Ranking the top 25 Olympians of the 21st century
By ESPN,
7 hours ago
We have spent the last week counting down the top 100 athletes of the 21st century , and nine Olympians made the list, starting with Michael Phelps at No. 1 overall. We also voted on an overall top 25 just for the Olympics.
Who else makes the list of some of the greatest Olympians of the 2000s?
1. Michael Phelps, swimming
Key accomplishments: Record 28-time Olympic medalist, 23-time Olympic gold medalist, most gold medals at a single Olympics when he won eight at Beijing in 2008.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Phelps earned a historic eight gold medals, more than any athlete in a single Olympics, while breaking world records in seven of his eight races. Throughout the Games, fans and members of the media tried to crack the code on what made Phelps -- who eventually won 23 Olympic gold medals and became the most decorated Olympian of all time -- so unbeatable. His mother, Debbie Phelps, was in Beijing, and often fielded their questions. Was it his size-14 feet? His extra-long arms? His breakfast regimen? "No," Debbie answered repeatedly. "It's his hard work." -- Alyssa Roenigk
2. Simone Biles, gymnastics
Key accomplishments: Seven-time Olympic medalist (tied for most by American gymnast), four Olympic gold medals (2016, tied for most by female gymnast at single Games).
Since winning her first national title in 2013, Biles has gone undefeated in all-around competition in every meet she has competed in, a staggering achievement in a sport that used to age-out athletes in their teens. Now 27, Biles punctuated her return to gymnastics after taking two years off following the Tokyo Games by winning U.S. trials by an astounding 5.5 points. In her third Olympics in Paris, Biles can become the first gymnast to win all-around gold in nonconsecutive Olympics. She also has five skills that bear her name -- including a vault with the highest difficulty level in women's gymnastics. -- Roenigk
3. Usain Bolt, track
Key accomplishments: Eight-time Olympic gold medalist, 100m world-record holder, only sprinter to win Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three consecutive Olympics.
Their legs are a blur. What's in focus is Bolt's expressive mug as he surges ahead in the 100-meter semifinal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, his fourth and final Games. In the photo, the now-37-year-old Jamaican is looking back, smiling, almost taunting the three men giving chase. The race is not over -- and yet it is. The image was a sensation at the time and has endured as one of the most indelible of Bolt's career, which saw him set his first world record in the 100 at 21. His 2009 world record in the 100 (9.58 seconds) still stands today. -- Roenigk
4. Katie Ledecky, swimming
Key accomplishments: 10-time Olympic medalist, seven-time Olympic gold medalist, record 21 world championship gold medals, world records in 800m free and 1,500m free.
"I was expecting a lot faster." That was Ledecky's response to winning the 1,500-meter freestyle by 20 seconds at Olympic trials in June, in the fastest time clocked this year. For more than a decade, Ledecky has owned the race known as the "swimmer's mile," which was added to the Olympic lineup in 2020. The 27-year-old is expected to win gold again in Paris, where she is also the favorite in the 400 free, 800 free and 4x200-meter relay. Since first breaking the world record in the 1,500 free in 2013, she has shaved 16 seconds off her time while also winning more Olympic and world championship gold than any woman in history. -- Roenigk
5. Mikaela Shiffrin, skiing
Key accomplishments: Three-time Olympic medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, record 96 World Cup wins, 59 World Cup slalom victories (most in a single discipline).
On March 11, 2023, Shiffrin chased down a record that, for 34 years, consumed the minds and careers of countless ski racers and became the winningest alpine skier in history. She won her 87th World Cup race that day, eclipsing the longstanding record held by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark, which many considered to be unbreakable. She did it, of course, quickly, reaching 87 wins nearly three years quicker than Stenmark and by winning at least one race in all six World Cup disciplines -- the only woman or man ever to do so.
But what's most remarkable about Shiffrin's feat is that she won 24 races and two of her five World Cup overall titles after skiing the most disappointing races of her career at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and having people question whether her best years were behind her. -- Roenigk
6. Allyson Felix, track
Key accomplishments: 11-time Olympic medalist, seven-time Olympic gold medalist, record 18-time world championship medalist.
Five Olympics. Eleven medals. Greatest U.S. runner in Olympic history. But a closer look at Felix's seven Olympic gold medals reveals another side to her success. In a sport defined by individual success, she might also be the greatest teammate in history. Felix won six of her seven Olympic gold medals as part of relays: two in the 4x100 meters and four in the 4x400. Her only individual gold came at the 2012 London Games in the 200 meters after taking silver in the previous two Olympics. That Felix experienced so much of her success while supporting her teammates comes as no surprise.
