Olympic Facts: From Youngest to Oldest to most successful medalists and more
As the Paris Olympics 2024 is closing by, we'll look at the youngest to oldest most successful medalists and such more stats in this article on Olympic facts.
The 2024 Olympics in Paris starts from 26th July and thousands of athletes will represent their countries from across the globe to register their names in the history books. Many Olympic heavyweight nations will try to top the medal table with impressive performances. Several records have been broken so far and milestones have been set in past editions of the Olympics. In this article on Olympic facts, we'll look at the youngest to oldest most successful medalists and such more stats.
Michael Phelps, the legendary American swimmer, holds the record as an athlete with the most medals in Olympics history. He has won 28 Olympic medals and 23 of those are gold medals. He has also won the most number of gold medals in the Olympics.
As for women, Soviet Union's Larisa Latynina holds the record for the most Olympic medals (18 medals). Nine of those medals are gold, which is also the record for most gold medals won by a woman athlete in the Olympics.
As for countries, the United States are far above than any other nation with 2,629 Olympic medals. 1,061 of those medals are gold, which is the most that a single nation has won in the Olympics.
Athletes with the most gold medals in a single edition of the Olympics
As for male athletes, Michael Phelps holds the record. Phelps won eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. German swimmer Kristin Otto holds the record for women with six gold medals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. As for countries, the USA won 83 gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Athletes with the most consecutive golds in the same event
USA’s Carl Lewis (long jump), Alfred Oerter (discus throw), and Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom (sailing) have won gold medals in four back-to-back editions of the Olympics among male athletes. Japanese wrestler Kaoro Icho leads the charts for women with four consecutive gold medals.
As for team events, Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich leads with six consecutive golds representing the male sabre team. As for women’s team events, USA basketball player Lisa Leslie has won four consecutive Olympic golds.
Equestrian rider from Canada Ian Millar has represented his country in 10 editions of the Olympics from 1972 to 2012. But unfortunately, he won only one silver medal.
German-Italian canoer Josefa Idem-Guerrini holds that record for women as she participated in eight games editions from 1984 till 2008 winning one gold, two silver medals, and one bronze.
Olympic Facts: Youngest medallists in the Olympics
Denmark’s Inge Sorensen became the youngest female athlete to win an individual Olympic medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The swimmer was just 12 years and 24 days old when she won the 200m breaststroke event. Nils Skoglund, also from Denmark, is the youngest male athlete to win an individual Olympic medal. He was 14 years and 11 days old when he won silver at the plain high diving competition at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
Among team events, Greece gymnast Dimitrios Loundras was only 10 years and 218 years old when he became the youngest male to win an Olympic medal. He was part of the Greek parallel bars team at the 1896 Olympics and won the bronze medal.
Italy’s Luigina Giavotti is the youngest female medallist in a team event at the Olympics. At the 1928 Amsterdam Games, she won silver with the gymnastics team.
Youngest gold medallists at the Olympics
Marjorie Gestring of the USA is still the youngest individual Olympic gold medallist. She was just 13 years and 268 days old when she won a gold medal in the 3m springboard event at the 1936 Berlin Games. Kusuo Kitamura of Japan is the youngest male individual gold medallist at the Olympics. He was 14 years and 309 days old when he won the 1500m freestyle gold at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
Oldest Olympic Medalists
Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn was 72 years and 279 days old when he became the oldest Olympic champion. He won gold in the 100m running deer double shots team event at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. USA’s Eliza Pollock is the oldest female to win an Olympic gold medal. She won the archery event at the 1904 Olympics at the age of 63 years and 331 days.
Wherever Neeraj Chopra goes, he does not return empty-handed. So, it's time we take a look at every Neeraj Chopra records that he has made in his tremendous career so far.
Wherever Neeraj Chopra goes, he does not return empty-handed. This series started in 2016 when this rising star made a record for the first time at the Under-20 World Athletics Championships. From that day itself, we got a glimpse of the future to come, in which many records were to be made and broken one after the other.
