top 3 scores counting toward the final team score. Germany had the top 4 overall riders, but only got to count the top 3, including Werth, who was #2 overall, and they won the gold medal by 482 points, more than 10% more than their nearest opponent, the Netherlands.

The top 16 riders from the team event were entered into the individual event, with a max of 3 per nation. Werth was only 6 points behind defending champ Nicole Uphoff-Becker going into the final, but in the final performance, Uphoff-Becker had a dominant performance, winning the gold by 75 points over Werth, who took the silver in her first Olympics.

She was back to compete in Atlanta in 1996, but Uphoff-Becker failed to make the team that year, so Werth was now the top rider. She led the German team to another gold medal in the team event, though the final score was much closer, with a margin of only 116 points over the Netherlands, who had the #2 and #3 overall riders in the event, only behind Werth.

The individual event was a little different that year. The top 25 riders were advanced into a semifinal round, with the top 14 then advanced to the final round, which had music added. The winner was determined by adding the scores from all 3 rounds together. Werth was #1 after the team event, but fell to #2 behind Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands after the semifinal round. In the final, she and Gigolo performed to the song "Just a Gigolo", and got the highest score by more than 3 points, which moved them back into first and earned Werth her first individual gold medal.

She was once again back to perform in Sydney in 2000, in Gigolo's last performance before retirement. She again led Germany to the team gold medal and was the highest scorer in the event, but this time the margin had shrunk again, to only 53 points. It was the 5th straight Olympics where Germany or West Germany had won the gold, and the third straight gold in the event for Werth.

She was the top qualifier into the individual event, which followed the same format as 1996, but after the semifinal round, she had again fallen behind van Grunsven. This time, van Grunsven would have the highest score of the final round by far, and Werth was unable to overcome the deficit, and ended up taking the silver medal.

After Gigolo's retirement, Werth rode a horse named Antony for the next few years, but failed to see the same success as she had on Gigolo. She performed in the 2004 World Cup on Apache, but only finished 9th, and was not selected for the 2004 Olympic team. Over the next couple of years, she switched back and forth between two horses name Warum Nicht and Satchmo, and began to start seeing success again, and was put back on the Olympic team for 2008 riding Satchmo.

Germany had managed to keep their gold medal streak alive without her in 2004, but having her back in 2008 was definitely a big help. The scoring system was different now, but Werth still had the top score in the team event, and again led Germany to the gold medal, again edging out the Netherlands, this time by 1.167 points in the new scoring system.

Werth was leading at the beginning of the individual event thanks to her strong performance in the team event, then had the highest score in the semifinal round, which put her into the final with the lead. Van Grunsven, however, dominated the final round again, winning her third straight individual gold medal, leaving Werth with the silver for the third time in her career.

In 2009, her horse tested positive for a banned substance at a local event, resulting in a 6-month suspension for Werth. By 2012, Satchmo had retired, and she was again trying to find the right horse, resulting in her missing the Olympic team again. In 2013, she was suspended again when her new horse, El Santo, tested positive for another banned substance. 

She continued to ride after her suspension, and in 2016 she made the Olympic team again, this time on Weihegold Old. In her absence, the Germans had been upset in 2012 by Great Britain, so they were happy to have her back. She had the second-highest score in the team event, behind Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain, but Germany was stronger overall, and won the gold by 3.341 points over the Brits, the fifth team gold and 6th overall of Werth's career.

This time, the scoring in the individual event was determined only by the score in the final round event set to music, without the previous round scores being added on. Dujardin's specialty was the music section, and she beat Werth by 4.786 points, leaving Werth with her 4th individual silver medal.

She switched horses again in 2019, this time to Bella Rose 2, and continued to see success on her new steed, making her 6th Olympic team in 2020. In the team event that took place in Toyko in 2021, Germany won easily by 431 points in a return to the old style of scoring, with Werth having the second-highest score, behind Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, a new teammate.

The individual event was competely separate this year, with 60 riders competing in groups of 10, with the top 2 from each group, plus the 6 next-highest scorers advancing to the final round of 18. Werth won her group with the #2 score overall, behind only Bredow-Werndl, and the pair finished in the same places after the final round as well, with Werth losing by 2.075 points to take a fifth silver medal. She also became only the third Olympian in history to win medals at 6 different Olympic Games.

Bella Rose 2 retired after the Tokyo Olympics, so Werth again had to change horses, this time to Wendy de Fontaine, and she qualified again for the Olympic team to compete in Paris in 2024. In the team event, von Bredow-Werndl had the highest score again, and Werth was #3 overall, and Germany won another gold medal, this one in a very close fight against Denmark, with the final margin being just 0.121 points under a return to the 2016 scoring system.

Werth was #2 in her group in the first part of the individual event, but that still meant automatic advancement to the final round. In the final, she made it much closer than she had in 2020, but she still lost to von Bredow-Werndl, who took her second straight gold medal, this time by 0.479 points over Werth, who won silver for the 6th time. 

Werth is still actively competing, and it is very likely that she will compete in Los Angeles in 2028, which would be her 8th Olympic games. She is the only Olympian ever to medal in 7 different Olympics, and also the only Olympian to win gold in the same event 7 times. She also has competed in the most events of any Olympian ever to medal in every event, making her an easy choice to include among the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #12 - Lucien Gaudin

Lucien Gaudin

France

Fencing

Overall Ranks

#1 among French Olympians

#1 among Fencers

Olympic Results

1920

Team Foil - Silver

1924

Team Foil - Gold

Team Epee - Gold

1928

Individual Foil - Gold

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Epee - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 4

Silver - 2

Lucien Alphonse Paul Gaudin was born September 27, 1886 in Arras, France, and studied fencing under two of the masters who had competed in the 1900 Olympics, and began competing internationally in 1904, but not in time for that year's Olympics. He was selected to compete in the 1908 Olympics in London, but ended up not competing. 

He finally made his Olympic debut 12 years later in Antwerp, competing in the team foil event. He was a perfect 4-0 in his first round match against the Netherlands, which advanced France to the final pool. In that pool, he went 11-1, only losing a single bout against Italy, who would eventually win the gold medal, as they beat France 9-7 in their match, but Gaudin won a silver medal for his work.

He was expected to compete in the individual foil as well, but ended up sitting out, and the three medals ended up all being won by his French teammates. He returned to compete in 1924 in Paris, again starting with the team foil event. He was a perfect 12-0 in the early rounds, leading France back to the final pool. In the final pool, he was again perfect, going 10-0, but the ruling on his final point in a bout with Italy was somewhat controversial, and the Italian team walked out and forfeited the rest of the tournament, giving France an easy gold with their best opponent gone.

He again sat out the individual foil event, watching his teammates take gold and silver, instead preparing for the team epee event. He ended up only being used in the final pool, where he went 6-2 in his bouts, and helped France secure another team gold medal.

