Top 10 Legendary Athletes of the Summer Olympics

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is a living legend, the fastest human in the world. He has participated in the Olympic Games four times. In 2004 he was eliminated from the series in Athens as a junior, but in Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio (2016) he won both the 100 meters and the 200 meters. Bolt is therefore the only athlete to win both events at back-to-back Summer Games, and certainly the first to do it three times. With the Jamaica relay team, the world record holder in the 100 and 200 meters also won the 4 x 100 meters in Beijing, London and Rio.

This Russian gymnast won an incredible number of eighteen medals in her long career. She won four of these at the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne. She almost equaled this feat in 1960 in Rome, when she won three times and also captured two second places and a third place. During the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Larisa Latynina won two more gold medals, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. As a coach, she guided the Russian women's gymnastics team to three consecutive victories at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Games.

With no fewer than fifteen medals, seven of which are gold, the Russian gymnast Nikolai Andrianov only has to tolerate two Olympians in this list. Until 2008, Andriano was the athlete with the most Olympic medals. He won these at three different Summer Games, winning the most gold medals during the 1976 Games in Montreal. There he won no fewer than four gold medals in the all-round, floor, rings and vault. He also won two silver and a bronze medal during the same Summer Games.

At no fewer than five different Olympic Games, American Carl Lewis won a total of ten medals, nine of which were gold. Partly because of this, he was named “Athlete of the Century” by the IAAF. Lewis was dominant in the long jump for years, winning the title four times at the Summer Games from 1984 to 1996. He also won the 100 meter sprint in Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988). Lewis was awarded the final victory when it turned out that his Canadian rival Ben Johnson had used steroids to sprint to a winning time of 9.79.

With no fewer than seven gold medals during the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, Mark Spitz was the Olympic record holder for more than thirty years. In total, the American swimmer swam to victory nine times at the Summer Olympics. In 1968 he had already won twice in relay races with the American swimming team in Mexico City. Remarkably, Spitz stopped swimming after his victory in Munich. He was only 22 years old at the time.

The legendary “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi mastered all aspects of long-distance running. At his peak he was undefeated for no less than 121 races at all distances of 800 meters and longer. It is not surprising that this runner won no fewer than nine gold medals at the Olympic Games in Antwerp (1920, three medals), Paris (1924, five medals) and Amsterdam (1928, one medal). Due to his innovative training methods and analytical approach to running, Nurmi is seen as one of the founders of modern running.

This German kayaker won no fewer than eight gold medals at six different Olympic Games. Birgit Fischer, born in East Germany in 1962, won gold once for East Germany in Moscow (1980) and twice gold in Seoul (1988). While playing for the united Germany, she won one gold in Barcelona (1992), one gold in Atlanta (1996), two golds in Sydney (2000) and finally won once in Athens (2004). Fischer also won three silver medals and would probably have won even more gold if the former Eastern Bloc countries had not boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci amazed the audience with her performances at the Olympic Games in Montreal (1976) and Moscow (1980). As one of the many talents of the strict gymnastics training in dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania, she excelled as an all-round gymnast. She won a gold medal on the balance beam at two Summer Games, in Montreal on the all-round and uneven bars. For this last exercise she was the first gymnast at the Olympic Games to receive a perfect score of ten points (see below). In Moscow she also won on the floor section. She also won three silver and a bronze medal during these Olympic Games.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, one of the greatest athletes in the history of the modern Olympic Games, excelled in both the heptathlon and the long jump. Her impressive career spans four different Summer Games, where she won six medals, including three gold. In 1988 in Seoul, Joyner-Kersee won gold in both the heptathlon and long jump, and in 1992 in Barcelona she repeated her gold performance in the heptathlon and added a bronze medal in the long jump. She also has a silver medal in the heptathlon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Her exceptional achievements and versatility have earned her an undisputed place among the greatest Olympians ever.

The colored American Jesse Owens caused a sensation by winning no fewer than four gold medals during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He did this under the watchful eye of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime. Owens was the best in the 100 meter sprint, the 200 meter, the long jump and the 4 x 100 meter relay. On these songs he left the Aryan “ubermenschen” far behind him.