On Friday night of 16 May, Neeraj maintained the same trend in Doha Diamond League 2025 and got his name registered in history, becoming the first Indian to breach the 90m mark in the sport. So, it's time we take a look at every Neeraj Chopra records that he has made in his tremendous career so far.
First Indian to breach the 90m mark: Neeraj Chopra’s best throw is 90.23m, achieved at the Doha Diamond League on May 16, 2025. The mark stands as the men’s national record in India and Neeraj Chopra’s personal best. It was the first time an Indian had breached the 90m-mark in the javelin.
First Indian to win Olympic medal in athletics: At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Neeraj Chopra produced a historic performance in the men's javelin throw event. Neeraj won the gold medal in the final with a throw of 87.58m, giving India its first Olympic medal in athletics. With this win, Neeraj Chopra also became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in a track and field event at the Olympics.
First Indian to win silver at World Athletics Championships: Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra won a historic silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon. He recorded a throw of 88.13m in his fourth attempt to claim the second spot. Chopra thus is the first Indian to win a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships and only the second medallist from the country after Anju Bobby George in 2003.
First Indian track and field athlete to win world championship: Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. With this win, the then 18-year-old Neeraj became the first Indian track and field athlete to become a world champion in any event and any age level.
First Indian World Record holder in track & field: Neeraj Chopra Threw 86.48m at the junior championships in Poland to win the title. With this, he set the new under-20 world record, beating the 84.69m mark established by the previous holder, Latvia's Zigismunds Sirmais. Neeraj’s 86.48m attempt at Bydgoszcz still stands as both the U20 world record as well as the U20 Asian record in the javelin throw.
Indian national javelin throw record holder: Neeraj Chopra’s best attempt to date came at the Stockholm Diamond League 2022 in Sweden on June 30, 2022, where he managed his personal best of 89.94m to establish the new national record.
First Indian to win javelin throw gold at Asian Games: Neeraj Chopra is the first Indian javelin thrower to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. Before him, Gurtej Singh was the only men’s javelin thrower from the country to win a medal – bronze at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games. Neeraj threw 88.06m to claim the 2018 Asian Games title.
First Indian to win a Diamond League meet: Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a Diamond League meet after he topped the field in Lausanne in 2022. With a depleted field that had world champion Anderson Peters missing, the Indian comfortably led the charts with an 89.08m throw, in his first attempt.
First Indian to become Diamond League champion: Neeraj Chopra is the first Indian athlete in history to clinch the Diamond League trophy, by winning the Zurich Diamond League 2022 Final. The Indian ace recorded a best throw of 88.44m to beat Tokyo 2020 silver medallist and 2016 champion Jakub Vadlejch to the title.
First Indian to become world champion: Neeraj Chopra became India's first world champion after he clinched the gold medal in the men's javelin throw final at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest with an effort of 88.17m. It was Neeraj Chopra's second straight medal at the world championships after his silver at Oregon 2022.
Neeraj Chopra’s best throws: Here are all the top throws by javelin ace Neeraj Chopra
Neeraj Chopra’s best throw is 90.23m, achieved at the Doha Diamond League on May 16, 2025. The mark stands as the men’s national record in India and Neeraj Chopra’s personal best.
Indian javelin ace Neeraj Chopra bettered his throw of 89.94m with a season-best throw of 90.23m at the at the Doha Diamond League 2025. After this, he became the first Indian to breach the 90m mark in the sport.
Despite the historic achievement, Chopra missed out on the top podium spot at the Doha Diamond League, where Germany’s Julian Weber stole the show with a massive throw. Chopra’s previous best was 89.94m, set on June 30, 2022, at the Stockholm Diamond League — a mark that stood as both his personal best and the men’s national record.
Neeraj achieved his target
Neeraj Chopra’s best throw is 90.23m, achieved at the Doha Diamond League on May 16, 2025. The mark stands as the men’s national record in India and Neeraj Chopra’s personal best.
The second-best throw of Neeraj Chopra's career is 89.94m. Neeraj had thrown this throw in the Stockholm Diamond League on 30 June 2022. This throw is a national record and one of Neeraj Chopra's best throws.