He was entered in 3 events in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and this time he competed in all 3, starting with the team foil again. He was again perfect in leading France to the final pool, winning all 12 of his bouts. In the final pool, he went 7-1, including 3-1 against Italy, but his teammates each went 1-3 in that match, so they lost to their rivals 10-6, and ended up with the silver medal again, despite Gaudin's best efforts.

That was the year when Gaudin would finally compete in the individual foil event for the first time. As usual, he was perfect all the way to the final, winning all 12 of his bouts, putting him in the 12-man final pool as one of the favorites. In that pool, he went 9-2, which resulted in a 3-way tie for first, so the three each fenced each other again to break the tie. He beat Erwin Casmir of Germany easily in his first bout, then faced Giulio Gaudini of Italy. He fell behind 4-2 in that match, but then took 3 straight points, and with it, the gold medal.

He also competed in the individual epee event that year, which was not his specialty, but he had contributed to the team gold 4 years earlier. He went 24-4 on his way to the final pool, coming in first in his pool in all 3 rounds. In the final pool, he went 8-1, with his only loss coming in a tie against Leon Tom of Belgium, as ties were counted as losses for both fencers that year. That record was enough to win him the gold medal, making him the second and most recent man in history to win both the foil and epee in the same Olympics.

He retired the next year to focus on running his film company, which had produced the official Olympic film for the 1924 Paris games. The company ended up going bankrupt in 1934, and in his despair, Gaudin committed suicide. It's been nearly 100 years since he last competed, but no one else has matched his performance in 1928, and he never finished worse than second place in any Olympic event in his career, making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #13 - Bjorn Daehlie

Bjorn Daehlie

Norway

Cross Country Skiing

Overall Ranks

1992

30 km - Silver

50 km - Gold

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Gold

1994

10 km - Gold

30 km - Silver

Skiathlon - Gold

Relay - Silver

1998

10 km - Gold

50 km - Gold

Skiathlon - Silver

Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 15

Gold - 8

Silver - 4

Bjorn Erlend Daehlie was born on June 19, 1967 in Elverum, Norway, and was very active in outdoor sports as a child, and wanted to pursue a career in soccer before he was convinced by a coach to give skiing a try, and he became great quickly. By the time he was 20, he was added to the Norwegian Olympic team as an alternate for the 1988 games, but did not participate.

He won his first World Championship gold medals in 1991, in the 15 km and the relay, which helped him make the Olympic team in 1992 as a full participant. His first event was the 30 km classical, and he started well, taking the lead early and holding it all the way through 23.6 km, but at that point he was passed by teammate Vegard Ulvang, who didn't let up, winning the race by 46.2 seconds over Daehlie, who would take the silver.

Next was the 10 km race, which was being contested for the first time at the Olympics, in place of the usual 15 km. Daehlie was one of the favorites, and the race was complicated by heavy snow, but it didn't seem to affect Ulvang, who took another gold medal, while finished in 4th place, just 5.2 seconds short of winning a medal.

The next event was the skiathlon, where each athlete's start time and order was determined by their time in the previous day's 10 km race, so Daehlie started out 25 seconds after Ulvang. The race was 15 km, and by 4km, Daehlie had passed Ulvang to take the lead, then sped away, finishing the race 53.4 seconds ahead of his teammate, who remained in second. It was the first of many Olympic gold medals in Daehlie's career.

Next was the 4x10 km relay, where Norway was favored, thanks to having Ulvang and Daehlie on the team. Sweden actually led after the first leg, by 0.7 seconds over Norway, but then Ulvang took off, and it was never close again. He gave them a lead of over 26 seconds after his leg, and the lead was the same when Daehlie took off on the anchor leg. He skied the fastest leg of the competition by far, and Norway ended up beating Italy by nearly a minute and a half, earning him a second gold medal, and Ulvang a third.

The Olympics wrapped up with the longest race, the 50 km. In that one, Daehlie dominated the field, leading from start to finish, with the lead at 1:23 at the 45 km mark, at which point he slowed the pace slightly since he knew he had already won. He ended up finishing 57.6 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor, and finished his Olympic debut with 3 straight gold medals.

After winning 3 golds and a bronze at the 1993 World Championships, Daehlie was ready for the 1994 Olympics, which were held in Lillehammer in his home country. He started out again with the 30 km, where he was the favorite. He was the 60th skier to go, and he had the lead at every single checkpoint during his run, but later, his younger teammate Thomas Alsgaard, who was competing in his first Olympics, took a surprising lead at 7 km, then increased it the rest of the way, beating Daehlie by 47.2 seconds, leaving him with the silver again.

Next was the 10 km, where Daehlie had missed out on a medal in the previous Olympics. He didn't let that happen again. He led throughout the short race, and ended up winning by 18.2 seconds, which is a pretty solid victory for such a short race. That was his 4th career gold medal.

Because of that win, he got to start first in the Skiathlon the next day, with a good head start, which he didn't really need anyway, as he had the fastest race time in the event as well, 11 seconds faster than Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakhstan, who had started second, which gave him another gold medal by a margin of 29.2 seconds.

Next was the relay, where Norway was the defending champ and the home team, and thus expected to win. Daehlie was again assigned to the anchor leg, and Norway started out with a tiny lead over Finland after the first leg, but after Ulvang skied the second leg, Italy had taken a small lead. After the third leg, Finland was back on top, and Norway was back in third, but only 1.1 seconds behind when Daehlie started. Daehlie and the Italian quickly pulled away from Finland, but Daehlie leading, and Italy drafting off of him, refusing to take the lead until the final stretch, when they pulled ahead as both sprinted for the finish, which was won by Italy by 0.4 seconds in the closest relay finish in history.

Once again, the 50 km race was last, but this time it was raced in classical style, while Daehlie was best at the freestyle. He was in second place through most of the race, behind Smirnov, but slowed down considerably in the final third of the race, and ended up finishing in 4th place, leaving him off the podium for the first time in Lillehammer.

He remained one of the best in the world over the next few years, winning 5 medals at the 1997 World Championships, including 3 golds, so he was again a top contender for medals at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. His first race, the 30 km, did not go well, as there was heavy, damp snow falling throughout, and he was never able to get a good pace going, and finished in 20th place, the only time in his Olympic career that he finished worse than 4th.

The next race was the 10 km, which he had won 4 years earlier, and this one would be held in a steady rainstorm, but it didn't hurt Daehlie as much as some of the others. He led at both checkpoints by several seconds over Smirnov, and finished 8 seconds ahead of the next skier, earning him his first gold of these games, and his 6th overall.

Next was the skiathlon, where he was the 2-time defending champ and had the advantage of starting first thanks to winning the 10 km. He didn't start off as strong as expected, and by the halfway point, his teammate Thomas Alsgaard was right behind him, where he stayed for nearly 20 minutes. Daehlie was never able to pull away or get Alsgaard to take the lead, until the final 200m, when Alsgaard made his move and finished strong, leaving Daehlie to take the silver by a margin of 1.1 seconds.

