Sports lists for Rio – today we’ll present you five record lists for sports on the 2016 Olympic Program – boxing, diving, football, rowing, and triathlon. Please refer to a previous post https://olympstats.com/2016/07/29/sports-files-for-rio/ for information about these lists.

• Boxing – Boxing Lists
• Diving – Diving Lists
• Football (Soccer) – Football Lists
• Rowing – Rowing Lists
• Triathlon – Triathlon Lists

Sports lists for Rio – today we’ll present you five record lists for sports on the 2016 Olympic Program – gymnastics, basketball, cycling, tennis, and volleyball. Please refer to a previous post https://olympstats.com/2016/07/29/sports-files-for-rio/ for information about these lists.

• Basketball – Basketball Lists
• Cycling – Cycling Lists
• Gymnastics – Gymnastics Lists
• Tennis – Tennis Lists
• Volleyball – Volleyball Lists

After yesterday’s blitz of articles prepping for Rio, we will now start releasing files containing Olympic records and bests for each of the sports / disciplines on the Olympic Program. These will be released gradually over the next week but today we’ll start with the two best known sports – athletics (track & field) and swimming. For details about what is in, and is not in, the sports lists, please see the previous post at https://olympstats.com/2016/07/29/sports-files-for-rio/

• Athletics – Athletics Lists
• Swimming – Swimming Lists

Over the next week, we will be providing lists of Olympic records and Olympic bests pertaining to the various Olympic sports, as well as overall Olympic lists. These will be PDF files attached as links to this blog (https://olympstats.com). These are intended as reference lists for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and for use by the media, sports fans, and others interested in the Olympics. The information herein comes from a database maintained by myself and a group of 14 Olympic statistorians who call ourselves the “OlyMADMen” or OMM for short. The OMM have been creating, upgrading, and maintaining this database for about 20 years now on a private site entitled www.olympedia.org..

The lists you will see differ slightly by sport. One finds, for every sport, records for most medals, gold medals, etc., as well as age records for youngest and oldest competitors, medalists, and gold medalists. Tables of medals won by nations are included in all cases. For age records, the depth of the lists differs by sports, with slightly more depth provided in the sports that have been on the Olympic Program the longest.

For team sports (basketball, football, handball, hockey, rugby, volleyball, water polo), there are no specific events, but special lists provide information such as most points scored, most goals, by teams and individuals, and other interesting lists. Team sports also have a table listing each nation’s complete Olympic record through 2012 and at the end, a list of all previous head-to-head matches among the qualified nations if provided for each team sport.

In the non-team sports, lists and records are given for the sport at the beginning, followed by lists and records for each of the events on the 2016 Olympic Program. The event lists are shorter and slightly less detail than the overall lists.

For the two main measurable sports, athletics and swimming, we provide information on performance/performer lists, margins of victory, and the complete list of Olympic record progressions. This is not provided for cycling, where the events have changed greatly on the track recently; nor for shooting, where the targets and events change frequently; nor for weightlifting, where the weight classes change, seemingly at each Olympic Games. Of note, in athletics (track & field), for the field events, the performance lists only include the final mark by each competitor, and do not include intermediate marks. For canoeing and rowing, Olympic best progressions are given, although these cannot be considered Olympic records, because of differences in the various courses.

Each list starts with an overall, all-nation list. At the bottom of this list, there is an underline, and below that is found the list for @TeamUSA athletes only. This is provided as I will be working with and for the US Olympic Committee in Rio, and it is pertinent to USA media. All USA athletes in the record lists are also noted in bold font. Some athletes have records included which include marks or medals from the 1906 Olympics. While not recognized by the IOC, the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) does consider these Olympic Games, and feels they should be recognized as such. All these marks are highlighted in red font. For overall records, some athletes are on the lists who competed in the Winter Olympics, and these are highlighted in blue font.

For weight class sports (combative sports), these are difficult because the weight classes have changed frequently over the years. We have attempted to bring some semblance of cohesion to these with a new designation. Basically the heaviest weight class is always called Heavyweight, the lightest weight class is always called Lightweight, and the middle weight class, or the one above the median if an even number of classes, is always called Middleweight. The other weight classes are then designated as Sub- or Supra-, as in Sub-Middleweight, or Supra-Lightweight, with the Sub- classification always given out first. This brings some sense of similarity to the classes, but for 2016, we have not listed event records for weightlifting and wrestling, because the classes have changed so much that it is difficult for anything to make sense.

