Top 10 Swimmers of All Time

Swimming is not a very rich sports but it creates a lot of enthusiasm among the sports fans. I mean by swimming, a swimmer cannot earn millions of dollars like some other sports but when the time of Olympic comes millions of people get excited about the swimming results. Swimming has a lot of gold medals to offer in Olympic events.

Here, I have made a list of the top ten greatest swimmers of all time. Of course, this kind of list often creates controversy and my list may not satisfy many people as they will feel disappointed and even angry that their favorite player is not in this list. So, I apologize in advance for it. I have just made the list from my own research and you don’t have to agree with the list.

Mark Spitz

Spitz is the greatest swimmer in the history of swimming. With his 11 Olympic medals, he became the fourth highest medalist in the Olympic history and jointly the highest in Men’s Swimming. At the age of nine, this legendary swimmer started to practice swimming at Arden Hills Swim Club in California. By the ten, he came in to the focus while he held 17 national age-group and one world record. He attended his first Olympic Games in 1968 having been expected to win at least 6 gold medals as he was the holder of ten world records by then. The reality was different as he could win just two gold medals and a silver and bronze medal. It was then in 1972 Munich Olympic Games, where he made history winning 7 gold medals with new world records in each. None of the Olympians, till today, has same achievement in a single Olympic Games. He took retirement at the age of 22 surprisingly. In his post retirement age, he attended in some TV show including “The Tonight Show”, “The Sony and Cher Comedy Hour” and “The Dean Martin Show”. He is a member of International Swimming Hall of Fame.

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Matthew ("Matt") Nicholas Biondi

Biondi is another great swimmer in the swimming history winning 11 Olympic medals including 8 gold. Appearing in three Olympics Games, he could prove his skill and potential in swimming. His best Olympic performance was 1988 in Seoul where he bagged 7 medals including 5 gold. In that time this was the second example of winning 5 medals in an Olympic tournament just after Mark Spitz. He was awarded by the Swimming World Magazine as the Male Swimmer of the Year twice. He is also an inductee of international Swimming Hall of Fame.

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Johnny Weissmuller

Johnny_Weissmuller is another talented swimmer in the swimming history. This multi skilled legend is also very famous for playing the role of Tarzan in the movie titled ‘Tarzan’, one of the successful movies ever released in Hollywood. He acted in the 12 movies of Tarzan series and could create an individual place in the Hollywood. In his swimming career, he dominated the swimming world participating in the two Olympics Games and bagging 6 Olympic medals in which 5 were gold. He extended his feat in the water polo too and won the bronze medal with USA water polo team in 1924 Paris Olympic. His talent is rare in the world. His uniqueness was seen in Tarzan where he showed his famous Tarzan Yell. Besides Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller also acted in several movies and got fame in the Hollywood. For his artistic contribution in the Hollywood movies, he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After taking retirement from Swimming he became the founder chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

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Ian James Thorpe

Nicknamed ‘Thorpedo’ he is one of the most popular swimmers in the present world. Having participated in two Olympic Games, Thorpe bagged nine medals including five gold. This Australian is stepping down the way of being in the same row of the greatest swimmers. He has already been compared with the legends of middle-distance swimmers. Thorpe holds two world records in 200 m and 400 m Freestyle events. Besides Olympic, he also got many success in World Championship, Pan Pacific Championship and Commonwealth Games. He has been World Swimmer of the Year for four times.

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Michael Fred Phelps II

Phelps is another passionate American swimmer in the present world. He has showed his talent and skill to be accepted as a legend in the swimming history. He first appeared in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 at the age of 15, but he had to come back without any medal. However, in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, he proved his talent and let the world realize that another great is coming. He ended the competition with 8 medals including 6 gold. He became the youngest world record holder in 2000 at the age of 15 years and 9 months while he broke the world record in 200 m Butterfly. He holds 4 world records now. His best events are Freestyle and Individual Medley. Phelps dominates in other swimming competitions like World Championship, Pan pacific Championship etc.

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Jennifer ("Jenny") Elisabeth Thompson

Jenny Thompson is a great swimmer in the world swimming. Jenny could win 12 medals participating in four Olympics Games. Her number of Olympic gold medal is 8 which deserve her to be included in the list of one of the great Olympians. Though she could not meet with the expectations created after she won her first international gold medal in the Pan American Games at the age of 14, she could win 3 medals including 2 gold in her first appearance in the Olympic Games. In that competition she failed to qualify in the 50 m Freestyle and finished second in the 100 m Freestyle though she was the then world record holder of these two events. In spite of such failure to meet the expectations around her; she could continue winning medals in the following Olympic Games and in other international competitions. In 1999, she became the World Swimmer of the Year by the Swimming World Magazine.

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Krisztina Egerszegi

This Hungarian great Olympian was a famous swimmer from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s. Participating in three Olympics Games, she bagged 7 medals in which 5 were gold. This Backstroke queen still holds the world record for 200m Backstroke. She won 4 gold medals in Backstroke event in Olympic Games. At present she is an inductee of International Swimming Hall of Fame.

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Dawn Lorraine Fraser

This Australian great swimmer is mostly famous for her successes in the Freestyle event. She is the first women to finish swimming within one minute in the 100m events. In her three Olympic Games appearances, she could win 8 Olympic medals including 5 gold. She became the Australian of the Year in 1965 and got the award of Order of the British Empire in 1967. She was one of the Olympic Torch bearers at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. In her later life she became a politician.

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Shane Gould

Shane is another great Australian swimmer in the world swimming. It is still a mystery that in spite of having a great skill and potential, she retired at the age of 16. However, within her short appearance in the swimming pool, she could able to show her ability to be one of the greatest in the history of swimming. In her only Olympic games appearance in 1972 in Munich she won 5 medals including 3 gold. At that time she was just 15 years old. In that competition she became a part of the history of the women’s swimming winning the three Olympic gold medals with world record in each for the first time in women’s swimming. Her greatness in swimming was proved in the way of her winning all of the Freestyle events from 100m to 1500m with new world record in each. The number of award she got in her short career can be another world record (though I am not sure). She became the Best Sportswoman in the World in 1971 and Australian of the Year in 1972. Later, Order of the British Empire and Olympic Order adorned her award cage.

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Kristin Otto

Kristin is the famous swimmer in the swimming world. This German swimmer appeared in one Olympic Games in 1988 and she could prove the tale that great people does not need two chances to show their greatness. In that tournament she won 6 gold medals. Swimming World Magazine named her the Female World Swimmer of the Year for thrice.

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There are some other great swimmers in the history of Swimming. These swimmers also deserve to be in the same line with the swimmers included above. Some of such great swimmers are as follows:

Janet Elizabeth Evans, James Paul ("Jim") Montgomery, Iain Murray Rose, Jeffrey ("Jeff") Norman Rouse, Tracy Ann Caulkins, Ambrose ("Rowdy") Gaines IV, Janet Elizabeth Evans, Alfréd Hajós, Duke Kahanamoku, Danyon Joseph Loader, Fu Mingxia etc.