Next was the relay, where Norway wanted revenge on Italy for beating them on their home course. Daehlie took the third leg this time, and he needed to ski well, because their first skier struggled, leaving Norway in 10th place after the first leg, 22.6 seconds off the lead. The next Norwegian skied a great leg, and pulled them into 2nd place, still 12 seconds down, when Daehlie started. Daehlie had an even better leg, and finished his section just half a second behind Italy. Alsgaard skied the anchor leg, and just as he had done in the previous race, he sat right behind the Italian for the entire leg, before pulling ahead at the finish, and Norway won gold by 0.2 seconds.

The final event was again the 50 km, which was in freestyle this time, which helped Daehlie. His start was slow, but he had pulled himself into 4th place by the halfway point. By 40 km, Daehlie was holding a slight lead, and he was able to hold on to it through the finish, where he ended up 8.1 seconds ahead to win his final Olympic gold medal.

He competed in the 1999 World Championships, but later that year, he had a serious injury while roller skiing later that year, and after 2 years of surgeries and rehab, he was unable to overcome the injury and was forced to retire. At the time, his 12 medals and 8 golds were both Winter Olympic records, though both were eclipsed earlier this year by Johannes Hosflot Klaebo. Even though he no longer owns those records, his great 6-year run was enough to make him the greatest Winter Olympian of all time, and one of the greatest Olympians overall as well.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #14 - Edoardo Mangiarotti

Edoardo Mangiarotti

Italy

Fencing

Overall Ranks

#2 among Italian Olympians

#2 among Fencers

#1 among Italian Fencers

Olympic Results

1936

Team Epee - Gold

1948

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Epee - Bronze

Team Epee - Silver

1952

Individual Foil - Silver

Team Foil - Silver

Individual Epee - Gold

Team Epee - Gold

1956

Team Foil - Gold

Individual Epee - Bronze

Team Epee - Gold

1960

Team Foil - Silver

Team Epee - Gold

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 6

Silver - 5

Bronze - 2

Edoardo Mangiarotti was born on April 7, 1919 in Renate, Italy, to a father who was a 17-time national fencing champion. His father trained him from a young age to fence with his left hand, even though he was naturally right-handed, in order to make him a tougher opponent. He became the national junior champion when he was just 11, and made the national senior team at age 16.

At age 17, he competed in his first Olympics, traveling to Berlin for the team epee event. In the first round, he went 2-1 against Hungary, then went a perfect 3-0 against Czechoslovakia in the next round. He had 4 wins and 2 losses total in the semifinals, and Italy advanced to the final pool, having not lost a match. They used him in all 3 finals matches, and he rewarded them by going 7-1 in his bouts, and Italy dominated their way to the gold medal, and a new star was born. 

Because of World War II, he wouldn't have another chance to compete in the Olympics for 12 years, where he would compete in both the foil and the epee. He started out with the team foil event, where he went 9-1 through the early rounds, helping Italy to make the final pool. In the final pool, he went 8-2 overall, but Italy and France tied 8-8 in the final match, and the tiebreaker was decided by total touches, which gave France the gold medal by a count of 62-60. 

Next up was a chance to defend Italy's gold medal from 1936 in the team epee. In the first round, he struggled against Brazil, only going 2-2, but the rest of his team was a perfect 12-0, so they advanced easily. He made up for it by going 11-1 over the next two rounds, leading Italy back to the final pool. He went 9-3 in the final pool, but the rest of his team went 3-9 against France, and they ended up with another team silver medal.

That year, he also competed in the individual epee for the first time. He was given a first-round bye since he competed in the team final, then squeaked through the next two rounds with a record of 8-5 to advance to the final pool. In that pool, he started out by beating teammate Gino Cantone, but Cantone would only lose one other match, and ended up with the gold medal. Mangiarotti ended up at 5-4, which put him in a 4-way tie for second place, and he was tied on touches with Oswald Zappelli of Switzerland, but since he lost the head-to-head, he ended up with the bronze medal.

Four years later in Helsinki, he would have the best week of his career. He started out again with the team foil event, where they had won silver previously. He wasn't used much in the early rounds, but went 4-0 when he was. In the final, he was 6-2, but it once again wasn't enough, as France beat them 8-6 in their match, and Italy took home the silver again.

That year, he was also selected to compete in the individual foil event. He was completely perfect in the early rounds, going 11-0 on his way to the final pool. In the final pool, however, he ran into a juggernaut in Christian d'Oriola of France, the 4-time defending world champion, who won all 8 of his bouts to take the gold medal. Mangiarotti, in his first Olympic foil singles event, ended up with his second silver of the games.

In the team epee event, France was upset in the quarterfinal round, which opened up a clear path to gold for the Italians. Italy saved him until the final pool due to his busy schedule, but used him in all 3 finals matches, and he went 8-3 overall in those bouts, and Italy made it through the tournament without a lost match to win the gold medal, an honor he shared with his older brother, Dario, who was also on the team.

Both brothers also competed in the individual epee event. Edoardo went 14-2 through the early rounds as he won both of his pools to advance to the final, and his brother went 12-4. In the final pool, Edoardo went 7-2 against the 9 other finalists, which was good enough to earn him the gold medal, the first individual gold of his Olympic career, and his brother ended up winning the silver.

He was chosen to compete in the same 4 events in Melbourne in 1956. He was held out until the semifinals in the team foil event, and then struggled in that round, only going 3-4 as Italy beat Great Britain on a tiebreaker to advance to the final pool. He was much better in the final, going 9-3 overall, which was important, because they won all 3 matches either 9-7 or 8-8 with a tiebreaker, so losing even one more bout could have cost them the gold, but they did walk away on top.

In the individual foil event, he went 4-3 in his first round pool, which turned out not to be enough, as he was eliminated in a tiebreaker, and failed to reach the final pool and win a medal for the only time in his Olympic career.

Next, he tried to lead Italy to repeat as gold medalists in the team epee event. He was held out of the first round, then went 3-0 in the semifinal, which was once again fortuitous, because the team lost a match to Belgium without him, and advanced on a tiebreaker due to their large margin of victory over Hungary. He fenced in all three finals matches, and Italy dominated them all, while Mangiarotti went 8-3 in his bouts, and they successfully defended their gold medal.

He was also attempting to defend his individual epee gold that year. He was solid in the early rounds, going 10-3 on his way back to the final pool. In the final, he and his two Italian teammates, Carlo Pavesi and Giuseppe Delfino, each went 5-2, and this time ties were broken by tiebreaking matches rather than touches. The three each fenced each other again, and each won one and lost one, leaving another tie. After another round, Pavesi came out victorious, while Delfino beat Mangiarotti for the silver, leaving him with an individual bronze.

