This list includes athletes who have won six or more Olympic medals over their sporting career. It includes top-three placings in the 1896 Olympic Games and 1900 Olympic Games, before medals were actually awarded for those placings. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included.
For simplicity, when an athlete has won medals for more than one nation, their entry in this list only mentions the last Nation represented. The Years listed for each athlete only include the Games in which they won medals. More detailed information is provided in the linked articles for the individual athletes.
In cases where two or more athletes have the same number of total medals, the first tiebreaker is the number of gold medals, followed by the number of silver medals. If the tied athletes have exactly the same number of gold, silver and bronze medals, the ranking is given as a tie and the athletes are listed in order first by career years and then alphabetically by surname.
This is a progressive list of Olympians that have held the record for most medals won. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Games are not included. It includes top-three placings in 1896 and 1900, before medals were awarded for top-three placings. All record-holders have competed at Summer Games rather than Winter Games.
Gillis Grafström became the first person to win a medal in the same event in Summer and Winter Olympics, winning figure skating golds at the 1920 Olympics and at the first Winter Olympics in 1924.
Eddie Eagan became the first person to win a medal in the Winter Olympics and in the Summer Olympics in different events. He is the only Summer and Winter medalist to win gold medals in different events.
Christa Luding-Rothenburger is the only person to win medals at the Winter and Summer Games in the same year. (This feat is no longer possible due to the staggering of the Winter and Summer Olympic years). She is also the first person to win medals in successive Winter and Summer Games or vice versa.
Clara Hughes is the first person to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games and holds the highest number of medals of any Olympian to win medals in both the Summer and Winter Games.
^ abcCoubertin, Pierre de; Timoleon J. Philimon; N. G. Politis; Ch. Anninos (1897). "Second Part: The Olympic Games in 1896"(PDF). The Olympic Games, B.C. 776 – A.D. 1896. IOC official Olympic reports. translated by A. v. K. London: Grevel. pp. 55–81 (passim). Archived from the original(PDF) on 29 February 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008. (note: the source gives dates in the Julian calendar; this table uses the Gregorian calendar)
^"Eddie Eagan". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2012.