Michael Phelps has won more Olympic medals than any athlete in history, with 28 total.

American swimmer Michael Phelps competed in five Olympic Games between 2004 and 2016, amassing 28 medals overall, 23 of them gold. Both totals are records that stand well clear of any other Olympian in any sport, in any era; the next closest athletes in total medal count trail him by more than a dozen medals.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics alone, Phelps won eight gold medals in a single Games, another record, breaking the previous mark of seven set by fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz in 1972. Phelps’s combination of longevity, dominance across multiple stroke disciplines, and sheer medal volume has led many sports historians to consider him the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, a record that, given how it was built, may be difficult for future athletes to challenge.