23 Gold Medals: Is Michael Phelps an Outlier?
By Charles Rettner, Live Science Contributor | August 15, 2016 07:25pm ET
23 Gold Medals: Is Michael Phelps an Outlier?
Michael Phelps has the most Olympic gold medals of any individual in the history of the games. Above, Phelps at the Fina World Aquatics Championships in 2009.
Credit: Mitch Gunn / Shutterstock.com
Since the start of the modern Olympic Games in 1896, about one person in 2 million has won an Olympic gold medal. Michael Phelps now has 23 of them — more than double the number of gold medals won by any other individual in the history of the games.