Any errors are my own and I would like to be notified of these, which you can do via e-mail at [email protected]. Hope you enjoy and these prove useful to you. We will be starting today with the athletics (track & field) and swimming lists.

Bill Mallon MD

29 July 2016

The Olympic Games are about to start. For 6 months to a year now we have heard nothing but how bad the Rio Olympics will be, and how corrupt the IOC is, and how bad everything Olympic is. I am quite tired of hearing this.

For many media people in the US, who are assigned to work the Olympics, a beat they inherit only every few years, likely against their wishes, they immediately start to work to find negative stories to write about the Olympics, because they know nothing else. This does not refer to the Olympic and international sports beat writers such as Phil Hersh, Chris Brennan, Alan Abrahamson, Bonnie Ford, Tim Layden, Nick Zaccardi, Chris Chavez, Chris Clarey, Steve Wilson, who know about, and of, the Olympics better than do I.

I am tired of hearing rants each morning from Mike Greenberg on Mike & Mike about how bad the Olympics are, how corrupt they are, and how bad these Olympics are going to be. A few disclaimers here – I love the Mike & Mike show, and listen to it religiously each morning. And I am very connected to the Olympics and have working relationships with both the US Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Yes, I am biased, just as Mike Greenberg (Greeny) is biased in the other direction.

If I were to meet him, which is unlikely, I would ask Greeny one question “What exactly were the problems you noted at the Olympic Games you have attended?” And I know what that answer would be – he’s never been to an Olympics.

In March 2015 I had meetings with the 2024 Boston Olympic Bid Committee about working with them, although that never came to pass. Boston held various “town meetings” in which they discussed the possibility of hosting the 2024 Olympics. At these meetings the NoBostonOlympics group was there, usually led by Chris Dempsey and Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist the group enlisted to support their case. Had I been able to work for Boston 2024 and present their case, I would asked them the same question, “What exactly were the problems you noted at the Olympic Games you have attended?” And I know what that answer would have been – neither one had ever been to an Olympics.

I’ve been to 11 Olympic Games, starting with Montréal 1976. Going to an Olympic Games is a transformative experience. If you haven’t been you should go to an Olympics. Even if you are not a sports fan, you would love them, and you would wonder what all the negative press is about.

Earlier this week on Mike & Mike, they had a college football coach on, Dabo Sweeney, who rhapsodized about how wonderful football is, and how it brings together people of all races, all creeds, all backgrounds, and gets them to work together.

That may be true. That is also dwarfed by an Olympic Games. Jim McKay, the long-time host of the Olympics in the United States for ABC Television, once noted, “The Olympics are the largest peacetime gathering of humanity in the history of the world.” Think about that phrase – the history of the world. That’s approximately 13.8 billion years, by current estimates. And its accurate.

When you go to an Olympics, you meet people from everywhere, and I don’t mean Tuscaloosa, Sheboygan, Madison, and Chagrin Falls. I mean Bangladesh, Nigeria, Korea, Azerbaijan, Tasmania, and places you’ve never heard of. And these people are all getting along, and enjoying themselves for two weeks. And you start to realize something – these people, who you never thought you would know, are more like you than they are different from you. Just as football players of different races, creeds, and backgrounds, can work together and get along together, so can people of different nations, from different backgrounds, religions, races, creeds.

I have been to Olympics and Olympic meetings, and had breakfast with a woman from Bangladesh, who told me how wonderful her nation was. Its one of the world’s poorest nations, but she was so proud of it, and she was a wonderful lady. We were much more alike than we were different.

I remember sitting in the aquatics venue at Montréal rooting madly with a group of Mexicans next to me for Félipe Muñoz to come up from fourth place and win a medal, and cheering wildly with them when Muñoz came through. Two Americans won gold and silver, by a figurative mile, but it was more exciting cheering with the Mexicans, who were more like me than they were different from me.

I remember having lunch with former Ugandan Olympic boxer, and then IOC Member, Frank Nyangweso, and hearing him rhapsodize about Muhammad Ali and how much he admired him, and then asking me why Americans always drank such large glasses of all drinks, a question for which I had no answer, but after dining with him I knew we both loved Muhammad Ali, and were much more alike than we were different.