The next Olympics took place in Rome, and though he was going to be 41 years old, he still wanted to compete, and they allowed him to compete in the team events. They used him in the first round, where he went 1-1 against Romania, as Italy won 9-2. It was single elimination after that round, but he wasn't used again until the final, where he went 1-2 as Italy lost to the USSR and ended up with the silver medal.

They were going for their third straight gold in the team epee, which was his better discipline. He went 4-2 in their first round pool, but was only 1-2 against Sweden in the semifinals, which Italy won 9-3 overall. They held him out of the semifinals, then used him in the final against Great Britain, where he again went 1-2, but Italy still won the gold 9-5, earning Mangiarotti one final gold medal.

He retired the next year, and at the time of his retirement, he had 13 total medals, the most of any Olympian at the time, having just passed Paavo Nurmi, who had 12. His record would be broken at the next Olympics, but he still has the most medals ever among fencers, and is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #15 - Matti Nykanen

Matti Nykanen

Finland

Ski Jumping

Overall Ranks

#1 among Finnish Olympians

#1 among Ski Jumpers

Olympic Results

1984

Normal Hill - Silver

Large Hill - Gold

1988

Normal Hill - Gold

Large Hill - Gold

Large Hill Team - Gold

Total

Events - 5

Gold - 4

Silver - 1

Matti Ensio Nykanen was born on July 17, 1963 in Jyvaskyla, Finland, and made the national ski jumping team as soon as he turned 18. While he was still 18, he won the gold medal in the large hill at the World Championships, and by the time he was first eligible for the Olympics, he was already well-established as a great ski jumper.

His 1984 Olympics began with the normal hill event, where his chief competition was expected to be Jens Weissflog of East Germany, who was a year younger than Nykanen. The winner was determined by the combined score of two jumps, which were judged by distance and style. After the first jump, Nykanen had the lead with a score of 114.1, with Weissflog at 110.5 sitting in second.

Weather conditions weren't as good for the second round of jumps. Nykanen was the 57th of 58 jumpers to go, so he got to see exactly what was required of him to win. Weissflog took the lead on his jump, giving himself a final score of 215.2, so Nykanen just needed a 101.1 to win, but he came up just a couple of meters short on his jump, and ended up losing by 1.2 points and settling for the silver medal.

In the large hill event, Nykanen didn't allow the same thing to happen again. He took a huge lead in the first round, scoring a 119.1 on his first jump, 13.1 points ahead of Weissflog in second. In the second round, Weissflog took the lead over the nearest jumper by more than 10 points, but Nykanen was once again the penultimate jumper, and he only needed a 93.9 to win. Instead of playing it safe, he again posted the best jump of the round, and won the gold medal by a margin of 17.5 points, the largest margin in the history of ski jumping.

He returned to compete in Calgary in 1988, and he continued his dominance there. He started again with the normal hill, and this time, he left no doubt. He had a lead of 7.9 points after his first jump, then nearly matched his score on his second jump, giving him a dominant gold medal by a margin of 17 points, the second-largest in the history of the normal hill.

He was expected to repeat the performance in the large hill event, which he did. His first jump scored a 120.8, giving him a lead of 7.1 points after his first jump, and he basically just needed to land the second jump in order to win. Again, he posted the best score on the second jump, and came away with a win by 16.1 points, and another dominant gold.

That year, a new event was added to the Olympic program, the team large hill event. Each team had 4 jumpers, and each jumped twice, with the top 3 jumps from each round counting toward the country's score. Nykanen had the best jump of anyone in each round, and his teammates were good enough that the Finns won the gold medal by 8.9 points over Yugoslavia. With that win, Nykanen became the first ski jumper ever to win 3 gold medals at the same Olympics, just a day after becoming the first to win two.

He retired from ski jumping in 1990, and moved on to a singing career. Over the next three decades, he was married and divorced 6 times, and was charged with or found guilty of domestic violence or assault on at least half a dozen occasions. He also battled alcoholism through the rest of his life, and passed away in 2019 at the age of 55 due to pancreatitis and pneumonia.

Nykanen's personal life may have been a huge mess, but his athletic career was phenomenal. He is still the only ski jumper to win three gold medals at the same Olympics, and still holds the record for largest margin of victory in an Olympic ski jump event. His 4 career gold medals are the most ever for a ski jumper, leaving no doubt that he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #17 - Elaine Thompson-Herah

Elaine Thompson-Herah

Jamaica

Athletics

Overall Ranks

#5 among Track & Field Athletes

#2 among Female Track & Field Athletes

#2 among Jamaican Olympians

#1 among Female Jamaican Olympians

Olympic Results

2016

100m - Gold

200m - Gold

4x100m Relay - Silver

2020

100m - Gold

200m - Gold

4x100m Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 6

Gold - 5

Silver - 1

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.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #19 - Livio Trape

Livio Trape

Italy

Road Cycling

Overall Ranks

#3 among Road Cyclists

#3 among Italian Olympians

#2 among Italian Cyclists

Olympic Results

1960

Team Time Trial - Gold

Road Race - Silver

Total

Events - 2

Gold - 1

Silver - 1

Livio Trape was born on May 26, 1937 in Montefiascone, Italy, and gained a reputation in early adulthood as a great amateur road racer, winning a ton of races and that national championship, before competing in the Olympics in 1960 in Rome.

The Olympics began with a team time trial, raced over 100 km with teams of 4 riders each, with teams starting at intervals, and the time of the last rider crossing the finish line counting as the team's time. On their home course, the Italians dominated, winning by more than 2 minutes and 20 seconds, and Trape had an Olympic gold medal to add to his accomplishments.

A few days later was the individual road race, which consisted of 12 laps of a 14.6 km course on a very hot day. On the second lap, a Dutch rider opened up a 46 second lead, and was joined by one of his teammates on the fifth lap. On the 7th lap, 7 more riders caught up to the leading pair, including Trape. More riders caught up to the group over the next 2 laps, ballooning to over 40 by the 10th lap, at which point Trape and Viktor Kapitonov broke away from the pack. At the end of the 11th lap, Kapitonov sprinted for the finish, thinking it was the final lap, while Trape stayed right on his tail, and remained with him through the final lap, but Kapitonov still had enough left for another surge at the end for a split-second victory. The next 39 riders finished 20 seconds later, a very solid gap for cycling.