In the years since she retired from the sport, she has been an outspoken advocate for Black women's maternal health care and pay equity and protections for women athletes after childbirth. -- Roenigk
7. Shaun White, snowboarding
Key accomplishments: Three-time Olympic gold medalist in halfpipe (2006, 2010, 2018), 15-time X Games medalist.
White stood at the top of the halfpipe at the 2018 Olympics and prepared to take his third and final run. He was in second place behind two-time silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, who had just landed back-to-back 1440s. White knew he needed to land the combo to best Hirano, but four months earlier, he'd crashed attempting to learn a cab double cork 1440 and suffered horrific injuries that required 62 stitches in his face and landed him in intensive care.
White hadn't attempted the trick since, and he'd never landed back-to-back 14s. But in a move that embodied White's competitive nature and the spirit of action sports, he went for the combo, rode away clean and won his third Olympic gold in the event. "Before my last run, I was like, 'OK, I can live with second,'" White said that night. "But I realized at that moment, I didn't have to." -- Roenigk
8. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, track
Key accomplishments: Eight-time Olympic medalist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, record five 100-meter world titles, oldest sprinter (35 in 2022) to win world title.
One day after Usain Bolt's win in the 100 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman from the Caribbean to win Olympic gold in the event. Four years later, she defended her title in the 100 (as did Bolt), further cementing Jamaica's reputation as a sprinting powerhouse. Only 5 feet tall and typically sporting rainbow locks, the "Pocket Rocket'' has medaled in track and field's fastest race in the past four Games. In Paris, her fifth and final Olympics, Fraser-Pryce will line up once more with the goal of reclaiming her title as the fastest woman alive. -- Roenigk
9. Kohei Uchimura, gymnastics
Key accomplishments: Seven-time Olympic medalist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, six-time individual all-around world champion.
Over an eight-year period from 2009 to 2016, Uchimura dominated men's gymnastics, going undefeated in all-around competition, winning back-to-back Olympic titles and leading the Japanese team to gold at the Rio Games. He retired from the sport in 2022 with a reputation for pairing extreme difficulty with unmatched consistency and flawless execution and is widely considered to be the GOAT of men's gymnastics.
In one of his most memorable all-around performances, Uchimura averaged higher than a 9.0 execution score on every apparatus to take the all-around title at the 2011 world championships in Tokyo, which were held seven months after an earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan. -- Roenigk
10. Yuzuru Hanyu, gymnastics
Key accomplishments: Back-to-back Olympic gold medalist (2014, 2018), 7 World Championship medals (2 gold, 3 sliver and 2 bronze).
At his peak, Hanyu was not so much a figure skater but a rock star. Fans followed him around the world, armed with Winnie the Pooh toys. He was known to carry a Pooh tissue box to competitions and it became a thing. Hanyu wasn't known for the big jumps that have come to dominate figure skating in recent years, though he did attempt the quad axel, the hardest jump in the sport to date, at the 2022 Olympics. It is his artistry -- the breathless beauty of his skates -- that fans will remember forever. -- Elaine Teng
11. Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, ice dancing
Key accomplishments: Two-time Olympic gold medalists, first North Americans to win Olympic gold medal in ice dancing in 2010.
Choosing the greatest moment for the most decorated Olympic figure skaters of all time is an impossible task, but it's hard to top winning their first Olympic gold in front of a home crowd at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Performing to the soaring strings of Mahler's Symphony No. 5, they dazzled with their twizzles, broke hearts with their artistry -- and put ice dance on the map. Virtue and Moir, who started skating together as children, sold their on-ice chemistry so effectively that many fans refused to believe they were not a real-life couple. (Sorry, they're now married to other people!) -- Elaine Teng
12. Chloe Kim, snowboarding
Key accomplishments: Two-time Olympic gold medalist, nine-time X Games medalist, youngest woman to win Olympic halfpipe gold, youngest winner of an X Games gold medal.