And there are many more such examples I’ve experienced. I’ve met and gotten to know, and become friends with, people from countries I couldn’t even locate before I started this Olympic Odyssey. And always, we got along, peacefully, rather than fighting wars, and always, I would find that we were more alike than we were different.

The Olympics do this. They bring people together for two weeks of wonderful athletic competition. As Debbie Krzyzewski (Mike’s oldest daughter) once told me after Barcelona, “The Olympics are a two-week long party.” They are, but they are a party that the whole world celebrates, not just Crimson Tide fans, or not just Duke basketball fans (of which I am one).

The Olympics bring together the best athletes of the world peacefully, and they bring together 100s of 1000s of spectators, fans, officials, and other ancillary personnel together in peaceful cooperation and a two-week long party, celebrating the largest peacetime gathering of humanity in the history of the world. We can never get along with our so-called enemies until we meet them, talk to them, get to know them, and realize, they are more like us than they are different from us.

Are the Olympics then perfect and do they not have problems? Of course not, and I assure you I know way more about those problems than does Greeny and the know-nothings who write about all the negative things because they can’t find anything else to write about.

However, I also know the good things, and I think the Olympics are an important contribution to bringing the peoples of the world together, peacefully, in only a small way, but they do it and they let us realize we are all more alike than we are different, and could get along if we would just come together more often.

Let the Games begin.

Attached is a quite lengthy PDF (Overall Olympic Records) detailing all the past Olympic records, bests, lists, and pretty much anything else you may want to know about what has happened at previous Olympics. All media, and all Olympic fans can use this to understand what has happened before and what may occur in Rio.

The lists are work provided to the US Olympic Committee and will be available in their online media guide (team book). The contain not only overall Olympic records, but also the bests posted by US athletes at previous Olympics.

More to come.

By winning sprint and relay gold medals at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Veronica Campbell-Brown (VCB) would set several Olympic records and bests, as she has already won 7 Olympic medals between 2000-12. She will run the 200 metres and likely the 4×100 relay in Rio. Gold in the 200 is a longshot, although she won that gold medal in 2004 and 2008, but she could win a medal. The Jamaican 4×100 relay team will likely be favored in Rio. The following details which records VCB may achieve in Rio.

If She Wins a Medal in Rio, VCB Will …

• Become the first woman to win 8 Olympic medals in Olympic track and field. She currently shares the record of 7 with Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS / 1948-56) and Irena Szewińska-Kirszenstein (POL / 1964-76). Of note, Allyson Felix (USA) will compete in Rio and has 6 medals and could also move up to 8 Olympic medals., as could VCB’s teammate, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
• If she wins a medal in the 200, move to =3^rd for the most individual medals won in Olympic track & field by a woman, with 5. The record is 6, held by Irena Szewińska-Kirszenstein (POL / 1964-76) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA / 1984-92), while 4 women have won 5 individual track & field medals: Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS / 1948-56); Heike Drechsler-Daute (GDR/GER / 1988/92/2000); Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS / 2000-08); and Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH / 2004-12)

If She Wins a Gold Medal in Rio, VCB Will …

• Equal the record for most gold medals in Olympic athletics by a women, with 4. Six women have previously won 4 Olympic athletics gold medals, as follows: Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED / 1948); Betty Cuthbert (AUS / 1956/64); Barbel Eckert-Wöckel (GDR / 1976-80); Evelyn Ashford (USA / 1984-92); Sanya Richards-Ross (USA / 2004-12); and Allyson Felix (USA / 2004-12). It should be noted that Felix will compete in the 400 metres and 4×400 relay in Rio, and could extend that record.

Saori Yoshida will compete in Olympic wrestling for Japan at her 4^th Olympics. Yoshida won gold medals in 55 kg freestyle wrestling in 2004, 2008, and 2012. She has never lost an international competition. In addition to her 3 Olympic golds, she has won every World Championship since 2002, winning 13 titles, and four golds at the Asian Games in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. She has lost only 2 matches since 2002, her last in 2012. Because of new weight classes in Rio, she will compete in the 53 kg class.

Yoshida’s teammate, Kaori Icho, has been almost as dominant as Yoshida. She won gold medals in Olympic wrestling in the 63 kg freestyle class in 2004, 2008, and 2012, and has won 10 World Championships, and the 2006 Asian Games gold medal. Icho was undefeated from 2003-16, but lost a Grand Prix match in January 2016.

Here is what they can achieve with another gold medal in wrestling at Rio.

