list of Summer Olympic athletes

When sports fans look back and remember the Olympics of years gone by, it is not only their favorite sports that they remember but also the dynamic, talented, and inspiring athletes that made the Games worth watching. Below are select past and future Summer Olympic Games competitors and the countries for which they fought for Olympic glory. Whose stunning displays of athletic prowess do you remember?

Baseball/Softball

Softball has been an official Olympic event since the 1996 Atlanta Games, while baseball was played at the Olympics from 1992 until 2008. At the 2020 Tokyo Games (delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), the two were combined to become one sport with two separate events—women’s softball and men’s baseball.

• Lisa Fernandez (U.S.)
• Shohei Ohtani (Japan)
• Dot Richardson (U.S.)

Boxing

Boxing first appeared as a formal Olympic event in 688 bce. In the modern Olympics boxing debuted for men at the St. Louis 1904 Games and for women at the London Games in 2012. There was no boxing event at the 1912 Games in Stockholm, as the sport was then illegal in Sweden.

• Sugar Ray Leonard (U.S.)
• László Papp (Hungary)
• Felix Savón (Cuba)
• Leon Spinks (U.S.)
• Michael Spinks (U.S.)
• Teófilo Stevenson (Cuba)

Badminton

Badminton first appeared in the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Munich Games and as an exhibition sport at the 1988 Games in Seoul. At the Barcelona 1992 Games it became a full-medal Olympic sport, with men and women competing in singles and doubles events. Mixed doubles was introduced at the Atlanta 1996 Games.

• Saina Nehwal (India)
• P.V. Sindhu (India)

Basketball

Men’s basketball was introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1904 Games and then became an official event in 1936 at the Berlin Games. Women’s basketball debuted at the Montreal Games in 1976. The sport was played by amateurs until the 1992 Barcelona Games, which were the first Olympics to allow NBA players to participate. The 2020 Tokyo Games were the first to feature 3x3 basketball.

• 1992 “Dream Team” (U.S.)
• Anne Donovan (U.S.)
• Teresa Edwards (U.S.)
• Jimmer Fredette (U.S.)
• Brittney Griner (U.S.)
• Spencer Haywood (U.S.)
• Jerry Lucas (U.S.)
• Cheryl Miller (U.S.)
• Yao Ming (China)
• Bill Russell (U.S.)
• Azurá Stevens (U.S.)
• Diana Taurasi (U.S.)

Canoeing

There are two types of canoeing competitions at the Olympic Games: canoe slalom—where athletes paddle through a whitewater course—and canoe sprint—where athletes race on a flatwater course. Canoe sprint is the older of the two competitions, having become an Olympic event in 1936. Each discipline has events employing either canoes or kayaks.

• Lisa Carrington (New Zealand)
• Jessica Fox (Australia)

Cycling

Cycling in some form has been a part of the Olympics since the Athens Games in 1896. There are four different cycling disciplines—road, track, mountain bike, and BMX (bicycle motocross). Road-cycling races, the most widely known, have been held in every Games except 1900, 1904, and 1908, while track races were excluded only once, in 1912. Mountain-bike cycling was first featured in 1996, with two cross-country races, one for men and one for women. BMX cycling (racing only, no tricks) is the newest discipline, having debuted at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

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• Chris Froome (Great Britain)
• Christopher Hoy (Great Britain)
• Clara Hughes (Canada)
• Christa Luding-Rothenburger (East Germany)
• Anna Meares (Australia)
• Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain)

Diving

Diving became a part of the swimming program of the Olympic Games in 1904 and developed rapidly through the first half of the 20th century. Synchronized diving, a competition in which two divers simultaneously perform a dive, became part of the Olympic program at the Sydney 2000 Games. The diving boards at the Olympics come in two forms—springboard (flexible) and platform (rigid).

• Phil Boggs (U.S.)
• Georgia Coleman (U.S.)
• Klaus Dibiasi (Italy)
• Victoria Draves (U.S.)
• Quan Hongchan (China)
• Guo Jingjing (China)
• Greg Louganis (U.S.)
• Pat McCormick (U.S.)
• Fu Mingxia (China)
• Wu Minxia (China)
• Aileen Riggin (U.S.)
• Shi Tingmao (China)

Fencing

Fencing for men has been part of the Olympic Games since their revival in 1896. Individual competition for women was first included in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, and a team event was introduced at the 1960 Games in Rome. Today both men and women compete in individual and team competition in three events: foil (a sword with a light, flexible blade of rectangular cross section tapering to a blunt point), sabre (heavy military sword with a long cutting edge and, often, a curved blade), and épée (blunted sword).

