Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #16 - Pascal Richard

Pascal Richard

Switzerland

Road Cycling

Overall Ranks

#2 among Road Cyclists

#1 among Swiss Olympians

Olympic Results

1996

Road Race - Gold

Total

Events - 1

Gold - 1

Pascal Richard was born on March 16, 1964 in Vevey, Switzerland, and began his career in cyclo-cross, winning the gold medal in the 1988 World Championship, but switched to road racing when it became clear that he was very talented at climbing. 

He made his lone Olympic appearance in the road race in 1996 in Atlanta. Just weeks earlier, he had competed in the Tour de France, where he had won the 12th stage, which was the most mountainous of the race. The 1996 Olympics were the first where professional cyclists were allowed to compete, including Richard.

The race was extended due to professional athletes being added, measuring at 221.85 km. There was a massive group of 111 riders that stayed together for most of the race, but with 33 km remaining, Richard broke away from the main group, and was joined by two other riders. That trio pulled farther and farther from the main group for the rest of the race, then sprinted it out at the finish, where Richard was able to pull ahead and finish a split second ahead of Rolf Sorensen of Denmark to take the gold medal.

After the medalists crossed the line, it was over a minute before any other riders finished. It was the largest time difference for a breakaway finish in Olympic history, and though he continued riding professionally through 2000, he never tried to compete in the Olympics again. Winning the breakaway by such a large margin is what makes Richard one of the greatest Olympians of all time.

Top 150 Olympic Athletes: #81 - Franjo von Allmen

Franjo von Allmen

Switzerland

Alpine Skiing

Overall Ranks

#2 among Swiss Olympians

#1 among Alpine Skiers

Olympic Results

2026

Downhill - Gold

Super G - Gold

Team Combined - Gold

Total

Events - 3

Gold - 3

Franjo von Allmen was born on July 24, 2001 in Boltigen, Switzerland, and began skiing at age 2. He was a carpenter's apprentice as a young man, but after his father died in 2019, he was afraid that he would have to put skiing aside to take care of his family. A crowdfunding campaign was put together that made enough money for him to continue skiing, and he made the 2026 Olympic team as a result.

His first Olympic event was the downhill, where he was ranked #2 in the world prior to the event. He was one of the first to run, and had the best time after his run, then he had to sit and watch as 30 other skiers took aim at his time, failing each time. Giovanni Franzoni of Italy came closest, finishing 0.2 seconds behind, but von Allmen had won his first gold medal.

The next event was the team combined, which was being held for the first time ever. It involves a pair of skiers, one running the downhill course, and the other running the slalom course, and the winner is determined by combined time of the two racers. Von Allmen ran the downhill first, and was in 4th place after his run, with Franzoni sitting in first, but his teammate, Tanguy Nef, had the fastest run on the slalom, and the other leaders' teammates all faltered, giving the Swiss the win by almost exactly a full second.

His final event was the Super G, and he was the seventh skier to race. He was able to edge out the leader, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, by 0.13 seconds, and while a few other skiers got within a second of his time, no one was able to match his time, and von Allmen walked away with his third gold medal of the games. He was the third man in history to win 3 alpine skiing golds in one Olympics, and was the first to ever win the downhill and Super G in the same games.

Von Allmen's career is just getting started, but what a great start it has been. He won gold in every Olympic event he has entered, even though he was never the favorite, which has helped make him one of the greatest Olympians of all time already.