The Incredible Feat of an Olympic Repeat – Part I

Courtesy: Corey He

The Olympics, the pinnacle event of many sports around the world, comes around once every four years. Its rarity in the sense that an athlete’s “prime” only lasts two or three Olympiads makes repeating as Olympic champion one of the most challenging feats in all of sports.

And we know how quickly the sports world can change. Injuries can pile up. Life and family-related events can put a sporting career on hold. And, most recently, we’ve seen how a pandemic can stretch an Olympiad by an entire year. It’s an excruciating wait — an unpredictable length of time during which one must remain in peak physical condition throughout if the goal is Olympic glory.

These reasons are just a small glimpse into the challenging nature of winning back-to-back gold medals at the Olympics. And yet, several legends of the sport have accomplished such a feat, etching their names into the history books. We’ll take a look at some of these incredible athletes and their unique legacies.

Alexander Popov (Russia)

Widely regarded as one of the greatest — if not, the greatest — sprinters of all time, Popov swept the sprint freestyle events at the Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Olympics, becoming the only swimmer to date to defend Olympic titles in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.

Popov was also known for his unique technique, one that was incredibly elegant and efficient. He set the world record in the 50 freestyle in 1996 at 21.64 — a record that would stand for eight years — while taking just 31 strokes. His world record in the 100 freestyle (48.21) would also stand for six years.

In addition to his clean sweeps of the sprint events at these two Olympics, Popov would also sweep both the 50 and 100 sprints at the Rome 1994 and Barcelona 2003 World Championships. In particular, his performance at the 2003 Worlds at 31 years of age was uniquely special to him, as it was the host city of the 1992 Olympics — where it all began for him 11 years prior.

Pieter van den Hoogenband (Netherlands)

Our next swimmer actually mentioned Popov as one of his role models growing up. van den Hoogenband, the only swimmer to win the 100-200 meter freestyle double at a single Olympics, first broke onto the scene as an 18-year-old at the 1996 Atlanta Games, finishing just off the podium in 4th in both events.

Four years later in Sydney, he etched his name into the history books. In the semifinals of the 100 freestyle in Sydney, van den Hoogenband would become the first swimmer to break the 48-second barrier, touching in 47.84. In the finals, he would defeat his childhood idol, Popov, 48.30 to 48.69.

After a series of silver-medal performances at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships, van den Hoogenband arrived in Athens to defend his Olympic title. In the finals of the 100 freestyle, he would pull off an incredible come-from-behind win, showcasing remarkable closing speed to take gold in 48.17 — a victory by just six one-hundredths of a second.

In addition, van den Hoogenband also held the fastest relay split in the 400-meter freestyle relay (46.70) for over a decade. He would also contribute to the Dutch silver-medal performance in Athens, anchoring the relay in 46.79. At the 2008 Olympics, he also became the first swimmer to make the Olympic final in the same event — the 100 freestyle — at four consecutive Olympiads.

Rebecca Soni (United States)

As a six-time NCAA champion in the breaststroke events, Soni’s Olympic breakthrough came at the 2008 Olympics. After a silver-medal performance in the 100 breaststroke, she would upset the world record holder, Leisel Jones of Australia, to win Olympic gold in the 200 breast, breaking Jones’ world record in the process.

At the 2009 World Championships, Soni became the first woman to break the 1:05 barrier in the 100 breaststroke. She would go on to sweep the 100 and 200 breaststroke events at the 2011 Worlds, putting her in position to defend her Olympic title.

After throwing down a 2:20.00 in the semifinals of the 200 breaststroke at the London 2012 Olympics, Soni would etch her name into the history books, swimming her way to a world record time of 2:19.59 in the Olympic final. In doing so, she not only became the first woman to break the 2:20 barrier, but also the first woman to defend an Olympic title in this event.

Kosuke Kitajima (Japan)

Our next breaststroker on this list won back-to-back gold medals in BOTH the 100 and 200 breaststroke events at BOTH the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics, asserting his name as one of the all-time breaststroke greats.

A bit of controversy followed his name, though, as some swimming fans felt that Kitajima was taking advantage of an illegal dolphin kick on his pullouts. This didn’t stop him, however, from becoming the first man under 59 seconds in the 100 breaststroke — and the first under 2:08 in the 200 breaststroke.