• Christian d’Oriola (France)
• Ilona Elek (Hungary)
• Lucien Gaudin (France)
• Aladár Gerevich (Hungary)
• Edoardo Mangiarotti (Italy)
• Helene Mayer (Germany)
• Aldo Nadi (Italy)
• Nedo Nadi (Italy)
• Peter Westbrook (U.S.)
• Cornel Wilde (U.S.)
• James Wolfensohn (Australia)

Football (soccer)

Football is the world’s most popular ball game, both in numbers of participants and spectators, and it has been played by men’s teams at every Summer Olympic Games since 1900 with the exception of the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. Women’s competition debuted in 1996 at the Atlanta Games.

• Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
• Julie Foudy (U.S.)
• Sam Kerr (Australia)
• Mia Hamm (U.S.)
• Carli Lloyd (U.S.)
• Marta (Brazil)
• Lionel Messi (Argentina)
• Alex Morgan (U.S.)
• Neymar (Brazil)
• Birgit Prinz (Germany)
• Megan Rapinoe (U.S.)
• Abby Wambach (U.S.)
• Iván Zamorano (Chile)

Golf

Golf was included in the Paris 1900 Olympic Games and the St. Louis 1904 Games. It was then discontinued as an Olympic sport for more than a century, returning in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games as a 72-hole event for men and women.

• Margaret Abbott (U.S.)
• Park In-Bee (South Korea)
• Rory McIlroy (Great Britain)
• Bubba Watson (U.S.)

Gymnastics

The 1896 Olympic Games marked the advent of international open competition in artistic gymnastics. Women first competed in the Amsterdam 1928 Olympics. The women’s program consists of six events (individual all-around, floor exercise, vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and team competition), while the men’s has seven (individual all-around, floor exercise, vault, horizontal bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, rings, and team competition). Rhythmic gymnastics competition was added for women at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and trampoline gymnastics were introduced for both sexes in 2000.

• Nikolay Andrianov (U.S.S.R.)
• Simone Biles (U.S.)
• Věra Čáslavská (Czechoslovakia)
• Victor Chukarin (U.S.S.R.)
• Nadia Comăneci (Romania)
• Bart Conner (U.S.)
• Gabby Douglas (U.S.)
• Shilese Jones (U.S.)
• Larisa Latynina (U.S.S.R.)
• Suni Lee (U.S.)
• Nastia Liukin (U.S.)
• Shannon Miller (U.S.)
• Mary Lou Retton (U.S.)
• Katō Sawao (Japan)
• Boris Anfiyanovich Shakhlin (U.S.S.R.)
• Vitaly Scherbo (Belarus)
• Kōhei Uchimura (Japan)

Rowing

Rowing events in the Olympic Games have been held for men since 1900 and for women since 1976. Rowers compete in teams of two, four, or eight over a 2,000-meter (6,560-foot) straight course on still water, with each crew or sculler racing in a separate, buoy-marked lane.

• Jack Beresford (Great Britain)
• Steven Redgrave (Great Britain)
• Emma Twigg (New Zealand)

Shooting

Shooting competitions have appeared at all but two (1904 and 1928) of the Olympic Games since 1896 and are divided into three groups of instruments—pistol, rifle, and shotgun—in six disciplines with stationary and moving targets.

• Abhinav Bindra (India)
• Malcolm Cooper (Great Britain)
• Károly Takács (Hungary)
• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (India)

Skateboarding

With its roots in youth subculture, skateboarding became internationally mainstream at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Competitors demonstrate their skills in two disciplines—park (bowls and bends) and street (urban surfaces and obstacles).

• Rayssa Leal (Brazil)

Sport climbing

Sport climbing became an Olympic event at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. The sport involves three disciplines—bouldering, speed, and lead. At the Paris 2024 Games bouldering and lead will be combined into one competition, and a speed event will be held separately.

• Natalia Grossman (U.S.)
• Piper Kelly (U.S.)

Surfing

Surfing entered Olympic competition for both men and women at the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo.

• Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia)
• Carissa Moore (U.S.)

Swimming

Competitive swimming events have been part of the modern Olympics since the first Games in 1896. Initially, only men were allowed to participate, but women’s events were added in 1912. Athletes compete either individually or in a relay using one or a medley combination of four strokes—backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, or freestyle.

• Nathan Adrian (U.S.)
• Shirley Babashoff (U.S.)
• Ethelda Bleibtrey (U.S.)
• Inge de Bruijn (Netherlands)
• Tracy Caulkins (U.S.)
• Buster Crabbe (U.S.)
• Charles Daniels (U.S.)
• Victor Davis (Canada)
• Caeleb Dressel (U.S.)
• Krisztina Egerszegi (Hungary)
• Gertrude Ederle (U.S.)
• Kornelia Ender (East Germany)
• Janet Evans (U.S.)
• Missy Franklin (U.S.)
• Dawn Fraser (Australia)
• Shane Gould (Australia)
• Zoltán Halmay (Hungary)
• George Hodgson (Canada)
• Duke Kahanamoku (U.S.)
• Yana Klochkova (Ukraine)
• Katie Ledecky (U.S.)
• Ryan Lochte (U.S.)
• Emma McKeon (Australia)
• Debbie Meyer (U.S.)
• John Naber (U.S.)
• Kristin Otto (East Germany)
• Sophie Pascoe (New Zealand)
• Michael Phelps (U.S.)
• Murray Rose (Australia)
• Ye Shiwen (China)
• Mark Spitz (U.S.)
• Ian Thorpe (Australia)
• Ariarne Titmus (Australia)
• Natalie du Toit (South Africa)
• Libby Trickett (Australia)
• Johnny Weissmuller (U.S.)