Trape turned pro the next year, and won his very first race, but soon afterward broke his femur in a crash, which derailed his career. He made a comeback, and once took 2nd place in a race, but by 1966 he was retired from racing. Even though his Olympic career was short, he led his team to a dominant victory in his first race, and came within a hair of winning another gold by a solid margin just days later, and that is enough to make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #21 - Boris Shakhlin

Boris Shakhlin

USSR

Artistic Gymnastics

Overall Ranks

#5 among Gymnasts

#3 among Male Gymnasts

#3 among Soviet Olympians

#2 among Male Soviet Olympians

Olympic Results

1956

Team - Gold

Pommel Horse - Gold

1960

Individual All-Around - Gold

Team - Silver

Vault - Gold

Parallel Bars - Gold

Horizontal Bar - Bronze

Rings - Silver

Pommel Horse - Gold

1964

Individual All-Around - Silver

Team - Silver

Horizontal Bar - Gold

Rings - Bronze

Total

Events - 24

Gold - 7

Silver - 4

Bronze - 2

Boris Anfiyanovich Shakhlin was born on January 27, 1932 in Ishim, USSR, which is now part of Russia, but he was ethnically Ukrainian. He began training in gymnastics at age 12, and competed in his first world championships at age 22, winning team gold and a silver on the horizontal bar. He remained as part of the Soviet team for the remainder of his gymnastics career, and his first Olympics came in 1956 in Melbourne.

In the team competition, the Soviets were the defending champs, but the Japanese were improving rapidly, and they made this a tough competition. Shakhlin was the 5th-highest scoring member of the Soviet team, as one of the newcomers, but Viktor Chukarin and Yury Titov led them to another gold medal, ahead of Japan by 1.85 points.

The results from the team event decided the individual all-around medals as well, and in that event, Shakhlin finished tied for 8th place. The medals for the individual events were also determined this way. He nearly earned a medal in the vault, where he finished tied for 4th, just 0.05 points behind Titov for the bronze. He did, however, win the gold medal in the pommel horse, where his combined score of 19.25 put him 0.05 ahead of Takashi Ono for first place.

By the time the 1958 World Championships came around, he was the best gymnast in the world, and he proved it by winning 5 gold medals, including the individual all-around. He carried that momentum into the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where his own teammates and the Japanese gymnasts would be his chief competition.

1960 was the year that the Japanese gymnastics dynasty began. They were finally able to overcome the USSR, winning the gold medal by 2.5 points, leaving a team silver for the Soviets. In the individual all-around scoring, however, Shakhlin came out on top, 0.05 points ahead of Ono, giving him the toughest gold medal to earn in gymnastics.

That year is when the event finals were a separate event, with a final performance score combined with the qualifying score to determine the medals. The top 6 on each apparatus advanced to the final, and Shakhlin qualified in 5 of the 6, failing only in the floor exercise, where he finished 7th.

In the vault, he had qualified in third place, but in the final, he posted the best score, a 9.75, which raised him into a tie for first with Ono, and the pair shared the gold medal. He and Ono tied for first in qualifying for the parallel bars, but he again outperformed Ono in the final, and earned a solo gold medal as a result.

He was tied for second in qualifying for the horizontal bar, but slipped back to third after the final, ending up with the bronze medal. On the rings, he qualified #2, but teammate Albert Azaryan had an insurmountable lead, and he was content to finish with the silver. In the pommel horse, he started out in first, and held it in the final, earning him a repeat gold in the event.

He won 7 total medals in the 1960 Olympics, which at the time was tied for the most ever in a single Olympics, since surpassed by Aleksandr Dityatin and Michael Phelps. By 1962, he was still great, but had slipped slightly, winning 4 silvers and 2 bronzes at the World Championships, but no golds. 

At the 1964 Olympics, he was still the top athlete on the Soviet team, but they were defeated again by the Japanese team, by an identical 2.5 point margin. He also finished in second place in the individual all-around, but wasn't all that close to the gold, as Yukio Endo beat him by 0.55 points. He qualified for the finals in just 3 of the individual events.

He was #4 in qualifying for the vault, but had a disappointing 9.525 in the final, and he ended up in 5th place. He was the top qualifier in the horizontal bar, which was his favorite event, and he posted the best score in the final as well, so he was finally able to earn his first Olympic gold in the event. In the rings, he qualified in 4th place, but a poor showing from Endo, along with a solid 9.7 from Shakhlin, enabled him to move up to 3rd and take the bronze medal.

He continued to compete after those Olympics, but earned only a single medal, the team silver, at the next World Championships. He was still planning to compete in the 1968 Olympics, but after suffering a heart attack in 1967, he decided to retire from competition. After retirement, he lived in Kyiv for most of the rest of his life, before he passed away in 2008.

At the time of his retirement, he had the record for most total Olympic medals by a man, with 13, and most individual gold medals by a male gymnast, with 6, a record he still holds. His performance at the 1960 Olympics was one of the greatest ever, with 7 total medals and 4 golds, and there is no doubt that he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #22 - Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#6 among American Olympians

#4 among Male American Olympians

#2 among Swimmers

Olympic Results

1968

100m Freestyle - Bronze

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

100m Butterfly - Silver

1972

100m Freestyle - Gold

200m Freestyle - Gold

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Gold

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

100m Butterfly - Gold

200m Butterfly - Gold

4x100m Medley Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 12

Gold - 9

Silver - 1

Bronze - 1

Mark Andrew Spitz was born on February 10, 1950 in Modesto, California, and moved with his family to Honolulu as a small child, where he learned to swim in the ocean. They returned to California when he was 6, and by the time he was 9, he was training to become a competitive swimmer. He set his first world record at age 17 in the 400m freestyle.

By the next year, he held 10 world records, and predicted that he would win 6 gold medals at that year's Olympics in Mexico City. He started out in the 4x100m relay, where he would race third. The USA started strong, with a lead of almost a second after the first leg, which ballooned to 2.5 seconds at the midway point. Spitz pushed the lead to 2.7 seconds, and the final swimmer coasted home to win by 2.5 seconds and give the USA the gold, and Spitz his first.

His second event was the 100m Freestyle, and he started out well, winning his initial heat to advance to the semifinal. In that round, he came in second, behind Mike Wenden of Australia, who tied the Olympic record with his time. In the final, Wenden was even better, breaking the world record, while Spitz only managed to finish in 3rd place, earning a bronze, and ending his quest for 6 golds.

His next event was the 100m Butterfly, where he was the world record holder. He started off the race well, holding the lead at the turn, but on the back half, teammate Doug Russell pulled ahead of Spitz and beat him to the wall by half a second, setting an Olympic record in the process, and leaving Spitz with a silver medal.

He swam in the 4x200m relay final on the same day, also swimming the third leg. The US was slightly behind East Germany after the initial leg, but Steve Rerych gave them a big lead of 2.5 seconds by the time Spitz went into the pool. He swam the slowest leg of the team, but still held the lead at 1.7 seconds when Don Schollander jumped in for the anchor, and he was able to hold the lead as well, giving them a 1.4 second win over the Soviet Union for Spitz' second gold in Mexico City.

His final event ended up being the 200m butterfly, as he was left off the medley relay team after losing in the 100m butterfly. Whether from fatigue or disappointment, Spitz had a terrible race, falling behind early and staying in last place throughout the final, finishing nearly 5 seconds after the winner. He had managed to win 4 medals in Mexico City, but it was far below what he had expected.

