Swimming is one of the only five different sports to have featured in every single edition of the modern Olympics since 1896. Offering the second largest number of events after Athletics, it sees countless records tumble in every competition across the male and female categories of short and long distance racing.
The dominant superpower in swimming, the United States of America are miles ahead of the second placed Australians in terms of Olympic golds (USA – 230, Australia – 57). Quite unsurprisingly, a vast majority of the greatest names in the sport are Americans. The most successful Olympian of all time, American swimmer Michael Phelps has dazzled in four different Summer Games and is set to make a comeback in Rio 2016, hoping to earn his final Olympic triumph.
Let us now take a look at the ten greatest Olympic swimmers of all time:
#10 Janet Evans
California-born Janet Evans specialised in long distance swimming and had several world records to her name. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she set a new best timing in the 400 m freestyle which stood for eighteen years till France’s Laure Manaudou outdid it in 2006. In Seoul, Janet captured gold in the 400 m medley as well as the 800m freestyle, which she defended successfully, four years later in Barcelona, in the process becoming the first woman swimmer to win back-to-back Olympic golds in any event.
The striking factor of Janet’s superiority was her relatively short stature – at 5 ft. 5 inches, she took on a number of towering opponents and defeated them in every championship she took part in. The winner of five Olympic medals (4 golds and 1 silver), “Miss Perpetual Motion” was chosen to carry the torch in its last stretch and hand it over to the Legend Muhammad Ali during the opening ceremony at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
#9 Kristin Otto
Despite being a firm favourite, German swimmer Kristin Otto had to sit out the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics due to a boycott by 14 Eastern Bloc countries which included her native East Germany. A fractured vertebra in the following year worsened matters for her, but Kristin overpowered every obstacle in her way to arrive at the 1988 Seoul Olympics at the top of her game.
All six of her Olympic medals were golds won in the 1988 Games, and in doing so, she became the first woman to win six golds at a single edition of the Olympics. In the process, Kristin Otto set new world records in each of the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke and 100 m butterfly events, before retiring from swimming in 1989.
#8 Ryan Lochte
The current holder of world records in each of the 100-metre, 200-metre and 400-metre individual medleys, New Yorker Ryan Lochte gave stiff competition to fellow American Michael Phelps throughout their peak years in the sport. His seven individual Olympic medals place him second in the history of men’s swimming, ahead of Zoltan Halmay and Mark Spitz’s six.
Now 32, Lochte will appear in Men’s 200m individual medley, one of his favourite disciplines, in the Rio 2016 Games, in what will certainly be the last time the two legends square off in the Olympic waters. It remains to be seen whether he gets to add one more to his magnificent collection of 11 Olympic medals (5 Golds, 3 silver and 3 bronze) in this campaign.
#7 Amy Van Dyken
For Amy Van Dyken, what began as a way to battle her severe asthma condition at the advice of her doctor culminated in the conquest of six gold medals across two editions of the Olympics.
In Atlanta 1996, Amy took the crown in the 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley to become the first American woman to notch up such a tally at a single Olympic Games.
Having emerged as the most successful athlete in Atlanta, she returned to defend both of her team titles in Sydney 2000. Tied with German Kristin Otto as the second best female swimmer in Olympic history, Amy’s stats are behind only Jenny Thompson’s eight golds, none of which was won in an individual event.
#6 Natalie Coughlin
With 12 Olympic medals, Californian Natalie Coughlin is tied with fellow swimmers Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson for the top spot of female American Olympians.
In Beijing 2008, Natalie became the first woman to defend the 100 m backstroke title at the Olympic Games after her earlier victory at the same event in Athens 2004. At the same edition, she equalled the women’s Olympic record of winning the highest number of medals(6) in a single Games.
With a 4x100 m freestyle bronze in London 2012, Natalie finally had 3 golds, 4 silvers and 5 bronze medals to show for her glittering Olympic career.
