Receiving a gold, silver or bronze medal at the Olympic Games elevates an athlete to the pinnacle of fame, he will forever become a legend of his country. If there are several of these medals, he gets the opportunity to become a world famous sports star and make his name in the annals of the Olympics.
The most titled athlete in the world is the American Michael Phelps, a swimmer. At the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, he won a total of 16 medals, of which 14 are gold and 2 are bronze. In terms of the number of gold awards, he overtook Larisa Latynina and is considered the most titled athlete of the Olympic Games. Michael Phelps is also a 26-time world champion and holder of 7 world records.
Michael Phelps is slightly inferior in the total number of medals to Larisa Latynina. The Russian gymnast received the largest number of awards at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics. She won 18 Olympic medals, including 9 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze. In addition, Larisa Latynina is an eight-time world champion, a multiple champion of the USSR and Europe. After completing her Olympic career, she coached gymnast teams for the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics.
The third place is taken by Paavo Nurmi, an athlete from Finland. At the Olympic Games of 1920, 1924 and 1928, he won 9 gold and 3 silver medals. Mark Spitz, an American swimmer, and Carl Lewis, an athlete from the United States, won the same number of gold medals. They took fourth and fifth places, respectively.
Eight gold and 4 silver medals were won by Bjorn Daly, a skier from Norway, and the same result was given to Birgit Fischer from Germany, who is engaged in canoeing and kayaking. They took sixth and seventh places in the list of the most titled athletes of the modern Olympics.
Japanese gymnast Savao Kato and US swimmer Jenny Thompson are slightly inferior to them, they each received 8 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals.
In tenth place is Matt Biondi, a swimmer from the USA, at the 1984-1992 Olympics he received 8 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals. Also worth noting is Ray Yuri, an athlete from the United States - he has 8 gold medals.
