by Richard Leigh

Created on: January 23, 2009

The top five Olympians of all time based on medals are currently Michael Phelps, Larissa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi, Mark Spitz, and Carl Lewis. Three of the five are from the USA, whilst Larissa Latyninam competed for what was the Soviet Union, and Paavo Nurmi was from Finland.

Larissa Latynina has won the most ever medals at the Olympic games with a grand total of eighteen, and fellow gymnast and Soviet Union representative Nikolai Andrianov won an also incredibly impressive fifteen medals between 1972 and 1980. Michael Phelps has won sixteen medals at the Olympic games, and whilst his total number is currently beaten by Nikolai Andrianov; fourteen of Phelps' medals are Gold, compared to Andrianov's nine, and this therefore puts Michael Phelps at the very top of the all time Olympic medal leader board.

Michael Phelps made history in the 2008 Beijing Olympics when he won all eight Olympic swimming events that he entered. Setting seven World Records and one Olympic Record in the process; Michael Phelps had a phenomenal 2008 games, leading many to regard him to be the greatest Olympian of all time. Having not long turned 23 at the time of the 2008 Olympic games, what's so impressive about Michael Phelps achievements thus far is that he's still got a huge future in swimming to come, and there's just no telling as to how many medals he can win throughout his career. Michael Phelps is a true Olympic champion, and in his 2008 achievements set several records; the record for most Olympic gold medals at a single games, the record for most accumulative gold medals in the history of the Olympics, and also the record for most Olympic gold medals in individual events.

Michael Phelps is a truly exceptional athlete, he's won the World Swimmer of the Year Award five times since 2003, only having failed to win the award in 2005, and has been acclaimed with the American Swimmer of the Year Award every year since 2001. Michael Phelps is without doubt the greatest swimmer of all time, and arguably the greatest athlete the world has ever seen.

Mark Spitz, also a swimmer from the USA, is another exceptional athlete and another in the all time top five in terms of medals. He, long distance runner Paavo Nurmi, and sprinter/long jump specialist Carl Lewis, all won nine Olympic gold medals, with Paavo Nurmi having won three silver medals also, Carl Lewis an additional silver medal, and Mark Spitz a silver medal and bronze medal also.

Wikipedia actually has a list of all those that have won three or more medals in the history of the games, and there are many hugely successful athletes that have won multiple Olympic medals throughout the years. All of them are incredibly talented athletes, and every single person present on that list is a true Olympic hero.

Learn more about this author, Richard Leigh.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.