"My face kind of hurts right now, but that was so fun," Kim said in 2015 after winning her first X Games gold in snowboard halfpipe. Only 14, she was the youngest gold medalist in X Games history at the time, and she won on her third and final run after suffering a brutal wipeout earlier in the contest. She considered dropping out, and then decided she didn't want to wait another year to prove she was the best in the world. Nearly a decade later, she is a two-time Olympian, seven-time X Games gold medalist and in January, became the first woman to land a 1260 in competition. -- Alyssa Roenigk
13. Aliya Mustafina, gymnastics
Key accomplishments: Seven-time Olympic medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, 11-time World Championship medalist.
Before Simone Biles made it seem easy to be successful across multiple Olympic cycles, there was Russia's Aliya Mustafina. She burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old to win the 2010 world all-around title, while leading her team to gold and earning three additional silver medals in event finals. She would go on to capture the Olympic gold on bars in both 2012 and 2016, with routines that are still lauded today for their variety of skills, easy swing and picture-perfect release moves. -- Amy Van Deusen
14. Apolo Ohno, speed skating
Key accomplishments: Eight-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, 21 World Championship medals, 8 World Championship gold medals.
The most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian, Ohno won at least one medal in each of the Olympic short-track speed skating distances. In an unpredictable sport defined by collisions, crashes and controversy, Ohno found a way to get to the front of the pack year after year. At the 2006 Olympics, his second of three Games, Ohno led wire-to-wire to win the 500 meters in what he called the "perfect race." -- Alyssa Roenigk
15. Natalie Coughlin, swimming
Key accomplishments: 12-time Olympic medalist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, tied for most Olympic events entered while medaling in all of them (12).
Coughlin brought home six medals from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the first American woman to do so in any sport. That year, she also became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic gold in the 100-meter backstroke, her signature event. In 2002, the three-time Olympian became the first woman to swim the 100 back in under one minute. She broke that world record four more times before unofficially retiring from competitive swimming in 2016. -- Alyssa Roenigk
16. Lindsey Vonn, skiing
Key accomplishments: Three-time Olympic medalist, Olympic gold medalist (downhill at Vancouver 2010), 82 World Cup victories (a record until February 2023).
Vonn's most memorable performances are a mix of dominance and doggedness. Like when she returned from a terrifying training crash at the Torino Olympics to finish eighth in the downhill. Or in Vancouver in 2010, when she sustained a badly bruised shin and thought she'd have to scratch her races -- then finished more than half a second ahead of the field to become the first American woman to win Olympic downhill gold. Vonn was one of the toughest, most tenacious athletes in alpine skiing. She retired at 34 with 82 World Cup wins, an Olympic gold medal and four overall World Cup titles to prove it. -- Alyssa Roenigk
17. Ian Thorpe, swimming
Key accomplishments: Nine-time Olympic medalist, five-time Olympic gold medalist, 11 World Championship titles, most-decorated Australian swimmer.
A swimming prodigy from the get go, Thorpe became the youngest male individual gold medalist in history at age 15 when he won the 400-meter free at the 1998 worlds. The "Thorpedo" then took the 2000 Sydney Olympics by storm, winning five medals and becoming the most decorated Australian athlete at the Games. With the weight of his home country on his shoulders, Thorpe earned Australia's first gold of the Olympics with his victory in the 400 meters -- setting a new world record in the process. -- Amy Van Deusen
18. Aly Raisman, gymnastics
Key accomplishments: Six-time Olympic medalist, three-time Olympic gold medalist, member of 2011 and 2015 World Championship teams.
With six Olympic medals, Raisman is the second-most-decorated gymnast of this century behind Biles -- and was the captain of both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams that won consecutive titles. She also stood out individually, with gold on floor in London and silver in Rio de Janeiro in the all-around and on floor. After the Rio Games, when a USA Gymnastics team doctor was sent to prison for felony criminal sexual conduct , Raisman became a voice for systemic changes in the sport and an activist for sexual abuse prevention. -- Amy Van Deusen
19. Valentina Vezzali, fencing
Key accomplishments: Nine-time Olympic medalist, six-time Olympic gold medalist, became first woman to win five fencing gold medals in 2008.
Vezzali is the most prolific fencer of all time, qualifying for five Olympics from 1996 and 2012 and winning at least one gold medal in each of those Games. She also holds a staggering 16 world titles. In 2013, she was elected to the Italian Parliament, telling CNN , "From my point of view, if all the politicians were a bit more sporty, every country in the world would be much better off." She continued to compete until 2016, winning five more world medals after her election. -- Amy Van Deusen
20. Lindsey Jacobellis, snowboard cross
Key accomplishments: Three-time Olympic medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, 10-time X Games champion.
