The Summer Olympics is already with us. The most prestigious completion for many different events will lead to many punters wondering who will win this year, betting on the Olympic Games can be notoriously tricky, with plenty of surprises throughout the event.
But which athletes have made it look easy, making them the most successful in the history of the Olympics?
The following athletes have collected the most gold medals and are legendary in their chosen events.
Michael Phelps
The swimmer Michael Phelps holds the overall record for most gold medals at the Olympics Games.
The American competitor is well out in front with 23 gold medals. The wide gap between Phelps and his next nearest competitors is staggering. It is worth reflecting on the fact that next nearest on the list are athletes who have won 9 golds.
In total, Phelps won 28 medals, including his 23 golds. Often called the greatest Olympian ever, he began his career in his birthplace of Baltimore back in the 1990s.
A true prodigy in the pool, the swimmer won a place to go to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 aged just 15. This made him the youngest member of Team USA for nearly 70 years. During his Olympics debut he came close to the medals, finishing fifth in the 200-meter butterfly.
That was just a taste of things to come though, and Phelps would dominate the next four Olympics. He would finish each one as the most decorated athlete in the Games.
Phelps just seemed to get better and better throughout his career. In the Beijing 2008 Olympics, he scored the greatest ever record haul by an athlete. He won gold in every single event he entered, all eight of them, and broke World Records in seven.
The following Olympics were also astonishing. London 2012 saw Phelps bag four gold medals and two silvers.
He then retired but was drawn back into the pool by more Olympic competition in Rio 2016. That Olympics saw Phelps make an extraordinary comeback at the age of 31 to win five gold medals and one silver.
Some of the statistics across Phelps’s amazing career offer some insight into just how successful a competitor he was.
In total, he won 23 golds out of 30 Olympics events. That adds up to more golds than 108 countries. An outstanding performer, Phelps can quite rightly be regarded as the best of Olympians.
Larisa Latynina
Next on the list of the most gold medal won at the Olympics is the gymnast, Larisa Latynina. Representing the Soviet Union between 1956 and 1964, she won a total of 18 medals including 9 golds. Those golds are a record for any gymnast at the Games, male or female.
It was largely down to Latynina that the Soviets became so dominant in Olympic gymnastics events.
It all started in 1956 in Melbourne Australia where she won gold in the all-around competition plus floor exercise and vault. She also took to the podium for silver in the balance beam and uneven bars, plus a bronze in the portable apparatus team event.
The 1960 Rome Olympics saw Latynina repeat her success. She won gold in the team event, floor exercise, and all-around gymnastics. There were also silver medals in the balance beam and uneven bars, and bronze in the vault.
In 1964 Latynina added two more golds to her tally, by winning the team and floor event for the third time in a row. A true gymnastic legend, her record is an inspiration to many.
Paavo Nurmi
Nurmi was a Finnish middle and long-distance runner who dominated the Olympics of the 1920s. Winning a total of 12 medals including 9 golds between 1920 and 1928, Nurmi was a true force in Olympic competition.
Competing in the Games of 1920, 1924 and 1928, Nurmi established 25 world records at various distances throughout his career.
Known as the ‘flying Finn’, Nurmi was always testing himself. He carried a stopwatch when in training and during races to accurately measure his pace.
As well as all the medals that he won, perhaps most impressive was one day during the 1924 Olympics in Paris. That day he set Olympic records in both the 1500 meter and the 5,000-meter races. The fact that it was a swelteringly hot summer day only adds to the achievement.
Mark Spitz
Another legendary American swimmer, Spitz recorded a total of 9 gold medals at Olympic Games. The Californian born Spitz also won a silver and a bronze at Olympic competition.
Spitz made the US teams for two Olympics. The first he went to; the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City saw him win two team gold medals. This impressive feat was nevertheless a disappointment to Spitz, who vowed to win big next time.
This he more than succeeded in doing, winning 7 gold medals across the Munich Olympics in 1972. Each of the events also saw him set new world records. Spitz retired after the Olympics aged just 22. His legacy and legendary status were assured.
Gold standard is always how the best athletes will be judged, and the Olympics are the perfect place to show athletic expertise. Each Olympics there is always the chance for new legends to emerge. Perhaps this year will see a new record-breaker.