Throughout the 2000s, his main rivals included Brenton Rickard (Australia) and Brendan Hansen (U.S.), though it was Kitajima who stole the moment at the Olympics. A mainstay of Japan’s relays, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest breaststrokers of all time.

Natalie Coughlin (United States)

One of the most dominant and successful swimmers of all time, Coughlin would earn 12 NCAA titles, 12 Olympic medals, and 28 World Championships medals across her illustrious career.

In 2001, just days before her 20th birthday, Coughlin became the first woman to break the 1:00 barrier in the 100 backstroke. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, she would set an Olympic record in the semifinals of the same event and go on to win the gold medal — just one of five Olympic medals she would earn in Athens.

After earning a total of 10 medals across the sprint and relay events at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, Coughlin would become the first woman to go under 59 seconds in the 100 backstroke, swimming her way to a 58.97 world record at the Olympic Trials. At the Olympics, she would hold off stiff competition, resetting her American Record in 58.96 en route to Olympic gold (Kirsty Coventry reset the world record at 58.77 in the semis), becoming the first woman to defend an Olympic title in the 100 backstroke.

Coughlin would go on to win six Olympic medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — the first American woman to accomplish such a feat. She currently sits in a tie with swimmers Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for the most Olympic medals won by a U.S. female athlete, with twelve.

Adam Peaty (Great Britain)

Peaty burst onto the international stage as early as 2014, and by 2015, he had become the first person in history to break the 58-second barrier in the 100 breaststroke. With the Rio Olympics coming up the following year, he only upped his game, winning Olympic gold in world-record time and becoming the first swimmer to break 57 seconds in a 100 breaststroke relay split.

The next few years saw Peaty utterly dominate the 50 and 100 breaststroke events, even lowering his world records to 25.95 (in 2017) and 56.88 (in 2019) and collecting multiple World titles. He was ready to defend his Olympic title.

And then the pandemic happened. But that didn’t stop Peaty, who became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title at the Tokyo Olympics.

As he places his bid for a potential three-peat at the upcoming Paris Olympics, Peaty has found a newfound appreciation and peace for swimming. After a brief break from the sport and a mental health struggle that he has shared, Peaty has shown us not only the sacrifice it takes to stay atop the world’s best, but also the crucial life balance that a world-class athlete must find.

Grant Hackett (Australia)

Hackett is widely regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history. Undefeated in the 1500 freestyle for over a decade in major competition, he also formerly held world records in the 200, 800, and 1500 distances — a testament to his dominance and versatility.

Entering the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Hackett was an odds-on favorite to win the 1500m freestyle and medal in the 200 and 400 distances. However, after coming down with a virus, he was severely limited, failing to medal in either the 200 and 400 freestyle events. While many began to write him off in favor of compatriot Kieren Perkins, Hackett was not to be denied, earning his first Olympic gold medal and defeating Perkins by five seconds.

The following year, Hackett would obliterate Perkins’ world record by seven seconds at the 2001 World Championships, swimming his way to a 14:34.56 — a world record that would stand for over a decade. He followed this up with world titles in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the 2003 Worlds.

Despite a partially collapsed lung at the 2004 Olympics that severely limited his physical conditioning and fitness, Hackett once again showcased his grit and determination on the world’s biggest stage, staving off challenges from American Larsen Jensen and Brit David Davies to defend his 1500 Olympic title.

Following his Olympic title defense, Hackett would go on to break the world record in the 800 freestyle, defend his world title in the 1500 freestyle for a record-breaking fourth time, and capture another silver medal in the 1500 at the 2008 Olympics.

Final Thoughts

Winning Olympic gold is perhaps one of the most difficult things any athlete can achieve. Repeating as an Olympic gold medalist — well, that’s probably in a whole entire league of its own.

As some of you may have noticed, I left quite a few names off of this list…but I’ll cover the journeys of more athletes in a future article. In addition, there are also a couple of notable three-peats and four-peats that I didn’t get to as well — and so, I’ll add a Part 2 (and possibly even a Part 3) to this article. In the meantime, let me know which athletes you’d like me to cover next.

ABOUT COREY HE

Corey is a current junior at the University of Pennsylvania, studying biology and healthcare management on a pre-medicine track. Originally from New Jersey, he first jumped into the water when he was 4 years old and swam competitively all the way through high school. Prior to college, he swam for Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA. He hopes to pursue a career in sports medicine.