Neeraj Chopra's third-best throw of 89.49m came at the Lausanne Diamond League 2024This is Chopra's best throw ever at a global championship and his third-best overall.
Neeraj Chopra's fourth-best throw in javelin throw came at Paris Olympics 2024 where he bagged the silver medal with an 89.45m throw.
His fifth best throw came in Paavo Nurmi Games in 2022 where he went close to that 90m mark once again.
In the Lausanne Diamond League 2022, held in the month of August, Neeraj Chopra had thrown the sixth-best throw of his career. Neeraj had thrown the javelin 89.08 meters.
Neeraj's seventh-best throw came in the Asian Games 2023 held in Hangzhou. In this round, Neeraj had achieved a distance of 88.88m.
Neeraj Chopra's eighth-best throw came in the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest. In this competition which was held on August 25, 2023, Neeraj showed excellent performance and achieved a distance of 88.77m.
"Looking at the Olympics performance, its unfortunate that we didn’t win a medal": Mary Kom hints to make a comeback in Pro-Boxing
Notably, so far only three Indian boxers have won medals in the Olympics – Vijender Singh (bronze in Beijing 2008), Mary Kom (bronze in London 2012) and Lovlina Borgohain (bronze in Tokyo 2020).
Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom expressed disappointment over the poor performance of Indian boxers in the Paris Olympics 2024. She said that being a medal winner, it is natural that she feels bad.
India had sent a team of six boxers to the Paris 2024, which included two men and four women. It also included Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain and world champion Nikhat Zareen.
Mary Kom expressed her desire to re-enter professional boxing
Mary Kom expressed her desire to re-enter professional boxing, stating, "I am planning to make a comeback.I will try to make a comeback in pro-boxing." In the same event, she shared her happiness in participating in sports-promoting events but remained concerned about India's performance at the Olympics.
'We will assess what needs to be done'
Mary Kom told IANS during the Army Sports Conclave, "Looking at the Olympics performance, its unfortunate that we didn’t win a medal in the 2024 Olympics. We will assess what needs to be done moving forward and what shouldn’t be done,"
India's boxing campaign was disappointing
Lovlina (women's 75kg) missed out on a historic second medal at the Paris Olympics and lost to China's Li Qian in the quarterfinals. At the same time, in the men's 71 kg category, Nishant Dev had reached the quarter-finals, but he had to face defeat from Marco Verde of Mexico.
Two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (women's 50kg), Commonwealth Games champion Amit Panghal (men's 51kg) and Preeti Pawar (women's 54kg) lost in the round of 16 in their respective categories. Jasmine Lamboria (women's 57 kg) was eliminated in the round of 32. Overall, India's Paris Olympics boxing campaign was disappointing.
"As a world champion and medallist myself, its natural to feel disappointed. We'll focus on more practice and hard work for the upcoming tournaments," Mary Kom added.
Only three boxers achieved olympic medal
Notably, so far only three Indian boxers have won medals in the Olympics – Vijender Singh (bronze in Beijing 2008), Mary Kom (bronze in London 2012) and Lovlina Borgohain (bronze in Tokyo 2020).
A lot of instances have seen cricket being differentiated from other sports. Especially, in South Asian countries, where cricket rules a fraternity, "sports" look doomed. An established "Cricket versus Sports" league is not a 2-month long tournament. It's an age-long duel with apparent results. But, is cricket guilty?
If we look back, Cricket was not as big as it is now. Restricted within the allies of a colonized country, cricket was just a time pass. 36 years to Independence, but a famous singer (Lata Mangeshkar) had to arrange a charity musical show to gather prize money for the 1983 World Cup Winners.
The image of Kapil lifting the World Cup trophy from the iconic Lord's balcony. Photo Collcted.
India gained some confidence since then. the biggest boost came after the win in the inaugurating T20 World Cup Win. 2007, 24the September, exactly 20 years back, the seed of the cash-rich league got sown.
Indian Premier League, started in 2008, is the biggest source of money earning for BCCI. Keeping aside BCCI, the neighbouring cricketing nations have their cricket board more powerful than the other boards. But is this a fault of Cricket?