After the 1968 Olympics, Spitz decided to attend college at the University of Indiana, where his Olympic coach worked. While there, he won 8 NCAA titles, and rebuilt his confidence in preparation for the 1972 Olympics, where he again set a goal to win 6 gold medals.

He started out competing in the 200m butterfly, where he had set 8 world records in the past 5 years. He had the fastest time in the prelim by far, and never gave anyone else a chance in the final, leading by 0.81 seconds at the first turn, and extending that lead throughout, finishing 2.16 seconds ahead of Gary Hall for the gold medal and a new world record.

40 minutes later, he swam the anchor leg in the 4x100m relay. The B team had already broken the world record in the prelim round, and now they were racing with a stronger team. The Soviets held a slight lead after the first leg, but the USA pulled slightly ahead by midway. The lead was over 2.5 seconds when Spitz got his turn, and he swam a great leg to break the world record by more than 2 seconds, while winning the gold medal by 3.3 seconds.

His third event, the 200m freestyle, was the next day. He went out fast in this one, hoping to pull away from the field, but held a lead of only 0.12 seconds at the first turn, and was passed on the second lap by Steve Genter, also of the USA, who held a small lead over Spitz through the final turn. At that point, Spitz turned it on, and he ended up beating Genter by almost a full second, while setting another world record, his third in just two days.

Two days later, he swam in the 100m butterfly final, where he had set the last 7 world records, including 2 at the Olympic Trials a month earlier. It was more of the same in the final, with Spitz going out very fast, and coming home in world record time again, beating the silver medalist by 1.29 seconds in a short race.

His fifth event was just an hour later, where he would swim anchor in the 4x200m relay. The USA was pretty much considered unbeatable in this event, and they lived up to expectations. They were slightly behind the home team, West Germany, at the midway point, but Genter swam an amazing third leg to give the USA a lead of more than 4 seconds before Spitz had to swim. He swam a solid leg, and extended the lead to 5.91 seconds by the end, earning his 5th gold medal of the games, all in world record times.

His next event was the 100m freestyle, which was his weakest event, and he even considered skipping the event to avoid missing out on a perfect Olympics, as he was confident in the medley relay that was coming the next day, but he decided to race anyway. He took off quickly again, hoping to put distance between himself and Jerry Heidenreich, his chief opposition, and it worked, as he had a lead of 0.36 seconds at the turn, and was able to hold off a charge at the end to win gold by 0.43 seconds, again setting a world record.

He finished up his Olympics with the 4x100m medley relay final, where he swam the third leg, the butterfly. East Germany led after the backstroke by over 1.5 seconds, but that was no surprise, as they had the best in the world at that stroke. The USA caught up and took the lead after the breaststroke by 0.13 seconds, and then Spitz put it away in his leg, extending the lead to 2.21 seconds. Heidenreich swam the freestyle to finish it off, and he pushed the lead clear out to 3.96 seconds by the end, and Spitz had his 7th gold medal, every one of them in world record time.

The following day was the Munich Massacre, where 2 Israeli athletes were killed and several more taken hostage by Palestinian militants, so Spitz, who is Jewish, was escorted to London overnight for his protection. He retired soon after his historic Olympic performance, despite being only 22 years old. He briefly attempted a comeback in 1991, but it was more of a publicity stunt, and he did not qualify for the 1992 games.

Even though his first Olympics were somewhat of a disappointment, he did win 4 medals as an 18-year-old, which is no small feat. His performance is Munich is one of the greatest single performances by an athlete in a single Olympics in history, and was enough alone to put him on this list, but when adding together his full career, including 9 total gold medals, he is obviously one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #23 - Akinori Nakayama

Akinori Nakayama

Japan

Artistic Gymnastics

Overall Ranks

#6 among Gymnasts

#4 among Male Gymnasts

#2 among Japanese Olympians

Olympic Results

1968

Individual All-Around - Bronze

Team - Gold

Floor Exercise - Silver

Parallel Bars - Gold

Horizontal Bar - Gold

Rings - Gold

1972

Individual All-Around - Bronze

Team - Gold

Floor Exercise - Silver

Rings - Gold

Total

Events - 16

Gold - 6

Silver - 2

Bronze - 2

Akinori Nakayama was born on March 1, 1943 in Nagoya, Japan, and had his first big international victory in gymnastics in 1965, winning the all-around at the Summer Universiade. The next year, he won 6 medals at the World Championships, which helped him earn a spot on the Olympic Team in Mexico City in 1968.

Japan had won the team gold in each of the past 2 Olympics, and they were only getting stronger. In Mexico City, they defeated the Soviet team by 4.8 points to win the gold medal for the third straight time, which was the first Olympic medal for Nakayama, who was the #2 scorer on the Japanese team.

The individual all-around results came from the team competition, and Nakayama's scores were high enough to earn him the bronze medal, behind teammate Sawao Kato and Soviet Mikhail Voronin. He qualified for 5 of the 6 event finals, only missing out on the pommel horse.

In the floor exercise, he qualified #2 behind Kato, but the lead was too much to make up in the final, and he remained in second place and won the silver medal. In the vault, he was #7 before the final, and only the top 6 got in, but Kato gave up his spot to Nakayama, who was only able to improve his standing to 5th place.

In the parallel bars, he was the top qualifier, and had the top score in the final round, which earned him his first individual gold medal. In the horizontal bar, he and Voronin were tied for first after qualifying, and each put up an identical 9.8 score in the final, so they were each awarded the gold medal, the second for Nakayama.

In the rings, Nakayama was the #2 qualifier, again behind Kato, but this time, he easily posted the highest score of the final, and that score put him ahead of his teammate and earned him his third individual gold of the games. His 6 total medals were the most for any athlete in Mexico City, tied with Vera Caslavska.

In 1970, he again won 6 medals at the World Championships, and this time, 4 of them were gold. This made him one of the favorites again heading to Munich in 1972. Just as before, the Japanese team won the gold medal, this time even more easily, finishing 7.2 points ahead of the USSR, with Nakayama only the 4th-highest scorer on the team.

The individual all-around was different this time, as the top 36 athletes from the team event advanced to a final round, which included Nakayama, who qualified 4th, behind 3 teammates. In the final round, Nakayama had the highest score among the Japanese athletes, and the second-highest overall, which boosted him ahead of Shigeru Kasamatsu and into third place, earning him a repeat bronze medal in the all-around.

He qualified for 4 event finals, missing out on the pommel horse in a tiebreaker, and the vault as well. He was part of a 5-way tie for second in the floor exercise after qualifying, behind Kato, but Kato had a poor showing in the final, leaving the medals wide open. Nakayama posted the #2 score in the final, so he ended up winning the silver medal, just like 4 years earlier.

He was tied for third on the parallel bars after qualifying, but a low score of 9.25 in the final dropped him to 5th place. In the horizontal bar, he also finished 5th after not improving on his qualifying placement. In the rings, however, he had a big lead after qualifying, and performed well enough that no one was able to overtake him, so he was able to repeat as gold medalist.

