Summer Olympics: Top 10 Athletes with the Most Medals All Time
Gymnast Larysa Latynina Has the Most Olympic Medals of All Time, but Michael Phelps Is Just Two Behind
The Summer Olympics are on the way.
Actually there’s still a little time. The Opening Ceremony will be on Friday, July 27th in London.
So you’ve got plenty of time to brush up on your Olympic knowledge, like this previous post, countries with the most basketball medals, or like today’s post, the top 10 athletes with the most Summer Olympics medals ever.
American swimmer Michael Phelps is just two medals away from becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time (summer or winter). If Phelps does it, he’ll overtake Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina, who currently is tops with 18 medals.
Those two sports offer ample opportunity to pick up a bunch of metal.
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| ATHLETE | COUNTRY | SPORT | TOT | G | S | B | YEARS | |
| 1. | Larysa Latynina | Soviet Union | Gymnastics | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1956, 1960, 1964 |
| 2. | Michael Phelps | United States | Swimming | 16 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2004, 2008 |
| 3. | Nikolay Andrianov | Soviet Union | Gymnastics | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1972, 1976, 1980 |
| 4. | Borys Shakhlin | Soviet Union | Gymnastics | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1956, 1960, 1964 |
| 4. | Edoardo Mangiarotti | Italy | Fencing | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960 |
| 4. | Takashi Ono | Japan | Gymnastics | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 |
| 7. | Paavo Nurmi | Finland | Athletics | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1920, 1924, 1928 |
| 7. | Birgit Fischer-Schmidt | East Germany / Germany | Canoeing | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
| 7. | Jenny Thompson | United States | Swimming | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
| 7. | Sawao Kato | Japan | Gymnastics | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1968, 1972, 1976 |
| 7. | Dara Torres | United States | Swimming | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2008 |
| 7. | Aleksey Nemov | Russia | Gymnastics | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1996, 2000 |
Photo: msn.com / greenobles.com
Posted on May 22, 2012, in Olympics and tagged all time, athletes, history, List, medals, most, olympics, phelps, summer. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
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