Michael Phelps has amassed the most gold medals for an individual competitor (male or female) in modern day Olympics history. At the 2024 Olympics, Katie Ledecky tied Larisa Latynina for the most gold medals achieved by a female competitor.
Here's a look at the other Olympians with the most gold medals.
Men's
Michael Phelps (United States): 23 gold (28 total)
Phelps has more gold medals and more total medals than any athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. The American swimmer won eight of his golds at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the most ever at a single games. Phelps won nine more golds over the next two Olympics.
Paavo Nurmi (Finland): 9 gold (12 total)
The Finnish distance runner won nine Olympic gold medals from 1920-28, six in individual competition and three in team. Nurmi was banned in 1932 for alleged professionalism and was unable to add to his medal count.
Mark Spitz (United States): 9 gold (11 total)
Spitz set multiple world records in the pool at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, including winning seven gold medals. Spitz clinched his seventh gold in the 400-meter medley relay.
Carl Lewis (United States): 9 gold (10 total)
Lewis won four of his gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. No athlete had accomplished that feat since Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games. Lewis' golden victories in 1984 came in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and 4x100-meter relay. The latter was achieved in a world-record time of 37.83 seconds.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen (Norway): 8 gold (13 total)
Bjørndalen's first Olympic appearance came at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Games, but it was at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics where he had his best showing. Bjørndalen won gold in all four biathlon events -- 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers, pursuit and relay. No biathlete before him had won more than two gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.
Women's
Larisa Latynina (Soviet Union): 9 gold (18 total)
From 1956-64, Latynina won Olympic medals in 18 gymnastics events, including nine golds in the all-around, floor exercises, horse vault and team in 1956, all-round, floor exercises and team in 1960, and the floor exercises and team in 1964. She retired in 1966 and became a coach for the Soviet national team.
Katie Ledecky: (United States): 9 gold (14 total)
The reigning queen of the pool, Ledecky earned her ninth gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 800m freestyle. She is the winningest female Olympian of all time from the United States.
Marit Bjørgen (Norway): 8 gold (15 total)
The former Norwegian cross-country skier won five medals, including three gold, at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Bjørgen's 15 total medals are the most by any athlete in Winter Olympics history. Bjørgen is a five-time Olympian.
Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (East Germany/Germany): 8 gold (12 total)
Fischer-Schmidt is considered the greatest women's canoeist of all time. She won Olympic K1 gold in 1980 and the K2 and K4 golds in 1988, took a three-year hiatus that included the birth to her second child, then resumed her dominance in the water. Fischer-Schmidt initially retired in 2000, only to return and reclaim gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She won a record eight gold medals over six different Games, spanning 24 years.
Jenny Thompson (United States): 8 gold (12 total)
All of Thompson's gold medals came in relay events. Her only individual medals came in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics (silver) and 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics (bronze).
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