He retired soon after those Olympics, and went on to become vice president of the Japanese Gymnastics Federation, and also worked as a college gymnastics coach. He never won the all-around at the Olympics, but he took the bronze both times, and won 4 individual gold medals over 2 Olympic Games, finishing his short career with 10 total Olympic medals, which makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #24 - Aladar Gerevich

Aladar Gerevich

Hungary

Fencing

Overall Ranks

#4 among Fencers

#2 among Hungarian Olympians

Olympic Results

1932

Team Sabre - Gold

1936

Individual Sabre - Bronze

Team Sabre - Gold

1948

Individual Sabre - Gold

Team Sabre - Gold

1952

Team Foil - Bronze

Individual Sabre - Silver

Team Sabre - Gold

1956

Team Sabre - Gold

1960

Team Sabre - Gold

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 7

Silver - 1

Bronze - 2

Aladar Gerevich was born on March 16, 1910 in Jaszbereny, Austria-Hungary, which is now part of Hungary. He ended up having one of the longest careers of any Olympian in history, and it all started in 1932, when he made his first Olympic team at the age of 22.

In his first Olympics, he only competed in the team sabre event, where Hungary was the defending champ and the favorite. Hungary won their opening pool easily, beating Denmark and Mexico by a total of 25 matches to 3, with Gerevich going 3-1 personally against Mexico. In the final pool, Gerevich competed in all 3 of their matches, and went 8-2 overall, while Hungary went 31-6 in winning every match to repeat as gold medalists.

In 1936, he competed in 3 events, starting with the team foil, even though he specialized in sabre. In their opening pool, they defeated Norway 10-6, with Gerevich going 2-2, and that was enough to advance to the quarterfinal. In that round, they destroyed Yugoslavia 14-2, with Gerevich winning all 4 of his bouts. In the semifinal pool, they beat only 1 country, Austria, and failed to advance to the final, with Gerevich struggling to a 2-6 record, including 4 losses to eventual champion Italy.

In the team sabre, things were very different. In their opening pool, they beat Denmark 16-0, then Uruguay 14-2 in the quarterfinal, though Gerevich didn't participate in that round. In the semifinal, they won 44 out of 48 bouts, with Gerevich winning all 8 of his. They also dominated the final, going 32-10 overall, with only Italy making it close at 9-6. Gerevich won 5 of his 7 bouts as Hungary won the gold medal again.

He also competed in the individual sabre that year, for the first time. In the first 3 rounds of the tournament, Gerevich lost only a single match, winning 13, and made the final pool easily. There were 3 Hungarians in the final pool of 9, and those other 2 accounted for both of his losses in the final pool, and he ended up with the bronze medal after going 6-2.

World War II took out a huge chunk of his prime, but he was still a top fencer when they finally returned in 1948. He competed in the team foil again, and was the only Hungarian to go 4-0 in the first round. He went 3-1 in the next round, and it was just enough for them to advance in a tiebreaker over Uruguay. They lost both of their matches in the semifinal round, which left them out of the final.

In the team sabre, he was a perfect 7-0 in the first two rounds, and Hungary advanced to the final pool easily, as expected from the 3-time defending champs. The final pool was a little more challenging, and Gerevich went only 5-3 in his bouts, but they won all 3 matches to repeat as gold medalists for the 4th time in a row, and the 3rd for Gerevich.

He also competed again in the individual sabre, where he had won the bronze before the war. He was given a bye out of the first round due to his participation in the team final, then went 12-1 over the next two rounds to reach the final easily. In the final, he went a perfect 7-0 to win the gold medal, highlighted by a 5-4 victory over teammate Pal Kovacs, who had led 4-2 before Gerevich scored three straight touches to win his first individual gold.

He competed in the same 3 events in 1952, despite being over 40 years old. He went 12-4 through the first 2 rounds in the team foil, struggling only against Argentina, who gave them their only defeat in those rounds, but they still advanced to the semifinals. He went 3-1 against Belgium in the semifinals, which earned them a spot in the final pool for the first time in his career. In the final, they only managed to beat Egypt, with Gerevich going 6-6, the best of any Hungarian, but it was still enough to take the bronze medal.

In the team foil, they were huge favorites again. They lost only 2 bouts in the first round, 1 of them by Gerevich, but 30-2 is pretty solid. He wasn't needed in the quarterfinal round, then went 6-2 in the semifinal pool as Hungary again advanced to the final easily. In the final pool, he was perfect against France, but struggled against Italy, going 1-3, but Hungary was able to pull off the victory 8-7 to win gold again, the 4th straight for Gerevich.

He also competed in the individual sabre, trying to defend his gold medal. He won 10 of his 12 bouts on the way to the final pool, which seemed like a foregone conclusion, and he was joined by the other 2 Hungarians as well. This time, he won every match but one, against Kovacs, who took away his gold medal, leaving Gerevich with the silver, and the full rainbow of medals in that event.

He returned for his 5th Olympics in 1956, this time only competing in the sabre events. In the team event, they received a bye to the semifinals, where they won 9-1, with Gerevich going 3-0. In the final pool, Hungary was dominant, winning 30 out of 45 matches, and won the gold medal for the 6th time in a row, the 5th straight for Gerevich. 

In the individual sabre, he easily made it back to the final for the 4th straight Olympics, where he had previously won one of each medal. This time, the final wouldn't go as well, as he only managed a 3-4 mark in that round, which was only good enough for 5th place, the first time he ever missed the podium in an individual event.

At the 1960 Olympic Trials, the committee told him that he was too old to make the team, so he challenged the entire team to individual matches, and he beat each and every one of them, which was enough to convince them to let the 50-year-old compete again in Rome.

In the team event, they won their pool easily to advance to the knockouts, which was a new feature that year. They were given a bye to the quarterfinals, where they beat Romania 9-3, though Gerevich only went 1-2 in that round. They faced Italy in the semifinal without him, and won 9-6 to reach the final. He again sat out the final against Poland, but watched as his teammates won 9-7, which earned him his 6th gold medal in the event, making him the first ever to achieve that.

In the individual sabre, he went 11-3 through the first 3 rounds, and made it all the way to the semifinals, but that would be where his journey ended. He finished 2-3 in that round, and missed out on advancing to the final pool on a tiebreaker, and his Olympic career was over. 

