The Top Olympic Medal Winners of All Time

With the spectacular show that Michael Phelps put on at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, much was made about his attempt to win 8 Gold Medals in a single Olympics to break the former record of 7 held by former United States swimmer Mark Spitz. The record had been in place since the 1972 Munich Games, and Phelps set a new standard when he accomplished his goal. He also set a new record for the most Gold Medals won in an Olympic career, but one fact slipped through the cracks during all of the reporting; he is still only second place to the winningest medal receiver of the modern Olympics.

Larissa Latynina was a Gymnast for the Soviet Union who appeared in three Olympic Games, along the way compiling 9 Gold Medal wins, 5 Silver Medals, and 4 Bronze Medals to accumulate an astounding total of 18 Olympic medals over her career. She still holds the top spot in the all-time list of winningest athletes at the Olympics, and Michael Phelps would need to come back for the Games in 2012 (held in London) if he wanted to try and gain 2 more medals to tie her, or three more to pass her completely. It is one record he doesn't yet hold, and it will be a record that Latynina can relish for at least 4 more years.

Phelps wasn't the only Olympian to come away from Beijing with an impressive total of medals either, as fellow United States swimmers Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin shot into double figures for their careers as well. Torres picked up a couple of medals to push her career total to 12 (4 Gold, 4 Silver, 4 Bronze), and Coughlin was able to increase her total to 11 medals (3 Gold, 4 Silver, 4 Bronze). Their names are now etched in stone with some of the all-time greats of Olympic history, some of which have been on the list for almost 80 years.

Here is the compiled list of the Olympic Athletes who compiled the most medal wins through their careers:

1. Larissa Latynina -- Soviet Union -- Gymnastics -- 18
2. Michael Phelps -- United States -- Swimming -- 16
3. Nikolay Andranov -- Soviet Union -- Gymnastics -- 15
4. Edoardo Mangiarotti -- Italy -- Fencing -- 13
4. Takasi Ono -- Japan -- Gymnastics -- 13
4. Boris Shakhlin -- Soviet Union -- Gymnastics -- 13
7. Paavo Nurmi -- Finland -- Track/Field -- 12
7. Sawao Kato -- Japan -- Gymnastics -- 12
7. Birgit Fischer -- Germany -- Canoeing -- 12
7. Dara Torres -- United States -- Swimming -- 12
7. Bjorn Daehlie -- Norway -- Cross-country Skiing -- 12
7. Jenny Thompson -- United States -- Swimming -- 12
7. Alexei Nemov -- Russia -- Gymnastics -- 12
14. Carl Osburn -- United States -- Shooting -- 11
14. Viktor Chukarin -- Russia -- Gymnastics -- 11
14. Vera Caslavska -- Czechoslovakia -- Gymnastics -- 11
14. Mark Spitz -- United States -- Swimming -- 11
14. Matt Biondi -- United States -- Swimming -- 11
14. Natalie Coughlin -- United States -- Swimming -- 11
20. Aladar Gerevich -- Hungary -- Fencing -- 10
20. Agnes Keleti -- Hungary -- Gymnastics -- 10
20. Polina Astakhova -- Soviet Union -- Gymnastics -- 10
20. Akinori Nakayama -- Japan -- Gymnastics -- 10
20. Alexander Dityatin -- Soviet Union -- Gymnastics -- 10
20. Raisa Smetanina -- Soviet Union -- Cross-Country Skiing -- 10
20. Carl Lewis -- United States -- Track/Field -- 10
20. Vitaly Scherbo -- Belarus -- Gymnastics -- 10
20. Gary Hall Jr. -- United States -- Swimming -- 10