Until 2022, Jacobellis' Olympic story was a cautionary tale: Don't celebrate before the finish. When she did just that in the snowboard cross final in Torino in 2006, in the sport's Olympic debut, the five-time world champion fell, scrambled to her feet and finished second. The heavy favorite to win every race she entered, Jacobellis won more races than any man or woman in her sport over the next 16 years, but failed to medal in her next three Olympics. Then, in her fifth Games in Beijing in 2022, she finally earned Olympic gold in snowboard cross and mixed doubles and became the first snowboarder to win multiple golds in one Games. -- Alyssa Roenigk
21. Eliud Kipchoge, marathon
Key accomplishments: Four-time Olympic medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, first person in recorded history to run a sub-two-hour marathon in 2019.
Kipchoge is widely regarded as the greatest marathoner of all time, and for good reason. He won gold in both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics and has a chance at a three-peat in Paris. But perhaps he is best known for breaking the two-hour marathon mark in 2019, at an event called the Ineos Challenge in Vienna, Austria. While it was not officially ratified by the IAAF because it was not an open road race, the barrier had previously been thought of as impossible, and he'll always be known as the first (albeit unofficially) to do it. -- Amy Van Deusen
22. Hilary Knight, hockey
Key accomplishments: Four-time Olympic medalist, Olympic gold medalist in 2018, 138 points in 102 international games, 2023 IIHF Female Player of the Year.
After silver-medal performances at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, Knight led the U.S. to gold in Pyeongchang, scoring Team USA's first goal in a 3-2 win over Canada. At the 2023 women's world championship in Brampton, Canada, Knight became the first American hockey player to score a hat trick in an Olympic or world championship final and rallied the U.S. to a 5-3 win over Canada. That win was especially sweet after losing to Canada in the finals at the 2021 and 2022 worlds and the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. The leading goal scorer in women's hockey, Knight is currently the captain of Boston's professional women's hockey team. -- Alyssa Roenigk
23. Marit Bjorgen, cross country skiing
Key accomplishments: 15-time Olympic medalist, eight-time Olympic gold medalist, five medals in 2018 (led all athletes), 114 World Cup individual wins.
The Norwegian cross country skier didn't have a particularly auspicious start to her Olympic career. In the 2002 Olympics, at age 21, Bjorgen earned silver in the 4x5-kilometer relay. Then she entered the 2006 Games as a four-time world champion, but struggled with illness and won just one more silver medal. She later told Olympics.com , "I don't have many good memories, but I think it is the reason why I was able to have such a career."
Bjorgen came roaring back in 2010, winning five Olympic medals, the most of any athlete in Vancouver. She was equally impressive in the next two Games, and would go on to become the most decorated Winter Olympian in history, with 15 medals in all. -- Amy Van Deusen
24. Brianne Jenner, hockey
Key accomplishments: Three-time Olympic medalist, two-time Olympic gold medalist, women's hockey MVP in 2022 Olympics, 2 IIHF World Championships.
Jenner has been clutch for Team Canada over the past decade. The nine goals she scored during the 2022 Olympics tied the record for most in a women's tournament, as she helped lead Canada to a win over its long-time rival, the United States. In her first Olympic appearance in 2014, she scored the first goal in the gold-medal game, paving the way for another Canadian victory. And at the 2021 world championships, Jenner was key once again in the final, with both the first goal and a key assist in overtime, for Canada's first world title in nine years. -- Amy Van Deusen
25. Jason Kenny, cycling
Key accomplishments: Nine-time Olympic medalist, seven-time Olympic gold medalist, 10-time World Championship medalist.
Kenny is the most decorated British Olympian in history with seven gold medals -- and perhaps his most dramatic win of all was his very last race. Kenny was the two-time defending sprint champion in Tokyo in 2021 but finished a disappointing eighth in that event in the early days of competition. The stage was set for keirin, his final race, but few considered him a favorite despite his status as defending champ in that event as well. When a small gap opened up during the final, Kenny went on the attack, surging ahead by almost a quarter lap and winning gold by 0.763 seconds, an enormous margin. (In 2016, he won gold in the same event by 0.040.) Kenny is married to Britain's greatest female Olympian, cycling star Laura Kenny, and the couple was awarded knighthood and damehood in 2022. -- Amy Van Deusen
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