There were 28 years between his first and last gold medals, and he was the first athlete ever to win gold in the same event 6 times in a row, a feat since matched by Diana Taurasi. Isabell Werth has now won 7 golds in the same event, but hers were not consecutive. With his longevity, his trio of individual medals, plus his 6 team golds, Gerevich is definitely one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #25 - Ryan Lochte

Ryan Lochte

USA

Swimming

Overall Ranks

#7 among American Olympians

#5 among Male American Olympians

#3 among Swimmers

Olympic Results

2004

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

200m Individual Medley - Silver

2008

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

200m Backstroke - Gold

200m Individual Medley - Bronze

400m Individual Medley - Bronze

2012

4x100m Freestyle Relay - Silver

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

200m Backstroke - Bronze

200m Individual Medley - Silver

400m Individual Medley - Gold

2016

4x200m Freestyle Relay - Gold

Total

Events - 14

Gold - 6

Silver - 3

Bronze - 3

Ryan Steven Lochte was born on August 3, 1984 in Rochester, New York, to a father who was a swimming coach, and when Ryan was in junior high school, he started seriously trying to be the best swimmer he could. After graduating from high school in 2002, he attended the University of Florida.

He qualified for his first Olympics in 2004 after coming in second to Michael Phelps in the 200m Individual Medley at the Olympic Trials. He started out by competing in the 4x200m relay, where he swam the second leg in both rounds. Phelps led off the final, giving the Americans a full second lead over Australia, the defending champs, and Lochte held off a charge from Italy to keep a lead of 0.39 seconds after his leg. Peter Vanderkaay stretched the lead to over a second after leg 3, but Ian Thorpe made a huge push in the anchor leg, nearly making the comeback, but America held on to win by 0.13 seconds, getting Lochte his first gold medal.

He made the final in the 200m Individual Medley after coming in a second behind Phelps in the semifinal, but Phelps was even better in the final, setting a new Olympic record, while Lochte was in a group of 3 more than 1.5 seconds behind that touched the wall almost simultaneously. As it turned out, Lochte took the silver by 0.02 seconds over George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago, while Laszlo Cseh Jr. of Hungary missed a medal by 0.04 seconds.

At the 2007 World Championships, he won 2 golds and 3 silvers as he prepared for another Olympic run. He qualified for 3 individual events and a relay in Beijing, starting out with the 400m individual medley, where he was expected to challenge Phelps. That wouldn't happen, as Phelps beat his own world record by almost 1.5 seconds, and Lochte finished more than 4 seconds behind, taking the bronze medal behind Phelps and Cseh.

In the 4x200m relay, the B team set a new Olympic record in the heats, then were replaced in the final by Lochte and the stars, who were expected to break the world record. Phelps gave them a lead of over 2.5 seconds on the first leg, then Lochte stretched it to almost 4. The lead was over 5 seconds when the final swimmer jumped in, and they finished 5.14 seconds ahead of Russia, and broke the world record by nearly 4.5 seconds.

Next was the 200m Backstroke, where Aaron Peirsol was the defending champ, but Lochte was the defending world champ. At the Olympic trials, Peirsol had beaten Lochte and broken his world record, so this one was expected to be a tough battle. In the final, Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia took an early lead and held it through 150m, with Lochte and Peirsol tied at the final turn, but Vyatchanin faded down the stretch, and Lochte pulled ahead of both to win the gold medal and break the world record by 0.38 seconds.

He finished up in Beijing with the 200m Individual Medley. Many felt that Phelps was in danger of tiring out, but in the final, he set another world record and won the event by more than 2 seconds. Lochte was in third place for most of the race, behind Cseh, but fell to 4th at the final turn, but he turned in a strong finish, and ended up coming in third to take the bronze medal, just 0.02 seconds behind Cseh.

At the 2009 World Championships, he won 4 golds and a bronze, but lost his backstroke world record back to Peirsol, who has held it ever since. He won 5 golds and a bronze in 2011, and qualified to swim in 6 events in 2012 in London. 

He started out in London with the 400m individual medley, where Phelps was the 2-time defending champ, but Lochte was the favorite, thanks to his defeats of Phelps at the world championships and the Olympic Trials. In the final, Chad le Clos of South Africa led at the first turn, just ahead of Lochte and Phelps, but Lochte took the lead by the end of the butterfly, then proceeded to pull away for the rest of the race, winning by 3.58 seconds in the second-fastest time in history to take the gold medal.

The next day he swam the anchor leg in the 4x100m relay, his first time competing in that event. The USA had a slight lead after the first leg, which Phelps extended to 0.76 seconds at the midway point. The lead was still half a second when Lochte started, but Yannick Agnel of France swam the fastest leg of the competition and caught and passed Lochte, leaving the Americans a silver medal.

His next event was the 200m freestyle, where he was the defending world champion and the favorite to win, but Agnel had different ideas. He led from the start, and finished 1.79 seconds ahead of anyone else, while Lochte fell from 2nd to 4th on the final lap, missing out on a medal for the first time in his Olympic career.

One day later, he swam the opening leg in the final of the 4x200m relay, where the USA had won 2 straight golds. He gave the Americans a lead of 0.98 seconds after the opening leg, and the next two swimmers stretched it to almost 4 seconds for Phelps, who easily brought it home for a gold medal by 3.07 seconds over France.

Next was the 200m backstroke, where he was the defending champ, and the favorite after Peirsol's retirement in 2010. He led through the final turn, but Ryosuke Irie of Japan and Tyler Clary of the USA were just behind him, and both were able to pass him on the final lap, with Clary setting a new Olympic record in winning gold, while Lochte took a disappointing bronze.

He finished up 30 minutes later in the 200m individual medley, where he was the defending world champion, but Phelps was going for a third straight gold. Phelps had a tiny lead over Lochte after the butterfly, Phelps' specialty, but pulled further ahead on the backstroke, which was Lochte's best stroke usually. He held on to the lead through the breaststroke, then held on as Lochte made a late charge in the freestyle, but fell 0.63 seconds short, and had to settle for silver.

By 2016, he was starting to age, but still qualified to compete in 2 events in Rio. The first was the 4x200m relay, which they had won 3 straight times, and they led the entire way in this one. Lochte swam the third leg, and was given a 2 second lead, and he kept that lead at 1.76 seconds when Phelps took the anchor leg, where he stretched it to 2.47 seconds to win the event for the 4th straight time.

He finished up with the 200m individual medley, where Phelps was the 3-time defending Olympic champ, while Lochte was the 4-time defending world champ. Lochte held a 0.01 second lead over Phelps after the backstroke, but faded after that, finishing in 5th place, the worst of his Olympic career in his final race.

During those Olympics, Lochte claimed that he and some teammates had been robbed at a gas station in Rio, but when more details came out, it turns out that the Americans had actually drunkenly vandalized the restroom at the gas station. Two years later, he received a 14-month suspension for taking a banned substance. He attempted to make the 2020 Olympic team, and reached several finals at the Olympic trials, but ultimately failed to qualify and retired from competitive swimming.

Though he was largely overshadowed by Phelps throughout his career, and won 4 of his gold medals in relays with Phelps, Lochte was a legitimately great swimmer in his own right. He set a world record in winning his backstroke gold, and won his individual medley gold very convincingly. His 12 total medals are the third-most ever for a swimmer behind only Phelps and Ledecky, making him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.