The Top 50 Olympic athletes
As we enter the Olympic year, David Powell, the world-renowned athletics journalist selects the greatest performers in the history of the Games
David Powell was The Times Athletics Correspondent for 18 years before becoming a freelance writer, consultant, and lecturer. He reported on the last five Olympics and ten World Championships and attended his first major championships, the Commonwealth Games, 38 years ago.
50. Merlene Ottey (Jamaica)
Silver: 100m, 200m, 1996; 4x100m, 2000; Bronze: 100m, 1984; 200m, 1980, 1984, 1992; 4x100m, 1996
As with Frankie Fredericks (see No 49), the lack of an Olympic gold medal counts heavily against Merlene Ottey on this list. She came mighty close in the 1996 100 metres when, recording the same time as Gail Devers, she was judged to have finished second by 1cm. Her eight Olympic medals are likely to become nine, with an additional bronze at 100 metres, once the Marion Jones medals for 2000 are redistributed.
49. Frankie Fredericks (Namibia)
Silver: 100m, 200m, 1992; 100m, 200m, 1996
The best Olympic athlete never to win a gold medal but, without one, he drops way down the list. Fredericks won four individual sprint silvers but was beaten by a different athlete every time – Linford Christie (100 metres, 1992), Donovan Bailey (100 metres, 1996), Mike Marsh (200 metres, 1992) and Michael Johnson (200 metres, 1996).
48. Gwen Torrence (United States)
Gold: 200, 1992; 4x100m, 1992, 1996; Silver: 4x400m, 1992; Bronze: 100m, 1996
Gwen Torrence won five Olympic medals in four different events, the best of them her 200 metres gold in 1992.
47. Harry Hillman (United States)
Gold: 400m, 200m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 1904; Silver: 400m hurdles, 1908
In what seem now to be strange early days for the sport, Harry Hillman won two hurdles gold medals in 1904 – and the 400 metres in a straight final of 13 runners!
46. Evelyn Ashford (United States)
Gold: 100m, 1984; 4x100, 1984, 1988, 1992; Silver: 100m, 1988
Eight years after her first Olympics in 1976, Evelyn Ashford won the 100 metres, the first of five medals she would win between 1984 and 1992.
45. Alain Mimoun (France)
Gold: marathon, 1956; Silver: 10,000m, 1948, 1952; 5,000m, 1952
Sick of the sight of Emil Zatopek's back – he was runner-up to the Czech in three Olympic track finals – Alain Mimoun got the better of him to win the 1956 marathon.
44. Valeriy Borzov (Soviet Union)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 1972; Silver: 4x100m, 1972; Bronze: 100m, 4x100m, 1976
The first athlete from outside north America to do the sprint double, Valeriy Borzov dominated the opposition.
43. Parry O'Brien (United States)
Gold: shot, 1952, 1956; Silver: shot, 1960
After winning two Olympic shot titles, Parry O'Brien was on his way to a third, leading after four rounds in 1960. Then William Nieder, who had originally failed to qualify for the US team but who was brought in as substitute for the injured Dave Davis, produced a winning effort.
42. Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland)
Gold: steeplechase, 1932, 1936; Silver: 10,000m, 1932; Bronze: 10,000m, 1936
Volmari Iso-Hollo retained his Olympic steeplechase title in 1936 with a world record – running a minute and a half slower than in 1932 when the athletes ran one too many laps.
41. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
Gold: 10,000m, 1996, 2000
In the context of his overall career – his marathon world record on Sunday (September 30) was his 24th world record – Haile Gebrselassie's two Olympic gold medals for 10,000 metres seem almost trivial. Yet his two close races with Kenyan Paul Tergat were epics, especially the 2000 metres final in which Gebrselassie prevailed by nine-hundredths of a second.
