Image via Complex Original
As the 2012 Summer Olympics in London come to a close today, we're taking time to recognize the world-class athletes that make watching the Games (even when on tape delay, FOH NBC) worthwhile. But what makes an Olympian badass? Is it medals won? Cockiness Showmanship? Their political outspokenness? Competing while injured? Yes. It's a bit of all those factors and more. From Jesse Owens to The Dream Team to Usain Bolt, check out the 25 Most Badass Summer Olympians of All Time.
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25. Ye Shiwen
Country: China
Sport: Swimming
Medal Count: 2 (2 gold)
Years: 2012
Dope? You know what's dope? Sixteen-year-old girls swimming faster than the fastest boys men in the world. Ye Shiwen, who turns 17 next March, swam the final 50 meters of the freestyle leg of her 400m individual medley faster than Ryan Lochte swam his. (Maybe you've heard of this Lochte guy?) Of course this has the swimming establishment crying "dope." To which we say, Pffft. Ye could be on Barry Bonds-Jose Canseco triple antibiotic 'roids and we still wouldn't care. She just swam faster than the men, and she's all of 16. You go, girl.
24. Alexei Nemov
Country: Russia
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 12 (4 gold)
Years: 1996-2000
There are 16 possible medals for a male gymnast over the span of two Olympic games, this includes the team medal, all around medal, and six individual event medals. Alexei Nemov won 12! It's hard to really even fathom how good he was unless you look at the All-Time numbers. He is the only person who's in the top 15 for Olympic medals that only competed twice. Nemov was such a good all around gymnast that he probably would have broken Olympic medal records if he competed in one more games, but no worries, he got Russia a team gold in '96 so he's good for life.
23. Greg Louganis
Country: USA
Sport: Diving
Medal Count: 5 (4 gold)
Years: 1976-1988
Simply put, Greg Louganis is one of the greatest Olympians to ever touch the water. He picked up a silver in the 10 m platform at the '76 Montreal Games as a 16-year-old but the rest of his Olympic career is golden: two in LA in '84, two in Seoul in '88 (one after busting his melon on the diving board). Louganis would make this list on his accomplishments and swag alone, but that fact he did it while HIV positive and later came out as one of the first gay athletes makes him even more worthy of a spot.
22. Ian Thorpe
Country: Australia
Sport: Swimming
Medal Count: 9 (5 gold)
Years: 2000-2004
Thorpedo! The best nickname a swimmer will ever get, and a guy who backed it up in front of his home country in the 2000 Sydney games and continued a solid run in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Rocking his patented full body suit the Thorpedo was the badest man in the water before Phelps or Lochte, and he had some swag to put the cherry on top. It should be noted that he only competed in two games, not qualifying for this year's at age 29, but five gold medals ain't nothing to be sorry about.
21. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 6 (3 gold)
Years: 1984-1996
Let's just say there is a reason that Sports Illustrated named her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century. The four-time Olympian won medals in both the long jump and the heptathlon showing her versatility in everything from running to throwing. If you don't know how dope Jackie was, then you're the only one on the planet. She's been name-dropped on songs by everyone from the Wu-Tang Clan to Lupe to Childish Gambino. As an added bonus, she also has a sister-in-law you might have heard about. Just remember her maiden name when you get into the top 10 of this list.
20. Nadia Comaneci
Country: Romania
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 9 (5 gold)
Years: 1976-1980
Perfect. You done perfect before? And no, we're not talking about that time you lucked out making banana pancakes at camp. We're talking perfect on the world stage. At age 15. Comaneci scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars in the team portion of the gymnastics event at the '76 Montreal Games. The scoreboard couldn't even process it (they weren't made to handle the four digits necessary for a 10.00, because nobody thought the score possible). But everyone watching at home knew. That girl is a badass.
19. Abebe Bikila
Country: Ethiopia
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 2 (2 gold)
Years: 1960-1968
Things you can do easier barefoot: swim, trim toenails, pick at corns. Things you generally need shoes to do: run marathons through city streets. Unless your name is Abebe Bikila. A last minute addition to the Ethiopian team in 1960, Bikila raced barefoot in Rome after he was unable to find comfortable shoes to run in, won the race, and set an Olympic record in the process. He repeated his feat (pardon the pun!), this time with shoes, in Tokyo in 1964, setting another world record and besting the rest of the field by more than four minutes. Injury prevented him from fully defending his title in 1968. A car accident the following year that left him in a wheelchair ultimately took his life after he suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1973.
18. Emil Zatopek
Country: Czechoslovakia
Sport: Long Distance Running
Medal Count: 5 (4 gold)
Years: 1948-1952
You know those people who are just good at everything they do? The musician who can pick up a variety of instruments and play by ear, the handyman whose toolbox consists of rubber bands and bubble gum, Mike Trout. Well, they ain't shit compared to this guy. Zatopek won the 5K and 10K meter races at the '52 Olympics, but running nine miles just wasn't cutting it for him, so he decided to tack on another 26, entered the marathon—a race he'd never won before—and promptly set the Olympic record. Now, for the love of your sagging couch, get off your ass and go for a jog.
