About this chart race
This race counts Olympic gold medals as they were won, Summer and Winter Games together, for the 46 athletes with the largest career totals. Every figure comes from Olympedia, and each athlete's medals per Games add up to the career total Olympedia publishes.
The top of the list changes hands eight times. Carl Schuhmann ends the first modern Games in 1896 on 4, Al Kraenzlein draws level in 1900, and Ray Ewry moves clear in 1904 on his way to 8 by 1908. Paavo Nurmi catches him in 1924 and goes ahead with 9 in 1928.
Nurmi's 9 then stands for 80 years. Larisa Latynina matches it in 1964, Mark Spitz in 1972 and Carl Lewis in 1996, but nobody passes it until Michael Phelps reaches 14 in 2008. Phelps finishes on 23, more than double the 11 of Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who won six of his golds at the 2026 Winter Games alone.
Behind them six athletes end on nine and eleven on eight. The 1906 Intercalated Games are left out, exactly as Olympedia leaves them out of its own totals, which is why Ray Ewry appears here with 8 rather than ten.
This animated ranking shows how olympic gold medals changed across 46 series between 1896 and 2026. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2026, Michael Phelps (USA) leads with 23.
Included in this race
Michael Phelps (USA), Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR), Paavo Nurmi (FIN), Mark Spitz (USA), Larisa Latynina (URS), Katie Ledecky (USA), Carl Lewis (USA), Caeleb Dressel (USA), Usain Bolt (JAM), Sawao Kato (JPN), Ray Ewry (USA), Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR), Matt Biondi (USA), Marit Bjørgen (NOR), Lisa Carrington (NZL), Jenny Thompson (USA), Isabell Werth (GER), Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR), Birgit Fischer (GDR/GER), Viktor Chukarin (URS), Věra Čáslavská (TCH), Tobias Wendl (GER), Tobias Arlt (GER), Svetlana Romashina (RUS/ROC), Simone Biles (USA), Nikolay Andrianov (URS), Jason Kenny (GBR), Boris Shakhlin (URS), Allyson Felix (USA), Aladár Gerevich (HUN), Vitali Shcherba (EUN), Valentina Vezzali (ITA), Rudolf Kárpáti (HUN), Reiner Klimke (GER/FRG), Pál Kovács (HUN), Nedo Nadi (ITA), Lyubov Yegorova (EUN/RUS), Lidiya Skoblikova (URS), Kristin Otto (GDR), Hubert Van Innis (BEL), Gert Fredriksson (SWE), Edoardo Mangiarotti (ITA), Amy Van Dyken (USA), Akinori Nakayama (JPN), Carl Schuhmann (GER), Al Kraenzlein (USA).
Source
Data from Olympedia. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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