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

4. Nikolai Andrianov – Soviet Union

Medal Count: 15 (7 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze)

Sport: Gymnastics

Games attended: 1972, 1976, 1980

After Boris Shakhlin’s retirement, the most decorated male gymnast title was still on the table. But who would take a grab at it?

That would be Nikolai Andrianov, also hailing from Russia. He hit the ground running with his gymnastics career. His first medal was gold, of course, during the 1972 Olympics. Outside of the Olympics, he was still racking up medals, about 13 in the World Championships and 16 in the European Championships.

Well … that’s quite a career for Nikolai.

But it came full circle when he reached peak success, taking a grab at the very title of most decorated male gymnast from his fellow Russian, Boris Shakhlin.

He tallied up 15 medals throughout his Olympic career, the first to break past the barrier of the unlucky 13. But this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the Russian superpower on this list. Andrianov may be the most decorated male gymnast, but the title of most decorated gymnast period belongs to someone else.