History will be created at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Heroes will be made, records will be broken and for their efforts, some will walk away with one of the most coveted awards in all of the sporting world, an Olympic medal – and for a lucky few it will be gold.
Olympic medals are earned for a lifetime of dedication and few athletes can boast having one in their trophy cabinet. But there are a few who have won multiple medals across their stellar careers. So, join us as we count down the athletes who have earned the most Olympic medals in history.
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5 – Takashi Ono (Japan)/Edoardo Mangiarotti (Italy): 13 medals
Ono is a Japanese gymnast whose mastery of his craft earned him a combined 13 Olympic medals, consisting of five golds, four silvers and four bronze. Ono competed in the men’s artistic gymnastics category and was a dominant force in the sport. He was even his nation’s designated flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics due to his reputation.
Italian icon Mangiarotti, meanwhile, competed in fencing and is widely known in the sport as the best to ever do it. The gifted swordsman also won 13 Olympic medals in his career with six of them being gold. He is his sport’s most successful athlete and deserves his spot among the best competitors to have ever graced the Games.
4 – Boris Shakhlin (Soviet Union): 13 medals
Soviet gymnast Shakhlin is another who managed to win a whopping total of 13 Olympic medals throughout his illustrious career. Managing seven gold, four silver and two bronze as part of the dominant USSR Olympic machine, his speciality was the pommel horse.
3 – Nikolai Andrionov (Soviet Union): 15 medals
Anrionov was another member of what was an unstoppable force on the Olympic scene. The Soviet-Russian gymnast managed an incredible 15 medals in the Olympics (seven gold, five silver and three bronze) while competing in the men’s artistic gymnastics, with the 1976 Games in Montreal being the peak of his career.
He followed his career by coaching gymnastics alongside his wife and fellow Olympian, Lyubov Burda.
2 – Larisa Latynina (Soviet Union): 18 medals
The third Soviet gymnast on this list, Latynina is the most successful female athlete ever to compete at the Summer Olympics. She garnered an unbelievable 18 medals in her career, with half of them being gold.
A ballerina as a child, Latynina converted to gymnastics and never looked back. Her dancing background helped to fine tune her technique and allowed her to be strong and elegant on the floor, a floor that she dominated for multiple Games.
1- Michael Phelps (United States of America): 28 medals
Who else, eh? American swimming legend Phelps burst onto the scene during his first Games at Athens 2004. He now boasts a ridiculous 28 Olympic medals (23 of them gold), making him by far the most successful athlete to compete at the Olympics.
Phelps is known as an all-round swimmer, winning events as an individual and as part of the US Olympic team. He is renowned for his height and the astonishing length of his arms, which give him natural advantages in the water and helped him to be such a dominant force.
It is no surprise that Phelps is often hailed by many as the greatest Olympian of all time.
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