The Olympic Games have been held every four years since 1896, giving thousands of athletes the chance to compete on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
But, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics this month - with LIVE coverage on talkSPORT - who can be considered among the greatest Olympians of all time?
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With so many athletes from so many sports, it is certainly a difficult question to answer, so we’ve narrowed down the thousands to the top ten.
Whether it’s through winning an unprecedented amount of medals or pulling off an exceptional individual performance, these athletes have certainly gone down in Olympic history.
10. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, considered the greatest heptathlete of all time, still holds the world record for the event.
She has three Olympic medals in the heptathlon too, including two golds from Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992.
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Joyner-Kersee also competed in the long jump, earning an Olympic title at Seoul 1988.
Her other Olympic medals include a heptathlon silver at Los Angeles 1984 and two long jump bronze medals at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996.
With such dominance in a multi-discipline event, it’s fair to suggest that Joyner-Kersee is one of the greatest all-around athletes to appear at the Olympic Games.
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9. Florence Griffith-Joyner
Nicknamed Flo-Jo, Florence Griffith-Joyner still holds the women’s 100m and 200m world records.
Known for her long fingernails, colourful outfits and flowing hair, the American burst onto the scene at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, winning gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m.
She also clinched a silver in the 4x400m, adding to the 200m silver she had earned at Los Angeles 1984.
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But as quickly as Griffith-Joyner had made a name for herself on the Olympic stage, she disappeared again, retiring from racing in 1989.
While Griffith-Joyner may not have had as much longevity at the Olympics as other athletes on this list, her incredible and long-lasting achievements on the track in Seoul make her worthy of a place.
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8. Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Nurmi is one of four Olympians with nine gold medals to his name. In fact, he has 12 Olympic medals in total and is considered one of the greatest middle and long-distance runners in history.
Nurmi made his Olympic debut at Antwerp 1920, winning the 10,000m, individual cross country and team cross country.
He was even better at Paris 1924, becoming the first athlete to earn five gold medals at one Olympic Games.
Nicknamed the 'Flying Finn', Nurmi got his ninth gold medal at Amsterdam 1928, but controversy surrounding his status as an amateur athlete meant he missed out on the 1932 Olympic Games and the chance to clinch a tenth gold medal.
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7. Nadia Comaneci
Nadia Comaneci collected a total of nine Olympic medals, five of which are gold, but it was her individual performance on the uneven bars at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games which really wrote the Romanian gymnast's name in the history books.
Aged just 14, Comaneci became the first gymnast to score a perfect ten with her flawless display. It was so unprecedented that the scoreboard was unable to show her score.
Comaneci didn’t stop there – she scored six more perfect tens as she earned three gold medals at Montreal 1976, winning the all-around, uneven bars and balance beam.
She followed this up with more gold medals in the balance beam and floor exercise at Moscow 1980.
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6. Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz was widely considered the greatest swimmer to grace the pools of the Olympic Games until his American compatriot Michael Phelps came along.
Spitz’s legacy is largely down to his incredibly dominant performance at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, when he won a gold medal and set a world record in all seven of the events he entered.
This tally, along with the two gold medals he earned at Mexico City 1968, left him with a highly admirable nine gold medals.
Spitz held the record for the most gold medals earned at a single Olympic Games for 36 years, with the milestone finally broken when Phelps won eight at Beijing 2008.
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5. Jesse Owens
While Jesse Owens only competed at one Olympic Games, he overcame discrimination and prejudice to win four gold medals in difficult circumstances.
He triumphed in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, producing one of the best all-around performances at the Games to this day.
His impact on society transcends his athletic achievements and he is certainly one of the most well-known Olympians in history.
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4. Usain Bolt
While Usain Bolt may not have as many Olympic medals as others on this list, his position reflects his absolute dominance in his sport and his exuberant personality which turned him into the face of three Olympic Games.
The Jamaican star has eight gold medals to his name, reduced from nine that he won on track after one of his relay teammates from Beijing, Nesta Carter, was disqualified in 2017.
Bolt was powerless to stop that decision but his individual achievements remain intact.
The 6 ft 5 in sprinter is the only athlete to win the Olympic 100m and 200m titles at three successive Games – Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. His remaining gold medals came in the 4x100m relay.
Bolt still holds the world records in the 100m and the 200m and it does not seem like they will be broken any time soon.
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3. Larisa Latynina
Larisa Latynina held the record for the most Olympic medals before swimming legend Michael Phelps surpassed her tally at London 2012.
The gymnast represented the Soviet Union at the Olympic Games, earning 18 medals in total.
This included nine gold medals, won across Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964, and three successive Olympic titles in the floor exercise.
While many put forward Simone Biles as the greatest gymnast of all time, Latynina’s consistency at the Games means she is the best to be witnessed on the Olympic stage.
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2. Carl Lewis
Carl Lewis is considered the greatest track and field athlete of all time and it’s easy to see why.
He mirrored the achievements of his childhood hero Jesse Owens by winning four Olympic gold medals at Los Angeles 1984, triumphing in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay.
Lewis went on to earn five more Olympic gold medals across Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, including successfully defending his long jump title at all three Games.
He is one of only three Olympians to win the same individual event four times, and is one of four Olympic athletes to earn nine gold medals, alongside Latynina, Spitz and Nurmi.
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1. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps is not only the best swimmer in history, but he is also the greatest Olympian of all time, blowing all previous records out of the water – literally.
No one has more Olympic medals than the American, who earned an astonishing 28 medals and broke multiple world records while competing at five Games. What’s more, 23 of his medals were gold.
To emphasise how astonishing that is, the closest any athlete has got to Phelps’s tally is nine gold medals.
Phelps even earned five gold medals and a silver at Rio 2016 despite retiring four years prior, having returned to swimming for one last Olympics.
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Now retired for good, it is unlikely there will ever be another Olympian as dominant as Phelps.
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