17. Naim Suleymanoglu
Country: Turkey
Sport: Weightlifting
Medal Count: 3 (3 gold)
Years: 1988-1996
Surgeon General's Warning: Smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and dick loss (not really, but if the first two get you your Jimmy ain't much good anyhow). It will not, however, prevent you from becoming the strongest man in the world—even if you're really short. Naim Suleymanoglu is a Turk born in Bulgaria who won gold medals in three consecutive Olympics. This is noteworthy in and of itself (the gold medals part, there are plenty of Turks born in Bulgaria), but when you consider that Suleymanoglu a) was 4'10" and b) reportedly smoked 50 cigarettes a day, then it becomes badass. Badass with a price perhaps: Naim suffered a heart attack in 2009 at the age of 42.
16. Li Ning
Country: China
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 6 (3 gold)
Years: 1984
Imagine you're the face of the Olympics in your home country. Now imagine you're the face of the Olympics in your home country, and 1.3 billion other people call your country home. The 1984 Summer Games were the first that the People's Republic of China participated in, and Li Ning was the star of China's debut on the Olympic stage. He took home six total medals to earn the title "Prince of Gymnasts" in his native country. China has gone on to supplant the U.S.S.R./Russia as America's prime overall competitor in the Games, and also hosted the Olympics for the first time in 2008 (with Li famously lighting the cauldron after literally flying around the stadium).
15. George Eyser
Country: USA
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 6 (3 gold)
Years: 1904
Some people get run over by trains and die. Actually, most people who get run over by trains die. However, some people get run over by trains, lose their left leg, then go on to win six Olympic medals in gymnastics and in one day. Well, maybe not some people, but George Eyser did. The German-born American gymnast competed with a wooden left leg after a childhood encounter with a choo-choo left him with just one stilt. In one day at the '04 Games he took home three golds, two silvers, and one bronze. Now, tell us again why you were late for work this morning?
14. Oscar Pistorius
Country: South Africa
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: None
Years: 2012
There are nearly seven billion people in the world right now, and Oscar Pistorius is one of the hundred or so fastest. What's so badass Olympian about that? Dude is a double amputee. He was born without a fibula in either leg, and had both of his legs amputated between the knee and the ankle when he was 11 months old. Fitted with prostheses, he competed in this year's Games in the 400m and the 4x400m relay. His nickname is "the fastest man on no legs." Now that's badass.
13. Dara Torres
Country: USA
Sport: Swimming
Medal Count: 12 (4 gold)
Years: 1984-2008
Swimming is a young person's game. Dara Torres was no exception at the start of her phenomenal Olympic career, which started as a 17-year-old at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. After competing in the 1988 and 1992 Games, it appeared that Torres' career was over at 25 when she didn't participate in the 1996 Olympics. \
The story doesn't end there as she made a comeback at 33 for the 2000 Olympics where she won five medals. If that wasn't enough to show how badass Torres' career was, she came back again for the 2008 Games in Athens and won another three medals when she was 41 years old. Despite being more than twice as old as her competition, Torres still was a standout in 2008. Her plans for 2012 were derailed by injury, but if we've learned anything it's not to count her out yet for another appearance.
12. Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali)
Country: USA
Sport: Boxing
Medal Count: 1 (1 gold)
Years: 1960
The Greatest completed his domination of the light heavyweight division by beating Poland's Zbigniew Pietrzykowski 5-0 in the gold medal bout. Cassius Clay won three of his four Olympic bouts by the same score of 5-0 with the other coming via stoppage. The 18-year-old from Kentucky would turn pro a few months later and go on to take the boxing and political world by storm for the next two decades.
11. Mark Spitz
Country: USA
Sport: Swimming
Medal Count: 11 (9 gold)
Years: 1968-1972
Before he was surpassed by some weed-smoking slacker, Spitz set the record for gold medals in a single Olympiad with seven in the pool at the 1972 Games. Whereas many of the most decorated Olympians have taken three Olympics or more to collect their medals, Spitz only participated in two Games. Sure, Spitz could have stuck around for a few more medals, but instead he chose to go out at the top of his game. #MJstatus
10. Kerri Strug
Country: USA
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 2 (1 gold)
Years: 1992-1996
Carrying your team to gold then having to be carried to the medal podium? Pretty badass. At 4'8", Kerri Strug proved to be one of the biggest stars at the 1996 Games in Atlanta when she competed on a severely sprained ankle with tendon damage to clinch gold for Team USA. By sticking the landing, Strug not only defeated the Russians but instantly became a household name. Sure her injury kept her out of the individual all-around competition but her performance and selflessness made her an Olympic legend. Drake talks about the life that Strug actually lived. #wekid #relaxdrakestans
9. Michael Johnson
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 4 (4 gold)
Years: 1992-2000
Jamaicans weren't always the fastest sprinters in the world. During the '90s, the US had the sport on lock for the most part. A lot of that was due to the feats of Michael Johnson. The Dallas sprinter specialized in the 200m and 400m races and won golds in '92, '92 and 2000. He would've had five if it weren't for his boneheaded teammate, Andre Pettigrew, who admitted he used PEDs during races including the 4x400m relay won with Johnson in 2000. When you have teammates like that, who needs opponents? SMH.