#5 Dara Torres
Hailing from the Beverly Hills in California, swimmer Dara Torres staged her comeback after seven years away from the sport in Sydney 2000, and walked away from the International Aquatic Centre with two golds and three bronze medals to her name.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 41-year-old smashed a century old record held by Britain’s William Robinson to become the oldest swimmer to win a medal at the Games. In each of the three events that she featured in, namely the 50-metre freestyle, 4×100-metre medley relay and 4×100-metre freestyle relay, Dara defied the odds of age and rivalry to play a pivotal role in ensuring a hard-fought silver for her team and herself.
Praising her remarkable performance in Beijing which included the new fastest 100m split in the history of the relay, coach Michael Lohberg declared Dara to be right up there amongst the best names in sports.
A unique aspect of her outstanding tally of twelve Olympic medals (4 of each colour - gold, silver and bronze) is that she has won at least one medal in every single Games that she'd been a part of, in 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008.
#4 Ian Thorpe
Australia’s most decorated Olympian Ian Thorpe provided the home audience with plenty to cheer for as he became the most successful athlete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Nicknamed ‘The Thorpedo’ for his blinding speed, the specialist in freestyle swimming captured 3 golds and 2 silvers in Sydney and went on to add 4 more medals, 2 of which were freestyle golds, to his cabinet at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The dominance that he exercised in the competitive arena in his favourite discipline for six years till his break after the Athens edition was a rare feat at the Olympic level.
Although his career was cut short due to illness in 2006, Ian Thorpe had, by then, established himself as one of the greatest ever swimmers in the history of Olympics.
#3 Matt Biondi
A member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and an Olympic legend from the state of California, Matthew Biondi had won just one relay gold in his Games debut in Los Angeles 1984. In his second outing in Seoul in 1988, however, Matt arrived all guns blazing, and steamrolled over his competitors to clinch 7 straight medals, 5 of which were golds, creating 4 new world records along the way.
Known as the California Condor for his huge wing span, it was anticipated that Matt will surpass or equal Mark Spitz’s 7-gold haul in Seoul but that was not the case to be. Two more team golds and an individual freestyle silver in Barcelona later, Matt retired from his trade in 1992 with a spectacular count of 11 Olympic medals from three editions (8 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze).
#2 Mark Spitz
The majestic feat of seven straight golds at a single Olympics that Mark Spitz achieved in 1972 in Munich took 36 long years to be repeated and bettered, and the man who did it was none other than the Games’ favourite son Michel Phelps in Beijing 2008.
Living up to the immense hype that had surrounded him ahead of the 1972 Games, ‘Mark the Shark’ swept the swimming events in Munich, setting a new world record in all seven of his conquered races – a record that has not been paralleled since.
Although his attempt to resurface in Olympic swimming in 1992 at the age of 41 didn’t yield fruit unlike a certain Dara Torres, Spitz goes down in history as a legend who won 11 medals, nine of them being golds, which makes him one of the only five Olympians to have won 9 or more gold medals at the Games.
#1 Michael Phelps
When it comes to recounting the accomplishments of Michael Phelps at the Olympic Games, finding sufficient words is a challenge in itself. In Sydney 2000, being a member of the swimming powerhouse United States team at the age of 15 happened to be the first of a plethora of records that he was about to set.
Chasing Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich tally of seven straight golds, The Baltimore Bullet took part in eight different events in Athens 2004 but fell short by one, largely attributed to his third-place finish behind Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband in what was touted as the Race of the Century in the 200-metre freestyle. Taking home 6 golds and 2 bronze medals, he became the most successful athlete in Athens – a feat he would then repeat in Beijing 2008 as well as in London 2012.
Phelps didn’t just cruise to his eight golds in 2008 – he did so by creating 7 fresh world records and 1 Olympic record in Beijing. The following Games, in London, the Flying Fish finally upstaged Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina to emerge as the most decorated Olympian ever.
He called it a day after his 4th Olympics, with a staggering 22 medals (18 golds, 2 silver and 2 bronze) under his belt. Delightfully for the world audience, however, Michael Phelps has come out of retirement and will now participate in three individual disciplines in Rio 2016, eyeing his last ever Olympic victory.