40. Daley Thompson (Great Britain)
Gold: Decathlon, 1980, 1984
Denied the rivalry of his fiercest competitors, the West Germans, who supported the US boycott of Moscow in 1980, Daley Thompson had an unchallenged ride to his first Olympic gold. Robbed of the world record by rain on the second day, Thompson denied himself the record four years later when it was there for the taking but he eased down in the last event, the 1500 metres. However, the world record became his anyway in 1985 after new scoring tables were introduced, which also took into account a revised time for the Briton in the 110 metres hurdles.
39. Mel Sheppard (United States)
Gold: 800m, 1,500m, 1908; medley relay, 1908; 4x400m, 1912
The athlete of the 1908 Olympics – even if it is a Games remembered mainly for Dorando Pietri's dramatic collapse in the marathon – Mel Sheppard did the 800 and 1,500 metres double and anchored the US to gold in the medley relay. This from a man who had been rejected by the New York police on the grounds of a weak heart.
38. Volodymyr Golubnichniy (Soviet Union)
Gold: 20k walk, 1960, 1968; Silver: 20k walk, 1972; Bronze, 20k walk, 1964
Becoming the first athlete to regain an Olympic title for 40 years, Volodymyr Golubnichniy won the 20 kilometres walk in 1960, finished third in 1964, but won for a second time in 1968. Still not satisfied, he completed a full set of medals, taking silver in 1968.
37. Robert Garrett (United States)
Gold: shot, discus, 1896; Silver: long jump, high jump, 1896; Bronze: shot, standing triple jump, 1900
If the most celebrated athlete of the first modern Olympics in 1896 was Spiridon Louis, who delivered victory in the marathon to the host nation, Greece, the most versatile was Robert Garrett. In addition to winning the shot, and taking silver in the high jump and long jump, Garrett won the discus with little experience of the implement – stunning the Greeks, for whom the discipline was an ancient art.
36. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)
Gold: 1,500m, 5,000m, 2004; Silver, 1,500m, 2000
In danger of becoming the greatest middle distance runner never to win an Olympic gold medal, Hicham El Guerrouj made glorious amends at Athens 2004, winning the 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres. Thus he became the first man since Paavo Nurmi, 80 years earlier, to succeed in that double. Prior to Athens, El Guerrouj had won 84 of his 89 races at 1,500 metres or a mile since 1996, At Atlanta 1996, he tripped and fell in the final, finishing 12th. At Sydney 2000, he placed second to Kenya's Noah Ngeny.
35. Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland)
Gold: 5,000m, 10,000m, cross country, 1912; marathon, 1920; Silver, team cross country, 1912
The first in the line of great Finnish distance runners, Hannes Kolehmainen recorded the first sub 15 minute run for 5,000 metres at the 1912 Olympics. He obliterated the world record with 14min 36.6sec yet was pegged to within a tenth of a second by Jean Bouin, of France. But Kolehmainen won the 10,000 metres by 46 seconds. At the 1920 Games, he broke the marathon world record by three and a half minutes, recording a time of 2hr 32min 35.8sec.
34. Wilma Rudolph (United States)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 1960; Bronze: 4x100m, 1956
The 20th of 22 children, Wilma Rudolph became a triple gold medal winner in 1960 two years after the birth of her first child, having won bronze in the sprint relay in 1956. Rudolph suffered double pneumonia and scarlet fever at the age of four and had to wear a leg brace until she was eight.
33. Ralph Rose (United States)
Gold: shot, 1904, 1908; shot both arms, 1912; Silver: discus, 1904; shot, 1912; Bronze: hammer, 1904
In his short life – he died of typhoid fever in 1913, aged 28 – Ralph Rose was a double Olympic shot champion and gold medal winner at the two-handed shot. He also won minor medals at discus and hammer.
