Swimming is one of only top five sports that have been in every modern Olympics since 1896. It has the second most events after Athletics and often sees many records broken in both men’s and women’s races, for short and long distances.
The United States is the top country in swimming, far ahead of the second-place Australians in Olympic gold medals (USA – 230, Australia – 57). Many of the sport’s greatest athletes are American. The most successful Olympian ever, American swimmer Michael Phelps, has shone in four different Summer Games and is set to return in Rio 2016 for his final Olympic victory.
Now, let’s look at the ten greatest Olympic swimmers of all time:
10. Janet Evans
Janet Evans, born in California, was a long-distance swimmer who held many world records. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she set a new record in the 400 m freestyle that lasted for eighteen years until France’s Laure Manaudou broke it in 2006. In Seoul, Janet won gold in both the 400 m medley and the 800 m freestyle. She successfully defended her 800 m freestyle title four years later in Barcelona, becoming the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic golds in any event.
Despite her relatively short height of 5 ft. 5 inches, Janet outswam many taller competitors in every championship she entered. She won a total of five Olympic medals (4 golds and 1 silver). Nicknamed “Miss Perpetual Motion,” Janet was honored to carry the torch in its final stretch and hand it over to the legendary Muhammad Ali at the 1996 Atlanta Games opening ceremony.
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9. Kristin Otto
Despite being a strong favorite, German swimmer Kristin Otto missed the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics because 14 Eastern Bloc countries, including her home country East Germany, boycotted the event. The next year, she had more trouble when she fractured a vertebra. However, Kristin overcame all these challenges and was in top form for the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
She won six gold medals in the 1988 Games, making her the first woman to achieve this at a single Olympics. During these events, Kristin set new world records in the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, and 100 m butterfly. She retired from swimming in 1989.
8. Ryan Lochte
New Yorker Ryan Lochte holds world records in the 100-metre, 200-metre, and 400-metre individual medleys. He was a strong competitor against fellow American Michael Phelps during their best years in swimming. Lochte has won seven individual Olympic medals, which is the second-highest in men’s swimming history, surpassing Zoltan Halmay and Mark Spitz, who each have six.
At 32 years old, Lochte will compete in the Men’s 200m individual medley at the Rio 2016 Games. This will likely be the last time he and Phelps compete against each other in the Olympics. We will see if he can add to his impressive collection of 11 Olympic medals (5 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze) during this event.
7. Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken started swimming to help with her severe asthma, as her doctor suggested. This led her to win six gold medals in two Olympics.
In Atlanta 1996, Amy won the 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle, and 4x100m medley, becoming the first American woman to win four golds in a single Olympic Games.
She was the top athlete in Atlanta and came back to defend her team titles in Sydney 2000. Amy is tied with German swimmer Kristin Otto as the second-best female swimmer in Olympic history, with only Jenny Thompson’s eight golds, all from team events, ahead of her.
6. Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin, from California, has won 12 Olympic medals, tying her with Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson as the top female American Olympians.
In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Natalie became the first woman to win the 100 m backstroke title in two consecutive Games, following her win in Athens 2004. She also matched the women’s Olympic record for the most medals in a single Games, with six.
By winning a bronze in the 4×100 m freestyle in London 2012, Natalie finished her Olympic career with 3 golds, 4 silvers, and 5 bronze medals.
5. Dara Torres
Dara Torres, from Beverly Hills, California, made a comeback to swimming after seven years in Sydney 2000. She won two gold and three bronze medals there.
At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 41-year-old Dara broke a record held by Britain’s William Robinson, becoming the oldest swimmer to win a medal at the Games. She won silver in the 50-metre freestyle, 4×100-metre medley relay, and 4×100-metre freestyle relay, playing a crucial role in her team’s success.
Coach Michael Lohberg praised her amazing performance, including setting the fastest 100m split in relay history, saying she is among the best in sports.
Dara has an impressive total of twelve Olympic medals (four gold, four silver, and four bronze) and has won at least one medal in every Games she competed in: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008.
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4. Ian Thorpe
Australia’s most famous Olympian, Ian Thorpe, gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Known as ‘The Thorpedo’ for his incredible speed, he won 3 gold medals and 2 silver medals in freestyle swimming in Sydney. He then added 4 more medals, including 2 golds in freestyle, at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Thorpe dominated freestyle swimming for six years until he took a break after the Athens Olympics, a rare achievement at the Olympic level.
Even though his career was cut short by illness in 2006, Ian Thorpe had already made his mark as one of the greatest swimmers in Olympic history.
3. Matt Biondi
Matthew Biondi, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and an Olympic legend from California, won just one relay gold in his first Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984. However, in his second Olympics in Seoul in 1988, he performed exceptionally well, winning 7 medals in a row, including 5 golds, and setting 4 new world records.
Nicknamed the California Condor for his large wingspan, many expected Matt to match or surpass Mark Spitz’s record of 7 gold medals in Seoul, but he did not. He went on to win two more team golds and an individual freestyle silver in Barcelona. Matt retired in 1992 with an impressive total of 11 Olympic medals from three editions: 8 golds, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze.
2. Mark Spitz
He won seven gold medals in a single Olympics in 1972 in Munich, and it took 36 years for someone to break his record. That person was Michael Phelps in Beijing in 2008.
Nicknamed ‘Mark the Shark’, Spitz lived up to the high expectations in 1972. He won all seven of his swimming events, setting a new world record in each one. This achievement has not been matched since.
Although Spitz tried to return to Olympic swimming in 1992 at the age of 41, he was not successful. Despite this, he is remembered as a legend with 11 Olympic medals, nine of which are gold. This makes him one of only five Olympians to have won 9 or more gold medals.
1. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps’s achievements in the Olympics are incredible. At just 15 years old, he joined the strong U.S. swimming team in Sydney 2000 and started setting records.
In Athens 2004, he aimed to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals from 1972. He competed in eight events but missed one gold medal, finishing third in the 200-meter freestyle, which was called the Race of the Century. Despite this, he won 6 golds and 2 bronze medals, becoming the top athlete in Athens. He repeated this success in Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
In Beijing 2008, Phelps won 8 gold medals, setting 7 new world records and 1 Olympic record. In London 2012, he surpassed Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina to become the most decorated Olympian ever.
After his fourth Olympics, he retired with 22 medals (18 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes). However, he made a comeback and planned to compete in three events at Rio 2016, aiming for one final Olympic win.
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