How many swimmers have competed in 5 or 6 Olympics? And how many are qualified for their 5th or 6th Olympics in Tokyo?
Competing in 5 Olympics is a feat for recent swimmers. In fact, no swimmers competed in more than 4 Olympic Games until 2004. That is when Brazilian Rogerio Romero, Dane Mette Jacobsen, and Britain’s Alison Sheppard made their 5th Olympic appearances.
Since then, 16 swimmers have appeared in 5 Olympics, including legends like Americans Michael Phelps and Dara Torres, Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry, Brit Mark Foster, and Greek Spyros Gianniotis.
Three swimmers have gone beyond, as they have competed in 6 Olympics: Turkish Derya Buyukuncu, and Swedes Lars Frölander and Therese Alshammar.
In fact, Alshammar hoped to become the first swimmer to ever race in 7 Olympic Games this year, but she did not manage to qualify.
Alshammar could not make it, but there is a plenty of swimmers who will be competing at their 5th or 6th Olympics in Tokyo. Instagram’s Swimming Stats page has published the list of these 11 swimmers.
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Tunisian Oussama Mellouli is one of those who have raced in 5 Olympics. Recently, he qualified for the 10 km open water race, and he will become only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to compete in 6 Olympics.
Argentinian Cecilia Biagioli is also qualified for the 10 km in Tokyo and she will race her 5th Olympic Games. Had she competed in Rio, in 2016, she also would be going to her 6th Olympics.
There are some swimmers who have won Olympic medals on this list: Mellouli, Hungarian Katinka Hosszu and Laszlo Cseh, Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, and Italian Federica Pellegrini.
Curiously, only Pellegrini has qualified to swim the same event for the 5th time, the women’s 200 freestyle and 4×100 medley relay.
Pellegrini and Cseh are the only swimmers who won medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens who will be competing this year. If they win medals in Tokyo, they will have won Olympic medals 17 years apart, which will place them only behind American Dara Torres, who won medals in 1984 and 2008 – 24 years apart. Will they be able to accomplish this amazing feat?
Laszlo Cseh won an individual Olympic medal in every one of his four Olympics.
I think he would top even Phelps if he won an individual medal in his 5th Olympics.
Pellegrini has been in 4 straight finals of the 200 free.
She’ll be like Phelps if she can make it 5 straight in Tokyo.
Open water swimming opens up opportunities for older swimmers…
I’m not sure I’d use the word “legend” to describe Dara Torres — at least not in the same sentence with Phelps. I respect her accomplishments over a wide span of years, but c’mon she never won an individual Olympic Gold.
Eh, fair but a silver medal in your 40s is pretty legendary
I’m not sure I’d accept the only criteria for legendary as “having won as many Olympic medals as Michael Phelps.”
Even if we’re banking only on superlatives, there are a lot of other superlatives in the sport besides “most Olympic medals,” and Phelps doesn’t hold them all.
As Penguin pointed out, she won a silver medal in her 40s – 10 years older than when Phelps won his last medal. Surely you wouldn’t say Phelps isn’t legendary because he didn’t win a medal in his 40s, right? So I don’t know why you’d apply the standard in reverse.
@Braden Keith
Speaking of people’s ages:
Happy 36th Birthday today to Michael Phelps!
(June 30)
Dara also (retired) took off 2 non consecutive Olympics, 1996 and 2004 I believe…could have made 7 teams theoretically.
Was also very close (4th) in 2012
On top of that, trying to get a winning streak is even crazier.
Cseh and Hosszu as Hungary’s best male and female swimmer ever stacks up well with ALMOST any other country’s top all time pair.
Egerszegi > Hosszu.
Yes. Egerszegi is a forgotten GOAT talent. I don’t understand it. She had an almost Mary T/Evan’s level WR but backed it up with longevity.
And while I’m at it Darnyi > Cseh.
Kristof Milak
Poor Laslo, such a great swimmer and had to deal with Lochte and Phelps in his prime.
Dude still has, what, the 3rd fastest 200 and 400 IMs of all time? And I’m guessing top 5 in the 200 fly? What a career!
Scratch that on the 4IM, I think Kalisz, Hagino, and Seto have all been just slightly faster now – literally only a tenth or two each.
cseh got the funniest looking butterfly and he still can swim 1:52
What are they eating in Hungary?
the a
Goulash with lots of paprika.
your mom