Medal Count: Which summer Olympians have the most medals of all time?

By Baigen Seawell | Jul 14, 2021

Italian Edoardo Mangiarotti (L) took silver and his compatriot Manlio Di Rosa (R) got bronze. (Photo credit: AFP via Getty Images) /

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Photo by Amin Mohammad Jamali/Getty Images /

1. Michael Phelps – United States

Sport: Swimming

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

Games attended: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016

No one should be surprised. We all saw him in Athens, when the world wondered, “Who is this kid?”. Then came Beijing in 2016, when he racked up a plethora of golds (eight, to be exact). And then came 2016, where we were in shock that he was still winning gold medals.

Now there’s a big flying fish-shaped hole in our hearts. Phelps came onto the Olympic scene on a mission, and everyone had to get with the program. He made his mark not only in swimming, but on the Olympic scene period.

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