"Athletes" ignites the fire of "Cricket versus Sport" League
India won its second T20I World Cup after ending its 11 years of drought. The fans who were frustrated for a decade finally got one thing to celebrate. The Marine Drive got flooded with people. The Wankahde Stadium showed all its suppresed love to the team.
The Indian team received a grand welcome at the Mumbai's Marine Drive that was followed by a felicitation ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium. AP
But this has triggered athletes from different sports. Names like Chirag Shetty and Saina Nehwal came into the limelight criticizing the sport. When Shetty wanted equal recognition for India's win in the last Uber Cup, Saina went a step ahead. Her view was simple- people wouldn't even hate cricket even if she did so. But, why would someone hate cricket?
This is not a once or twice-told story. This widespread competition with cricket is not new. But is cricket a foe to other sports? Here are a few stories of "influence" and "idolization" in the recent past, not only from India but from neighbors too.
Sri Lanka Cricket funded CWG participating athletes.
Palitha Bandara recorded a distance of 44.20 meters and won the silver medal for Sri Lanka. Photo collected
The pre-2022 Commonwealth Games has seen an economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Not just economic, but the life on the island was distressed. The then Prime Minister Rajadhakshya fled from the country. Sri Lanka since its independence faced their record crisis.
The country fell short of food and fuel. The pandemic had already hit the Sports authorities. The crisis increased the hardships. They ran out of money. The situation was so pathetic that the boards couldn't manage transport to send the accessories to the athletes
At a point, the country thought of withdrawing its name from the Birmingham CWG. But at that very moment, Sri Lanka Cricket stepped in.
The board contributed 22 million Sri Lankan Rupees to the athletes participating. They hosted Australia and gathered the amount, despite the fears of the crowd ruining it.
Cricket Sri Lanka tried to cover all the funds. However, the athletes still had limited athleisure. CWG authorities too came in help for the athletes. Sri Lanka finished the CWG Campaign with four medals (one silver and three bronze).
Pakistan Cricket Board- the unsung sponsor for Arshad Nadeem
Arshad Nadeem Won the gold medal for Pakistan, at Paris Olympics. Photo coutesy: Olympics
The Paris Olympics Gold medallist Arshad Nadeem was initially an age-group cricket player, His focus later shifted to javelin through which Pakistan got its first medal after 1992.
Arshad Nadeem registered a monstrous throw of 92.97 metres sealing the gold for his country. Earlier he won the silver at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Budapest, with a throw of 87.82 meters. He gave Pakistan’s first-ever medal at the World Athletics Championships.
But what did Pakistan give him? ignorance! The Commonwealth champion earlier expressed that he has been using a javelin for the last 8 years. His bosom friend and admirer Neeraj Chopra from India tweeted, urging the Pakistan Government to buy Nadeem news javelins.
Nadeem hails from Punjab's Miyan Channu village. Struggling themselves, the villagers funded him for his Olympic campaign. Added, that it was the Pakistan Cricket Bard who sponsored him.
PCB also financed Nadeem and his coach Salman Fayyaz Butt's air tickets.
Earlier BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced financial aid for the Olympians.BCCI granted Rs. 8.5 Crores (approximately $1.03 million) to the Indian Olympic Association for their Olympics campaign.
Recently a new NCA (National Cricket Academy) is near completion. The old existing facilities at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in the city center will be upgraded to a multi-sport training facility.
Apart from the cricketers, it will open doors for the Olympians too. NCA will have new facilities that will let them train there.
The new facilities will have World-Class Playing Grounds will have:
45 Practice Pitches: A variety of pitches to cater to different training needs.
Indoor Cricket Facilities: For year-round practice and skill development.
Olympic-Sized Swimming Pool: To aid in recovery and cross-training for athletes.
State-of-the-Art Training and Recovery Facilities: Equipped with the latest sports science technology to help athletes maintain peak physical condition and recover efficiently from injuries.
Cricketer- "athlete" collaboration
When one section came forward criticizing the fame, the other one took it handy to make their own.