32. Valerie Brisco-Hooks (United States)
Gold: 200m, 400m, 4x400m, 1984; Silver, 4x400m, 1988
Two years after giving birth to a son, and after being 40lbs overweight, Valerie Brisco-Hooks won triple Olympic gold in 1984. In both the 200 metres and 400 metres she set Olympic records, as did her US team in the 4x400 metres. The first athlete to record a 200 metres and 400 metres double, she beat Michael Johnson and Marie-Jose Perec by 12 years to the feat.
31. Mal Whitfield (United States)
Gold: 800m, 1948, 1952; 4x400m, 1948; Silver: 4x400m, 1952; Bronze: 400m, 1948
Inspired to become an Olympic runner by sneaking in to watch the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Mal Whitfield won the Olympic 800 metres title at London 1948. Then, between Olympics, he was a tailgunner during the Korean War, flying 27 bomber missions. When he returned to the Olympic stage, at Helsinki 1952, he retained his title in precisely the time – 1min 49.2sec – he had won his first.
30. John Flanagan (United States)
Gold: hammer, 1900, 1904, 1908; Silver: 56lb weight, 1904
The Irish-born John Flanagan is regarded as the pioneer of modern hammer throwing and, his three Olympic gold medals apart, he is noted for setting a world record at the age of 41.
29. Jim Thorpe (United States)
Gold: pentathlon, decathlon, 1912
Olympic champion in pentathlon and decathlon in 1912, setting world records in both events, Jim Thorpe's achievements endured to the point that, 38 years later, he was named as America's greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. Yet, in 1913, he had been stripped of the medals for earning $25 a week playing baseball. But, in 1982, the IOC reversed the decision.
28. Kip Keino (Kenya)
Gold: 1,500m, 1968; steeplechase, 1972; Silver: 1,500m, 1972; 5,000m, 1968
The father of the Kenyan running tradition, Kip Keino won the 1968 1,500 metres in remarkable circumstances. Suffering a gall bladder infection, causing severe stomach pains, Keino defied medical advice not to run. Up with the leaders two laps from home in the 10,000 metres, he collapsed onto the infield in pain. Although disqualified, he went on to finish. Four days later, he placed second in the 5,000 metres then, caught in traffic travelling to the 1,500 metres final, he jogged the last mile to the stadium.
27. Marie-Jose Perec (France)
Gold: 200m, 1996; 400m, 1992, 1996
Had the quote not been used to describe Muhammad Ali - "he floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee" - it could have been used on Marie-Jose Perec. Born in the country shaped like a butterfly – Guadeloupe – the graceful Perec stung like a bee at Atlanta 1996. Completing the 200 and 400 metres double 15 minutes before Michael Johnson, she became the first athlete – male or female – to retain an Olympic 400 metres title.
26. Dick Fosbury (United States)
Gold: high jump, 1968
Where do you place a man who changed his event forever? Almost 40 years after winning high jump gold at 21, the backwards technique which Dick Fosbury invented and which carries his name – the Fosbury Flop – is the one used by the world's top competitors.
25. Betty Cuthbert (Australia)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 1956; 400m, 1964
Aged 18, Betty Cuthbert was the image of the blonde, blue-eyed Australian sporting girl. In her home Olympics, in Melbourne, Cuthbert did the sprint double and helped her national team to two world records in the 4x100 metres.
24. Sebastian Coe (Great Britain)
Gold: 1,500m, 1980, 1984; Silver: 800m, 1980, 1984
Sebastian Coe's rivalry with Steve Ovett brought unprecedented hype for the middle distance events. In 1980, Coe was the favourite to win the 800 metres, but was beaten by his fellow Briton, while Ovett was favourite for the 1,500 metres, but was defeated by Coe. Four years later, Coe became the first man to retain the 1,500 metres title, having again finished runner-up at 800 metres, this time to Joaquim Cruz, of Brazil.
23. Meyer Prinstein (United States)
Gold: triple jump, 1900, 1904; long jump, 1904, 1906; Silver: long jump, 1900
Meyer Prinstein remains the only man to win the long jump and triple jump at one Olympics, which he succeeded in doing in 1904. He won both events on the same day.