If They Win Gold in Rio, Saori Yoshida and/or Kaori Icho Will …

• Become the first Olympic wrestlers, male or female, to win 4 gold medals. With 4 gold medals, they are currently tied with 6 men – Aleksandr Karelin (URS/EUN/RUS), Artur Taymazov (UZB), Aleksandr Medved (URS), Ivar Johansson (SWE), Buvaisa Saytiyev (RUS), and Carl Westergren (SWE).
• Become the first woman to win 4 Olympic medals in wrestling, although the sport has only been on the Olympic Program since 2004. Wilfried Dietrich (FRG/GER) won 5 Olympic wrestling medals, while 7 men have won 4 wrestling medals.
• Tie for 7^th among Olympic women in any sport, with 4 individual gold medals. They would trail Věra Čáslavská (TCH-GYM), with 7; Larysa Latynina (URS-GYM) and Lidiya Skoblikova (URS-SSK), with 6; and Nadia Comăneci (ROU-SWI), Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN-SWI), and Bonnie Blair (USA-SSK), with 5.
• Become the first women to win individual gold medals at 4 consecutive Olympic Games. Yoshida and Icho are currently tied at 3 among 14 such women.
• Move to =4^th on the list of women winning medals at the most consecutive Olympics. The list is led by Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (GDR/GER-CAN), with 6, who won medals in 1980 and 1988-2004. That would have been an all-time Olympic best 7 had East Germany not boycotted the 1984 Olympics. Two women have won gold medals at 5 Olympics – Valentina Vezzali (ITA-FEN), consecutively from 1996-2012 (and she can extend this when she competes in Rio); and Elisabeta Oleniuc-Lipă (ROU-ROW) in 1984, and 1992-2004.
• Become the 4^th and/or 5^th Olympians to win 4 consecutive individual gold medals in the “same” event. The others are Paul Elvstrøm (DEN-SAI) in one-handed dinghy yachting from 1948-60 (although the 1948 class was slightly different); Al Oerter (USA-ATH) in the discus throw; and Carl Lewis (USA-ATH) in the long jump. Now “same” is in quotes because Yoshida’s class will change slightly in Rio, moving from 55 kg to 53 kg. Spare me that argument. In addition, one could include Ray Ewry (USA-ATH), who won four consecutive titles in standing high jump and standing long jump from 1900-08, but that includes the 1906 Olympics.

By winning 100 metre and 4×100 metre relay gold medals at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce would set several Olympic records and bests. The following details which records Fraser-Pryce may achieve in Rio.

If She Wins a Gold Medal in the 100 metres in Rio, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Will …

• Become the first woman to win 3 consecutive individual gold medals in track & field athletics. Previously this has only been accomplished by Evelyn Ashford in the 4×100 relay, and Sanya Richards-Ross in the 4×400 relay. (Reader Phil Minshull has noted, correctly, that Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) would beat SAFP to this distinction if she wins the women’s 10K, which is held the day before the women’s 100 final.)
• Become the 7^th woman to win 3 consecutive individual gold medals in any Summer Olympic event. The previous six were: Larysa Latynina (URS-GYM / floor exercise, 1956-64); Dawn Fraser (AUS-SWI / 100 m freestyle, 1956-64); Krisztina Egerszegi (HUN-SWI / 200 m backstroke, 1988-96); Anky van Grunsven (NED-EQU / individual dressage, 2000-08); Saori Yoshida (JPN-WRE / 55 kg freestyle, 2004-12); and Kaori Icho (JPN-WRE / 63 kg freestyle, 2004-12). (Again, note disclaimer above re Tirunesh Dibaba.)
• Equal the record for individual gold medals in Olympic athletics by women, with 3. Seven women have won 3 individual gold medals in Olympic athletics. They were: Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED / 1948); Betty Cuthbert (AUS / 1956/64); Tamara Press (URS / 1960-64); Tatyana Kazankina (URS / 1976-80); Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA / 1988-92); Marie-Josée Péréc (FRA / 1992-96); and Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH / 2008-12).