Mahi's influence
Speaking about Swapnil Kusale, he himself mentioned that he doesn't follow any other sport apart from shooting. But he follows Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Kusale, who is an Indian Railways employee is a ticket checker like Dhoni. It took him 12 years to feature in the Olympics. And take India's first ever 10m Rifle position 3 medal. The Asian Games Champion accepted that MS's calm personality helps him to stay calm in chaos.
One of the biggest heartbreak for any badminton fan was Lakshya Sen's exit from the Olympics without a medal. The Chinese Lee Zii Jia shattered Sen's bronze medal dream.
But Sen's popularity is still unmatched in the sports arena. Even though he is "big," he still wants to "be the Virat Kohli of Indian badminton in coming years." In "The Ranveer Show" podcast he expressed his admiration for Kohli.
The other name that comes in the list is Nitesh Kumar. The Olympic Champion in the Men's Singles SL3 category is a Kohli fan. His winning celebration had some glimpses of Kohli's aggression.
But Nitesh's love for Kohli is not limited to celebrations. After succumbing to a deadly injury in Vizag, he started upgrading his badminton skills. Not only that, he delved himself into fitness, inspired by the 2013 version of Kohli.
P.R Sreejesh celebrated in his unique style after winning the bronze medal at paris. (Reuters Photo)
Soon after retirement, Indian Men's Hockey team goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh was assigned to train the junior hockey team. The two-time Olympic Bronze medallist was delighted to get this role. he not only talked about the future prospects but did mentioned about Rahul Dravid.
"The Wall" of Indian Hockey looked upon "The Wall" of Indian Cricket when it came to coaching. The way Dravid devoted himself to training the cricketing juniors, Seejesh is looking forward to doing the same for his sports.
The 2028 Olympics will feature Cricket after 128 years. The brand value of Virat Kohli played a pivotal role in the addition of cricket. But as Sunil Chhetri, the Indian former captain of Indian Football once said, Cricket excelling is great for that country. Then, how does that justify other sports not getting the "love" cricket gets?
How does that justify Chirag Shetty repeatedly slipping down on the court, in the Olympics quarterfinal, having his partner Sattwikraj Rankireddy as the lone warrior?
How does that justify the associations not getting enough funds and definitely investing to find talent?
How does that justify archers failing to read the wind in bigger stages?
It's an open-ended question. Is it cricket the enemy, or the system? Is cricket actually an enemy or a friend in need?
China Open 2024: Malvika Bansod enters Super 1000 quarterfinals for the first time by defeating top seed Kirsty Gilmour
The 23-year-old badminton player achieved this victory a day after defeating the Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia. However, Malvika Bansod is the only Indian shuttler left in the competition.
Indian badminton player Malvika Bansod continued her brilliant form and entered the Super 1000 quarter-finals for the first time by winning a tough match against her higher ranked opponent Kirsty Gilmour at the China Open 2024 in Changzhou on Thursday.
Malvika Bansod, BWFranking 43rd, toiled hard for one hour and five minutes before defeating two-time Commonwealth Games medalist and world number 25 Gilmour of Scotland 21-17 19-21 21-16 in the women's singles round-of-16 match.
Earlier defeated Paris Olympics bronze medalist
The 23-year-old player achieved this victory a day after defeating the Paris Olympics 2024 bronze medalist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
However, Malvika Bansod, the only Indian shuttler left in the competition, faces a tough challenge as she will face fourth seed and two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the last eight stage.
Although the Japanese shuttler has won both the matches against Malvika, the Indian shuttler came close to defeating Yamaguchi and she is hopeful that she will be able to register victory this time.
Malvika's sensational performance in pre-quarterfinals
In the opening game against Gilmour, Malvika was down 11-5 at the break. The Indian shuttler brought down the deficit to two points at 16-14 and then won seven of the next eight points to go one game up in the contest. Gilmour, drew on her experience to mount a comeback and close a tight second game.
Malvika surged to an eight-point lead at 10-2 in the decider. She later extended her advantage to 20-11. Gilmour fought back with five consecutive points to make it 20-16 but the late fightback proved too little for Malvika, who comfortably sealed her spot in the quarter-finals.
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