22. Martin Sheridan (United States)
Gold: discus, 1904, 1906, 1908; shot, 1906; discus Greek style, 1908; Silver: standing long jump, 1906; standing high jump, 1906; stone throw, 1906; Bronze: standing long jump, 1908
As with Ray Ewry, James Lightbody, Meyer Prinstein, Eric Lemming and Harry Hillman, for the purpose of this list Martin Sheridan's performances at the 1906 interim Games are included. Though many of his events have been discontinued, the discus and shot, which gained him four gold medals, have not. Irish-born, Sheridan lived in the US from the age of 16 but died of pneumonia on the eve of his 37th birthday.
21. Peter Snell (New Zealand)
Gold: 800m, 1960, 1964; 1,500m, 1964
The surprise winner of the Olympic 800 metres in 1960, Peter Snell won the 800 metres and 1,500 metres in 1964 by handsome margins. Prior to Tokyo, Snell had never run a 1,500 metres race, although he had competed many times over the mile.
20. James Lightbody (United States)
Gold: 1,500m, 1904, 1906; 800m, 1904; steeplechase, 1904; Silver: team relay, 1904; 800m, 1906
Like Ray Ewry (see No 5), James Lightbody's place in Olympic history depends on one's view of whether the interim Games of 1906 should be included. This ranking list does. In 1904, having won the 800 metres and steeplechase, Lightbody set a world best at 1,500 metres before records became official in 1912.
19. Alvin Kraenzlein (United States)
Gold: 60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, long jump, 1900
The relative exclusivity of the 1900 Olympics – only 15 countries and 119 athletes took part – makes it impossible to rank Alvin Kraenzlein any higher. But four gold medals in individual events, even if two are discontinued, deserves a top-20 place. How seriously the athletes took the Olympics in those days can be gauged from Meyer Prinstein, the long jump runner-up, punching Kraenzlein on the nose over an alleged breach of agreement.
18. Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic)
Gold: javelin, 1992, 1996, 2000; Silver, javelin 1988
In contrast to Viktor Saneyev (see No 17), Jan Zelezny's narrow miss at fourth successive Olympic title in one event, in this case the javelin, came at the start of his Olympic career. Zelezny had to settle for silver in 1988 after Tapio Korjus, from Finland, agonisingly beat him with the last throw of the competition.
17. Viktor Saneyev (Soviet Union)
Gold: triple jump, 1968, 1972, 1976; Silver, triple jump, 1980
Winner of three successive Olympic triple jump titles, Viktor Saneyev made a valiant last-round attempt at a fourth in 1980. But he fell 11 centimetres short and had to be content with the silver medal. Hit by a drunken driver in 1991, his right leg was amputated below the knee.
16. Robert Korzeniowski (Poland)
Gold: 50k walk, 1996, 2000, 2004; 20k walk, 2000
The greatest racewalker in history, Robert Korzeniowski won three successive Olympic 50 kilometres walks, an event in which no other athlete has successfully defended the title. Furthermore, he is the only man to win both walks, 20 kilometres and 50 kilometres, at one Olympics.
15. Al Oerter (United States)
Gold: discus, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968
One of only three men to win the same event at four successive Olympics – Carl Lewis and Ray Ewry are the others – Al Oerter broke the Olympic discus record on each occasion. In other words, he kept getting better. And, just to prove the point, after a decade out of competition, Oerter made a comeback in 1980, aged 43, with a lifetime best distance.
14. Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia)
Gold: marathon, 1960, 1964
In a tale of triumph before tragedy, Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon in a world record time as a barefoot outsider, and became the first man to retain the title in 1964, but was paralysed in a car accident five years later. Suffering a broken neck and spinal cord injury, Bikila died of a brain haemorrhage in 1973, aged 41.
13. Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles, 4x100m, 1948
Named IAAF world woman athlete of the 20th Century, Blankers-Koen is the only woman to win four gold medals at one Olympics. How many more she was denied one can only guess as the Second World War robbed her of two Games. At 18, she did not win a medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where her highlight was collecting Jesse Owens's autograph. By the time the Olympics resumed after a 12-year-break, she held six world records.
12. Jesse Owens (United States)
Gold: 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m, 1936
Unimaginable as it may seem now, Jesse Owens set six world records in 45 minutes on one May afternoon in 1935. Yet he is better known for his four Olympic gold medals in 1936. Owens, an African-American sprinter/jumper, embarrassed Hitler's attempt to use the Games in Berlin to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. Aged 22, it was his only Olympics, as he turned professional soon afterwards.
11. Bob Beamon (United States)
Gold, long jump, 1968
One Olympics, one medal, one giant leap into the Olympic hall of fame. Only Michael Johnson's world record 200 metres at the 1996 Olympics (see No 7) can be spoken of in the same breath as Beamon's extraordinary first-round leap in Mexico City. Beamon bypassed 28 feet on the way to taking the world record from 27ft 5in to 29ft 2½in. "You've destroyed this event," Lynn Davies, the defending champion, said of Beamon's winning jump in his only Olympic appearance.
10. Shirley Strickland (Australia)
Gold: 80m hurdles, 1952, 1956; 4x100m, 1956; Silver: 4x100m, 1948; Bronze: 100m, 1948, 1952; 80m hurdles, 1948
Second only to Merlene Ottey (see No 49) in Olympic medals won by a woman, Shirley Strickland should be top of that particular list pending any decision to redistribute medals in the wake of Marion Jones's drugs disqualification and which might add to Ottey's total. While Ottey won eight, but none of them gold, Strickland gained seven, including three gold, but was unfairly denied an eighth. Photo-finish evidence from London 1948, discovered in 1975, confirmed that Strickland finished third at 200m but she was placed fourth and the result was never amended.
9. Irena Szewinska (Poland)
Gold: 200m, 1968; 400m, 1976; 4x100m, 1964; Silver: 200, long jump 1964; Bronze: 100m, 1968; 200m, 1972
Irina Szewinska had the happy knack of producing world records to go with her Olympic titles – at 200 metres, in 1968, and 400 metres, in 1976. She shares with Shirley Strickland (see No 10) the distinction of winning seven Olympic medals but her world records, versatility and longevity, gives her the edge over the Australian. Szewinska won medals in five different events at four Olympics.
8. Ville Ritola (Finland)
Gold: 10,000m, 1924; 3,000m steeplechase, 1924; cross country team race, 1924; 3,000m team race, 1924; 5,000m, 1928; Silver: 5,000m, 1924; cross country, 1924; 10,000m, 1928
Ville Ritola was never going to win an Olympic medal for each of his siblings – he was the 14th of 20 children – but he did collect five golds and three silvers. In eight races in eight days in 1924, he won the steeplechase in his first go at the event, the 10,000 metres with a world record, and team golds at 3,000 metres and cross country. Beaten by his fellow Finn, Paavo Nurmi, in the 5,000 metres and individual cross country in 1924, and again at 10,000 metres in 1928, he got the better of his rival at 5,000 metres in 1928.
7. Michael Johnson (United States)
Gold: 200m, 1996; 400m, 1996, 2000; 4x400m, 1992, 2000
Based on his three individual Olympic gold medals alone, Michael Johnson would not make the top ten. But his 200 metres world record of 19.32sec in Atlanta in 1996 elevated him alongside Bob Beamon at the top of the Olympic 'single greatest performance' tree. Not since Beamon's historic long jump (see No 11) had there been such a stunning Olympic effort as Johnson lowered the world record by 0.34sec. At an average speed of two 100 metres in 9.66sec each, he likened the feeling to going downhill in a go-kart.
