Aladar Gerevich
He’s been called the greatest swordsman ever, and it isn’t like we’re going to argue. Aladar Gerevich hails from Hungary and competed in fencing, and he won gold medals in the six-straight Olympics – which is even more amazing when you think about the era. During the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, he won the gold as part of the Sabre team and took gold in 1936 for his individual Sabre work. No Olympics were held in 1940 or 1944, but Gerevich was back to his old tricks in 1948, winning gold in the individual and team Sabre competitions.
1952 netted him gold for the team and silver for individuals. He also picked up gold in the team in 1956, and then in 1960, the Hungarian Olympic committee told him he was too old. Risky. Gerevich defeated the entire Sabre team to prove he still had the spark and helped them win team gold.
Daley Thompson
From Great Britain, Daley Thompson was a decathlete. The decathlon combines ten different track and field events (deca=ten). There are 100-meter sprints, long jumps, shot puts, javelin throws, hurdles, and long-distance runs as well. In both the 1980 and 1984 Olympic games, Daley Thompson won gold medals for this trial of a competition. This meant that he was the best all-around athlete at both of these worldwide competitions. No mean feat!
In 1988, he ended up finishing fourth, which is still a big accomplishment. There are a few footnotes to know about Thompson's amazing achievements, though: in 1980 the United States sat out, and in 1984 the Russian competitors sat out since both took place during the Cold War.
Bob Mathias
The Olympics have changed over time, with competitions coming and going, phenoms like Michael Phelps leaving indelible marks on the history of sports, and social issues coming into play. As the years have rolled on, competition has become stiffer, training more intense, and medals have been won on the smallest margins.
Bob Mathias, who competed in track and field for the United States, wasn't content with small margins. He won gold medals in both the 1948 and the 1952 Olympics, at the ages of eighteen and twenty-two respectively. For the 1952 decathlon, he won by 912 points, which, at the time, was the largest margin of victory ever achieved.
Ray Ewry
Ray Ewry won no less than eight gold medals in the Olympics between the years 1900 and 1908. This count includes all three standing long jump competitions, all three high jump competitions, and the standing triple jump competition for 1900 and 1904. During that time span he also won two gold medals from the Intercalated Games, which used to, but no longer, count towards official Olympic medals.
These facts on their own are pretty impressive, but there's more. Ray Ewry contracted polio as a child – a disease that usually relegates people to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives. And those are the lucky ones. Ray beat the odds, and also ended up beating his fellow athletes.
Edoardo Mangiarotti
Mangiarotti is the most successful fencer of all time since his trophy cabinet includes no less than thirteen Olympic medals. In 1936, 1952, 1956, and 1960 he helped Italy to a gold medal in the team epee competition and added to his total with an individual epee gold medal in 1952 and a team foil gold medal in 1956. A couple of silver medals came from team foil competitions in 1948, 1952, and 1960, as well as some individual competitions.
A pair of bronze medals round out the collection. His great success comes in part from his father, also a fencing champion, honing Edoardo into a left-hander, making him an awkward opponent.