8. Larisa Latynina
Country: Soviet Union
Sport: Gymnastics
Medal Count: 18 (9 gold)
Years: 1956-1964
So who was the Olympian standing in front of Phelps as the most decorated Olympian of all time prior to this year's games? Miss Larisa Latynina. The Soviet gymnast won 18 medals, 14 of them individually. She is also the only woman with nine gold medals. Her domination during the midst of the Cold War gave the Soviets another thing to brag about. Well, it's all good because nearly 50 years later because we can now claim the most decorated Olympian of all time. Thank you Base, uh, we mean, Michael Phelps!
7. Carl Lewis
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 10 (9 gold)
Years: 1984-1996
A full year before Michael Phelps was swimming in his mom's womb, Carl Lewis was solidifying himself as USA's golden boy at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. At that year's games he racked up four gold medals (100m, 200m, 4x100 relay, and long jump). Next came the '88 games in Seoul where he faced off against his rival Ben Johnson in the 100m dash. BJ won but all that praise came early (see what we did there?) when Johnson later tested positive for steroids and relinquished his gold medal making Lewis the fastest man in the world once again.
Lewis would pick up more medals in the '92 and '96 games to bring his total to 10 medals, nine of which were gold. What made Lewis supremely badass was the fact that he not only succeeded in sprinting but the long jump (for which he won four gold medals). Yup, dude could pretty much do it all. Except for sing.
6. Usain Bolt
Country: Jamaica
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 6 (6 gold)
Years: 2008-present
There aren't a lot of athletes with swag levels within the vicinity of a Usain Bolt. He doesn't make it look easy, he makes it look boring, as he has the tendency to make it painstakingly obvious that he's not fully exerting himself in his easy wins.
In the '08 Beijing games he shocked many and ran through the competition grabbing the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4x 100 relay golds, celebrating before even crossing the finish lines and striking his famous "To Di World" pose post race. In 2012, he gave it his all and racked up another three gold medals, becoming the first to win gold in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100 relay in consecutive games.
5. The Dream Team
Country: USA
Sport: Basketball
Medal Count: 1 (1 gold)
Years: 1992
Why send Machine Gun Kelly, 2 Chainz, and Waka Flocka to the Rap Olympics when you have Jay-Z, Rakim, and Eminem at home? That was the no-shit quandary USA basketball faced after a team featuring Bimbo Coles, Jeff Grayer, and Willie Anderson took the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics while the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird sat at home watching (or probably not) on TV.
Quit. Fucking. Around. The US smartened up and sent the best of the best to the '92 Games in Barcelona, and the rest is Olympic history. It was nothing less than a team that changed the course of basketball history. The fact that the US has serious challengers in '12 (and lost in '04) is a direct result of the tremendous impact that the Dream Team had on international basketball in 1992.
4. Florence Griffith-Joyner
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 5 (3 gold
Years: 1984-1988
Swag? Let Flo muthafuckin' Jo tell you about swag. She's the fastest female human (world records in the 100 and 200 m that stand 24 years after she set them) in the history of female humans (that's a long history, word to your mother). And she did it with style on a million: 4 inch nails, one-legged tracksuits, the best hair in Olympic history. She retired early (in 1989, at the age of 29), and died early (in 1998 of complications from an epileptic seizure), but in her brief time in the Olympic spotlight, she held it down for athletic, fashionable women the world over.
3. Tommie Smith & John Carlos
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 2 (1 gold)
Years: 1968
There haven't been a lot of athletes to step out on a political or social issue on the Olympic stage on quite the level Tommie Smith and John Carlos did in the 1968 games. After winning gold and bronze respectively in the 200 meter race, post race after receiving their medals on the podium as the national anthem played, the men did the Black Power salute and bowed their heads in protest for human rights. Along with the Australian who finished second they sported Humans rights badges on their team USA jackets and proceeded to shed light on a pressing issue of that time on an Olympic stage for the world to see. Badassness with a message, future athletes take note.
2. Michael Phelps
Country: USA
Sport: Swimming
Medal Count: 22 (18 gold)
Years: 2004-present
Michael Phelps is the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics. That's got a nice ring to it, no? At 27 Phelps says this will be his last Olympics, but regardless of whether or not he changes his mind, the past 12 years for him have been nothing short of amazing. He broke the record for gold medals in one year back in '08, has broken more world records than we can count, and caught a ton of heat over his love for the bud and still kept kicking. This picture says it all.
1. Jesse Owens
Country: USA
Sport: Track and Field
Medal Count: 4 (4 gold)
Years: 1936
Jesse Owens was the Olympic athlete before most of these guys were even thought of. In a time where African Americans still hadn't reached a point of equality, Hitler was on his tirade, and the Olympics was slowly becoming the international phenomenon it is today. Owens went to the 1936 Berlin games and was just dominant. He won gold in the 100 meter, 200 meter, 4x100 meter relay, and the long jump in spectacular fashion to the dismay of home country's Nazi leader. The wins not only let the world know of his talent, but showed the world and Hitler that the black athlete could be great on an Olympic stage.