Top 10 Olympic Medal Winners

How many Olympians can you name? Michael Phelps, right? Simone Biles, of course. Depending on your age, maybe even Olga Korbut, Mark Spitz, Nadia Comaneci …

Are those really the greatest Olympians of all time though? Well, one way to tell is to simply count up the medals. 

Now, would such a tally give us the same Olympians as those who everybody remembers? I mean, there are a lot of different sports in the Olympics – not just the glamorous ones like swimming and gymnastics. There are also probably a lot of non-charismatic, totally normal-looking, workaday types out there too. Heck, there might even be some from countries other than the G12 and the BRICs.

Let’s see what we’ve got. I’m listing the top 10 in total medal count, from least to most. Enjoy!

10.  Bjørn Dæhlie 

12 – 8 gold, 4 silver

Norway

Cross-country skiing

1992-1998

Note:  Has had a very successful post-skiing career in real estate, fashion & TV 

10.  Birgit Fischer

12 – 8 gold, 4 silver

Germany

Canoeing

1980-2004

Note:  First medal at 18, the last at 42

9.  Paavo Nurmi

12 – 9 gold, 3 silver

Finland

Track

1920-1928

Note:  Basically, the Michael Phelps of his day

8.  Takashi Ono

13 – 5 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze

Japan

Gymnastics

1952-1964

Note:  Married a fellow Japanese Olympic gymnast

7.  Edoardo Mangiarotti

13 – 6 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze

Italian

Fencing

1936-1960

Note:  Made the Italian team at age 16

6.  Boris Shaklin

13 – 7 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze

Russian

Gymnastics

1956-1964

Note:  Retired at 35 after suffering a heart attack

5.  Ole Einar Bjørndalen

13 – 8 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze

Norway

Biathlon

1998-2014

Note:  Only athlete ever to win all biathlon events in a single Olympics

4.  Nikolai Andrianov

15 – 7 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze

Russian

Gymnastics

1972-1980

Married Russian Olympic gymnast Lyubov Burda

3.  Marit Bjørgen

15 – 8 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze

Norway

Cross-country skiing

2002-2018

Note:  Most decorated athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics

2.  Larisa Latynina

18 – 9 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze

Russian

Gymnastics

1956-1964

Note:  Head coach of the Soviet team for 10 years

1.  Michael Phelps

28 – 23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze

USA

Swimming

2004-2016

Note:  Here’s one you may have heard of

Hey, how ‘bout those Norwegians though!