Medal count: Which American Olympians have the most medals all time?

1. Michael Phelps

Medal count: 28 (23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)

Sport: Swimming

Games attended:  2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016

With eight gold medals in the swimming pool at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Michael Phelps forever etched his name into Olympic legend.

The “Baltimore Bullet” would go on to win a total of 28 Olympic medals in his career. That’s ten more than any other athlete in history and more than twice as many as any other American. In fact, when he retired in 2016, Phelps had won more Olympic medals than 161 countries.

Remarkably, across five Olympic Games, Phelps missed the podium in just two of his 30 Olympic events – the 200 m Butterfly at Sydney 2000 and the 400 m Individual Medley at London 2012. He came fifth and fourth, respectively, in those races.

Phelps set the bar awfully high as far as American Olympians go. Mathematically, it’ll be a long time before someone even comes close to touching Phelps’ all-time medal count. However, records are made to be broken, and we can’t wait to see who will surpass Phelps’ 28 Olympic medals.