Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe won the most gold medals of any Australian athlete, and was the youngest to win a world championship. He went on to win 10 more.

• Swimmer, Athlete
  (1982–)

Dana Vollmer is a swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist. She set the world record for the 100-meter butterfly at the London Olympics in 2012, and won three gold medals there.

• Athlete, Swimmer
  (1987–)

American swimmer Mark Spitz set a world record at the 1972 Olympic Games, when he won seven gold medals across individual and team events.

• Athlete, Swimmer
  (1950–)

Simone Manuel became the first African-American swimmer to win an individual Olympic gold medal with her record-setting performance at the 2016 Rio Games.

• Swimmer
  (1996–)

South Korean swimming champion Park Tae-Hwan became the first Korean to win a medal in swimming, as well as the first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

• Athlete, Swimmer
  (1989–)

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics.

• Track and Field Athlete
  (1940–1994)

Gymnast Olga Korbut represented the U.S.S.R. in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, winning several gold and silver medals for the Soviet team.

• Athlete, Gymnast
  (1955–)

Sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the first Jamaican woman to win the 100-meter Olympic gold medal in 2008. She won her second straight 100-meter Olympic gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

• Track and Field Athlete
  (1986–)