Top 10 athletes with the most silver medals in Olympics

These sportspersons have fallen just short of the coveted gold medal on several occassions.

It is the ultimate dream of every athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. However, some of them narrowly miss out on being at the top of the podium, thus earning silver medals at the Olympics. This doesn't make their achievements any less remarkable,

Let's take a look at the athletes who have won the most silver medals at the Olympics:

10. Anky van Grunsven - 5 (Netherlands)

Anky van Grunsven is a Dutch dressage champion and is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. She achieved the feat when she won the individual dressage events at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, 2004 Athens Olympics and 2008 Beijing Olympics.

She also has five silver medals in Olympics and a bronze medal to her name, taking her total tally to nine. Furthermore, nine dressage world titles confirm her place as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

9. Edoardo Mangiarotti - 5 (Italy)

At the tender age of 17, Edoardo Mangiarotti won a gold medal at his maiden Olympics appearance in 1936. He returned in the 1948 edition in London, winning two silvers and a bronze.

Mangiarotti improved his record by winning four medals (two golds, two silvers) at the 1952 Helsinki Games. In his later appearances in 1956 and 1960, Mangiarotti gathered three golds, a silver and a bronze. He finished his career as the most prolific fencer in Olympic history with 13 medals.

8. Dagmar Hase - 5 (Germany)

German swimmer Dagmar Hase won four medals at her maiden Olympics at the 1992 Barcelona Games. The 23-year-old won gold in 400m freestyle and racked up three silvers in 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and the 4x100 metres medley events.

Four years later, at the Atlanta Games, Hase added three silver medals and a bronze to end her Olympic career with seven medals, including five silvers. 

7. Mariya Gorokhovskaya - 5 (Soviet Union)

Mariya Gorokhovskaya dominated the 1952 Helsinki Games. The gymnast made the most of her solitary Olympics appearance by clinching seven medals - the most among women at a single Olympics. 

The 31-year-old won team and all-around golds and took five silver medals in different events.

6. Viktor Lisitsky - 5 (Soviet Union)

Viktor Lisitsky made his Olympics debut at the 1964 Tokyo Games where he won four silver medals. Lisitsky took the second spot in the individual all-around, vault, floor and team events.

The search for an elusive gold continued at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. However, he had to settle for a solitary silver medal in the team event, leaving him with five silver medals in his Olympics career.

5. Larisa Latynina - 5 (Soviet Union)

The most dominant woman in Olympics history, Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina left an indelible mark in her three appearances at the Olympics. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Latynina won four golds besides one silver and one bronze. 

Latynina added five gold, four silver and three bronze medals in her Olympic appearances in 1960 and 1964. She ended up with 18 Olympics medals, including nine gold, five silver, and four bronze medals. Thus, Latynina became the most successful woman in the history of the Olympic Games. 

4. Nikolai Andrianov - 5 (Soviet Union)

Nikolai Andrianov - another Soviet gymnast - is the most decorated Olympian of the lot. Andrianov’s tally of 15 medals (seven gold, five silver and two bronze medals) from three Olympics is second among men in Olympic history, behind only Michael Phelps.

In his first Games in 1972, Andrianov won gold, silver and bronze across three events before leading the honours board with most medals in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Andrianov won four golds, two silvers and a bronze to clinch most medals at the Games. In his final Olympic appearance in 1980, the 28-year-old added two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

3. Shirley Babashoff - 6 (USA)

In 1972, swimmer Shirley Babashoff won two silver medals in individual freestyle events and two relay golds at the Munich Olympics. Babashoff won four silver medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics alongside a team gold in the 4x100m freestyle.

Her cumulative medals tally lists three golds and a record six silver medals among women in Olympics history.

2. Mikhail Voronin - 6 (Soviet Union)

Artistic gymnast Voronin won seven medals - two golds, one bronze and four silvers - in his first Olympics appearance in 1968. The Soviet athlete returned to the Olympic Games in 1972 to win silver medals in the team and rings events, taking his silver medal tally to six. He won nine Olympics medals in total.

1. Alexander Dityatin - 6 (Soviet Union)

Alexander Dityatin registered 10 Olympic medals across two editions, with a bundle of silvers and a deluge of records. The artistic gymnast won two silver medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, before dazzling the 1980 Moscow Olympics with a scintillating performance. 

Dityatin became the first person to win eight medals (three golds, four silvers, one bronze) at a single Olympics - winning a medal in every artistic gymnastics event. Besides the record six silver medals haul, Dityatin also became the first male to achieve the perfect 10 in the Olympics. Therefore, he remains a true icon of the Olympic Games.

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