30 Olympic athletes who dominated their events

These 30 athletes famously crushed their competition en route to Olympic Games glory.

The time for the 2016 Summer Games is almost upon us. The opening ceremony is set to take place on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the site of the 31st edition of these ancient athletic trials. From that date until the closing ceremony on August 21, over 10,500 athletes across 28 different disciplines and from 207 different nations will vie for the highest international accolade available to them: a gold medal in their chosen sport.

The Olympics are the ultimate proving ground for athletes, by far the oldest, largest, and most universal sports competition in the history of mankind. The Games’ history stretches all the way back to 8th century BC Greece, and many rituals and cultural facets from that faraway era have survived across the ensuing millennia to become time-honored traditions still familiar to people around the world: the running, passing, and lighting of the Olympic torch, for example.

But no aspect of the Olympics is more widely-recognized or beloved than the fundamental backbone upon which the Games have always been built on – competition. Whether it’s between nations or individuals, fierce athletic competition is what makes the Olympic Games the Olympic Games, and over the centuries we have seen some pretty remarkable athletes eviscerate their less-talented peers in a wide range of categories.

Here are the 30 best and most dominant athletes ever to compete in the Olympic Games.

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