6. Lasse Viren (Finland)
Gold: 5,000m, 1972, 1976; 10,000m, 1972, 1976
As if doing the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres double twice was not enough, Lasse Viren wrote his place in Olympic history in dramatic fashion. During his first final, the 10,000 metres in 1972, he stumbled and fell just before halfway but got up to win in a world record time. After defending this title four years later, Viren was grilled by the media over the practice of blood boosting.
He always denied it and, in the absence of proof, or even strong circumstantial evidence, he is included here.
5. Ray Ewry (United States)
Gold: standing high jump, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908; standing long jump, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908; standing triple jump, 1900, 1904
Opinion is divided on whether to include Ray Ewry in Olympic lists. On the one hand we have an athlete who won a record ten Olympic gold medals. On the other, he did so in now discontinued events while two of them came in the unofficial Games of 1906. But Ewry is included here on the grounds that Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Games, endorsed Athens 1906 and because the Games were the first to limit entries to athletes chosen by National Olympic Committees. Furthermore, Ewry's story is special. He began exercising after being confined to wheelchair through polio as a child.
4. Emil Zatopek (Czech Republic)
Gold: 10,000m, 1948, 1952; 5,000m, 1952; marathon, 1952; Silver: 5,000m, 1948
A story almost too good to be true, but true it is. Emil Zatopek was born on the same day as his wife, Dana, on September 19, 1922, and the couple won Olympic gold medals on the same day, July 24, 1952. Emil had won the 5,000 metres and, following the presentation ceremony, Dana put his medal in her bag for good luck in the javelin, throwing an Olympic record in the first round. Three days later, Emil ran his first marathon, winning the fourth Olympic gold of his career and becoming the first athlete to triumph in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon at one Games.
3. Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States)
Gold: long jump, 1988; heptathlon, 1988, 1992; Silver: heptathlon, 1984; Bronze: long jump, 1992, 1996
Even the greatest woman athlete of today, Sweden's Carolina Kluft, cannot get near the world record of 7291 points scored by Jackie Joyner-Kersee in winning the first of her two Olympic heptathlon titles in 1988. Neither has Kluft won a medal in an individual event, whereas Kersee won one Olympic gold and two bronzes in the long jump. Named Jacqueline after the wife of President Kennedy because – so said her grandmother - "someday this girl will be the First Lady of something".
2. Paavo Nurmi (Finland)
Gold: 10,000m, 1920, 1928; 1,500m, 1924; 5,000m, 1924; cross country, 1920, 1924; cross country team, 1920, 1924; 3,000m team race, 1924; Silver: 5,000m, 1920, 1928; 3,000m steeplechase, 1928
Like Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi won nine Olympic gold medals. But, while Lewis won seven in individual events as a runner-jumper, Nurmi took six, all from running. Nurmi, though, is the only athlete to win five golds in one Games, which he achieved in 1924, and he holds the record for number of medals won (12). Known as the "Flying Finn", he revolutionised distance running with his hard training methods. Declared a professional by the IAAF, by a 13-12 vote, he was banned from the 1932 Olympics.
1. Carl Lewis (United States)
Gold: 100m: 1984, 1988; 200m, 1984; long jump, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996; 4x100m, 1984, 1992; Silver: 200m, 1988
King Carl – to use the popular headline - was officially named IAAF world male athlete of the 20th Century and deservedly so. Although his fame was driven largely by his position as the world's fastest man, it was as a long jumper that Lewis delivered his greatest Olympic feat. One of only three athletes – Ray Ewry and Al Oerter were the others – to win the same individual event at four Olympics, Lewis claimed his last long jump gold against all odds. His best days over, he scraped the last place in the US team, was 15th after two of the three qualifying rounds, with only the top 12 making the final, then produced his best jump for four years to retain the title. Lewis was cleared of drug-taking before the 1988 Olympics when he was one of eight athletes found to have low stimulant levels in his system.
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