30 Olympic athletes who dominated their events

9. Nikolai Andrianov

If the summer of 1972 belonged to Mark Spitz, the summer of 1976 belonged to Nikolai Andrianov. Considered by many to be the greatest male gymnast of all time, Andrianov was the overall winner of the 1976 Montreal Summer Games – he left Canada with seven medals in tow (four gold, two silver, and one bronze). His four golds came in the floor exercise, rings, vault, and individual all-around categories.

That year was by no means a coming-out party for the Soviet gymnast, either. Andrianov also won gold for floor exercise at the 1972 Munich Games, in addition to a bronze medal for vault and a silver medal for team competition.

At his final Olympics, the 1980 Summer Games in his very own backyard of Moscow, Andrianov once again earned gold medals for his performance on the vault and in the team competition. Throw in two more silver medals and a bronze that year, and Andrianov’s final medal tally over three different Games comes to 15.

That number was the record for male Olympians for 28 years until Michael Phelps broke it in 2008. Still, in terms of cumulative Olympic medals, Andrianov comes in third all-time behind Phelps’ 22 and Larisa Latynina’s 18.

Next: 8. Jenny Thompson