Tennis

Tennis was played at the Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1924, after which it was withdrawn from the program until the Seoul Games in 1988. Professionals and amateurs of both sexes compete in singles and doubles competitions and combine for mixed doubles, an event that was added at the London Games in 2012.

• Andre Agassi (U.S.)
• Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
• Boris Becker (Germany)
• Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
• Coco Gauff (U.S.)
• Kitty Godfree (Great Britain)
• Steffi Graf (West Germany, Germany)
• Roger Federer (Switzerland)
• Suzanne Lenglen (France)
• Andy Murray (Great Britain)
• Rafael Nadal (Spain)
• Naomi Osaka (Japan)
• Leander Paes (India)
• Serena Williams (U.S.)
• Venus Williams (U.S.)
• Helen Wills (U.S.)

Track and field

Commonly known as track and field, athletics features a variety of competitions in running (road, trail, and mountain running, marathon, sprints, and hurdles), walking (race walks), jumping (high, long, and triple jumps, and the pole vault), and throwing (shot put, discus, hammer, and javelin throws) events. The heptathlon and decathlon competitions combine many of these individual events—7 for heptathlon and 10 for decathlon.

• Valerie Adams (New Zealand)
• Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)
• Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia)
• Su Bingtian (China)
• András Balczó (Hungary)
• Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands)
• Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
• Neeraj Chopra (India)
• Alice Coachman (U.S.)
• Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia)
• Mo Farah (Great Britain)
• Allyson Felix (U.S.)
• Dick Fosbury (U.S.)
• Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica)
• Cathy Freeman (Australia)
• Florence Griffith Joyner (U.S.)
• Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia)
• Michael Johnson (U.S.)
• Caitlyn Jenner (U.S.)
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee (U.S.)
• Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)
• Carl Lewis (U.S.)
• Gong Lijiao (China)
• Bob Mathias (U.S.)
• Edwin Moses (U.S.)
• Arshad Nadeem (Pakistan)
• Paavo Nurmi (Finland)
• Nicola Olyslagers (née McDermott) (Australia)
• Jesse Owens (U.S.)
• Sally Pearson (Australia)
• Dorando Pietri (Italy)
• Steve Prefontaine (U.S.)
• Irina Press (U.S.S.R.)
• Tamara Press (U.S.S.R.)
• Sha’Carri Richardson (U.S.)
• Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)
• Wilma Rudolph (U.S.)
• Liu Shiying (China)
• Tommie Smith (U.S.)
• Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (Australia)
• Irena Szewińska (U.S.S.R.)

Volleyball

Volleyball became an Olympic sport for both men and women at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games. Beach volleyball was added at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

• Kerri Walsh Jennings (U.S.)
• Karch Kiraly (U.S.)
• Misty May-Treanor (U.S.)

Weightlifting

The Olympic Games from 1896 to 1904 included weightlifting, but thereafter these events were suspended until 1920. In that year, at the suggestion of the International Olympic Committee, the International Weightlifting Federation (Fédération Haltérophile Internationale; FHI) was formed to regularize events and supervise international competition. Since the 1976 Montreal Games the event has comprised two lifts of a bar from the floor to above the athlete’s head—the snatch (one movement) and the clean and jerk (two movements). A weightlifting competition for women was added in 2000 at the Sydney Olympic Games.

• Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev (U.S.S.R.)
• Tommy Kono (U.S.)
• Naim Suleymanoglu (Turkey)
• Charles Vinci (U.S.)
• Arkady Vorobyev (U.S.S.R.)
• Miyake Yoshinobu (Japan)
• Leonid Ivanovich Zhabotinsky (U.S.S.R.)

Wrestling

No sport is older than wrestling. Wrestling events were part of the ancient Olympic Games, and wrestling competitions have been a part of every modern Summer Olympic Game since 1896, except for 1900 and 1904. There are two variations of wrestling at the Olympics: freestyle and Greco-Roman.

• Bruce Baumgartner (U.S.)
• Dan Gable (U.S.)
• Aleksandr Karelin (U.S.S.R.)
• Mijaín López (Cuba)
• Aleksandr Medved (U.S.S.R.)