If She Wins Two Gold Medals in Rio, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Will …

• Equal the record for most gold medals in Olympic athletics by a women, with 4. Six women have previously won 4 Olympic athletics gold medals, as follows: Fanny Blankers-Koen (NED / 1948); Betty Cuthbert (AUS / 1956/64); Barbel Eckert-Wöckel (GDR / 1976-80); Evelyn Ashford (USA / 1984-92); Sanya Richards-Ross (USA / 2004-12); and Allyson Felix (USA / 2004-12). It should be noted that Felix will compete in the 400 metres and 4×400 relay in Rio, and could extend that record.
• Equal the record for most medals in Olympic athletics by a woman, with 7. The record is held by Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (AUS / 1948-56); Irena Szewińska-Kirszenstein (POL / 1964-76); and Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM / 2000-12). VCB will compete in Rio and could extend this record, as could Allyson Felix (USA), who has 6 medals going into Rio.

During his career, Ryan Lochte has been somewhat overshadowed by Michael Phelps, but Lochte still has a chance to set several Olympic bests. The following details his current standings on the various Olympic lists, and what he can/will achieve with his performances in Rio.

By Competing in Rio, Ryan Lochte Will …

• Appear in his 4^th Olympics, equalling the @TeamUSA record for men swimmers, currently held by Michael Phelps and Jason Lezak, but Phelps will compete in his 5^th Olympics in Rio, equalling the USA record currently held by Dara Torres.

If He Wins a Medal in Rio, Ryan Lochte Will …

• Win his 12^th Olympic medal, moving into 2^nd among US men, in any sport, trailing only Michael Phelps, who will enter Rio with 22. Lochte will also equal three American female swimmers who have won 12 medals – Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, and Natalie Coughlin.
• Move into 2^nd among all male Olympic swimmers, trailing only Phelps. Lochte’s pre-Rio total of 11 Olympic swimming medals ties him with Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, among men, but also trails Thompson, Torres, and Coughlin, who are 2^nd on the overall list behind Phelps.
• Move into 7^th among all male Olympians, with 12 medals, and that total of 12 medals will move him to 8^th overall, among all Olympians, in any sport.
• With an individual medal, move to 8^th on the oldest individual medalist list in swimming. Lochte will turn 32 two days before the Rio Opening Ceremony. He is about 11 months older than Phelps.

If He Wins Two or More Medals in Rio, Ryan Lochte …

• Will move into a tie for 4^th place among all Olympians, with 13 medals, trailing only Phelps (22), Larysa Latynina (URS-GYM) (18), and Nikolay Andrianov (URS-GYM) (15). With 13 medals, Lochte would tie 4 other male Olympians – Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR-BIA), Borys Shakhlin (URS-GYM), Edoardo Mangiarotti (ITA-FEN), and Takashi Ono (JPN-GYM). Lochte would also move into second among @TeamUSA Olympians, trailing only Michael Phelps.
• Could move into lone 4^th place, with 14 medals, if he wins 3 medals.
• May become the 4^th Olympian to win at least 4 full sets of medals (4+ gold, 4+ silver, 4+ bronze), if he wins a silver and a bronze medal. This has previously been done only by Larysa Latynina (URS-GYM) (9-5-4), Takashi Ono (JPN-GYM) (5-4-4), and Dara Torres (USA-SWI) (4-4-4).

If He Wins a Gold Medal in Rio, Ryan Lochte …

• Would win his 6^th gold medal, and move to =14^th among all male Olympians.
• Would win his 6^th gold medal, and move to =7^th among all @TeamUSA Olympians.
• Would win his 6^th gold medal, and move to =6^th among all @TeamUSA male Olympians.
• Would win his 6^th gold medal in swimming, and move to 4^th among male Olympic swimmers, trailing Michael Phelps (18), Mark Spitz (9), and Matt Biondi (8). He would thus also be 4^th among US male Olympic swimmers.
• Would win his 6^th gold medal in swimming, and move to 5^th among Olympic swimmers, trailing Michael Phelps (18), Mark Spitz (9), Matt Biondi (8), and Jenny Thompson (8). He would thus also be 5^th among US Olympic swimmers.
• Could, with an individual gold medal, become the oldest individual gold medalist in swimming, currently held by Inge de Bruijn (NED-2004), who was 30-363 in the 50 free. Lochte will turn 32 two days before the Rio Opening Ceremony.
• Could, with any gold medal, move to 3^rd on the oldest gold medalist list in swimming, trailing only 2 @TeamUSA swimmers – Dara Torres, who was 33-162 in the 2000 medley relay; and Jason Lezak, who was 32-279 in the 2008 medley relay. Lochte will turn 32 two days before the Rio Opening Ceremony.