2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
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Caeleb Dressel of the US keeps making history this week. He already won his 8th gold helping the American men to the win in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Tonight, he won his 9th gold with as the USA mixed medley relay swam to gold in fianls. Dressel notably did not race in finals, but swam the butterfly leg in yesterday’s prelims to earn the gold.
Dressel now sits tied for 2nd in all-time gold medals, sitting only behind Michael Phelps who won 23 golds across five Olympic Games.
His first nine medals of his career have notably all been gold. He also has the potential to move up to 10 gold medals all time, which would break the tie, as he also has the chance to compete on the men’s 4×100 medley relay with the final schedule for tomorrow night. He did not swim on the relay during this morning’s prelims session and was the fastest flyer for the US in Paris.
All 9 of Dressel’s Olympic medals are gold, which surpasses Usain Bolt’s 8-0-0 tally. Ray Ewry, an American runner who competed on the US Olympic Teams in 1900, 1904, and 1908 in the standing long jump, high jump, and triple jump, also is 8-0-0. Prior to Michael Phelps in 2008, Ewry held the record for the most individual Olympic gold medals for 100 years.
Unlike Bolt and Ewry, though, Dressel’s 9 gold medals are not from just 9 events. Dressel’s lone blemishes are from the mixed 400 medley relay in Tokyo that placed 5th, the individual 100 free at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where he placed 6th, the individual 50 free and individual 100 fly in Paris.
Dressel notably is the 2nd American to earn their 9th career gold medal tonight as Katie Ledecky did so as well, winning the women’s 800 freestyle.
Dressel’s Medal Count
| Olympics | Event | Medal |
| 2016 Rio | Men’s 4×100 free relay | Gold |
| 2016 Rio | Men’s 4×100 medley relay | Gold |
| 2020 Tokyo | 50 free | Gold |
| 2020 Tokyo | 100 free | Gold |
| 2020 Tokyo | 100 fly | Gold |
| 2020 Tokyo | Men’s 4×100 free relay | Gold |
| 2020 Tokyo | Men’s 4×100 medley relay | Gold |
| 2024 Paris | Men’s 4×100 free relay | Gold |
| 2024 Paris | Mixed 4×100 mixed medley relay | Gold |
OLYMPIC ATHLETES WITH 8 OR MORE GOLD MEDALS
| NO. | ATHLETE | NATION | SPORT | YEARS | GAMES | GENDER | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
| 1 | Michael Phelps | United States | Swimming | 2004–2016 | Summer | M | 23 | 3 | 2 | 28 |
| 2 | Larisa Latynina | Soviet Union | Gymnastics | 1956–1964 | Summer | F | 9 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
| 3 | Katie Ledecky | United States | Swimming | 2012-2024 | Summer | F | 9 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | Paavo Nurmi | Finland | Athletics | 1920–1928 | Summer | M | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 | Mark Spitz | United States | Swimming | 1968–1972 | Summer | M | 9 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 6 | Carl Lewis | United States | Athletics | 1984–1996 | Summer | M | 9 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | Swimming | 2016-2024 | Summer | M | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 8 | Marit Bjørgen | Norway | Cross-country skiing | 2002–2018 | Winter | F | 8 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 | Ole Einar Bjørndalen | Norway | Biathlon | 1998–2014 | Winter | M | 8 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| 10 | Bjørn Dæhlie | Norway | Cross-country skiing | 1992–1998 | Winter | M | 8 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| 11 | Birgit Fischer | East Germany/Germany | Canoeing | 1980-2004 | Summer | F | 8 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| 12 | Sawao Kato | Japan | Gymnastics | 1968–1976 | Summer | M | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 13 | Jenny Thompson | United States | Swimming | 1992–2004 | Summer | F | 8 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| 14 | Matt Biondi | United States | Swimming | 1984–1992 | Summer | M | 8 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| 15 | Usain Bolt | Jamaica | Athletics | 2008–2016 | Summer | M | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 16 | Ray Ewry | United States | Athletics | 1900–1908 | Summer | M | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
This stat-pad is hilarious and awesome. Bro either wins gold medals or makes sure he’s off the podium.
Mixed relays should never have been added, just adds fuel to the fire when debating that swimming has too many medal opportunities.
A top 100 freestyler from a powerhouse nation can theoretically take home 5 golds in one Olympics only swimming the 100 freestyle. That’s medal inflation if I ever saw it.
I agree. Same with the 50 strokes.
Obviously not Olympics but when including world champs
While it’s obviously an incredible feat, the fact that 2/3 of the medals are relays does make this feel very different from Ledecky’s 9 golds. Focusing on individual golds/medals makes these lists significantly “fairer” and more insightful tbh. In that case Dressel ranks below the likes of De Bruijn, Thorpe, Kitajima, McKeown, etc, which seems accurate to me
Micky Mouse gold
Looking at that chart this just puts a new perspective on Phelps’ 8 golds in a single Olympics. Many of these athletes had at least 2 Olympics to get that done. Crazy
Awful title.
And after tomorrow he could be the second most decorated gold medalist of all time.
It’s great company to be in!!