Usain Bolt did it, winning the 100-200-4×100 triple gold medal for the 3rd consecutive Olympic Games (2008-16), an unprecedented triple. Winning medals in the 100, 200, and 4×100 is not that unusual, as it has now been done 25 times at the Olympics, by 22 athletes, but winning gold medals in all 3 events is.
Bolt is the only one to have won medals in all three events at 3 Olympics, much less gold medals. Renate Stecher (GDR) won medals in all sprint events in 1972 and 1976, the only other sprinter to do so more than once.
Eight athletes have won gold medals in all three events at one Olympics and they are mythic names. Here are the athletes who have achieved the sprint triple.
[table]
Name,Gender,NOC,Year
Jesse Owens,M,USA,1936
Bobby Joe Morrow,M,USA,1956
Carl Lewis,M,USA,1984
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2008
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2012
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2016
Fanny Blankers-Koen,F,NED,1948
Betty Cuthbert,F,AUS,1956
Wilma Rudolph,F,USA,1960
Florence Griffith-Joyner,F,USA,1988
[/table]
In Rio, Tori Bowie pulled off an unusual feat, winning a gold-silver-bronze in the three sprint events, with gold in the relay, silver in the 100, and bronze in the 200. This has also been done before, however, now in fact 4 times, and 3 times by women. Here are the athletes to have hit for the cycle in the sprints:
[table]
Name,Gender,NOC,Year
Justin Gatlin,M,USA,2004
Renate Stecher,F,GDR,1976
Carmelita Jeter,F,USA,2012
Tori Bowie,F,USA,2016
[/table]
What about just winning medals in all three events at 1 Olympic Games? Here are the 25 times that has been done, by 11 men (13 occurrences), and 11 times by women (12 occurrences)
[table]
Name,Gender,NOC,Year
Charley Paddock,M,USA,1920
Jesse Owens,M,USA,1936
Barney Ewell,M,USA,1948
Bobby Joe Morrow,M,USA,1956
Thane Baker,M,USA,1956
Valeriy Borzov,M,URS,1972
Carl Lewis,M,USA,1984
Justin Gatlin,M,USA,2004
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2008
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2012
Yohan Blake,M,JAM,2012
Usain Bolt,M,JAM,2016
André de Grasse,M,CAN,2016
Fanny Blankers-Koen,F,NED,1948
Betty Cuthbert,F,AUS,1956
Wilma Rudolph,F,USA,1960
Edith McGuire,F,USA,1964
Renate Stecher,F,GDR,1972
Renate Stecher,F,GDR,1976
Annegret Richter,F,FRG,1976
Florence Griffith Joyner,F,USA,1988
Veronica Campbell-Brown,F,JAM,2004
Carmelita Jeter,F,USA,2012
Shelly-Ann Fraser,F,JAM,2012
Tori Bowie,F,USA,2016
[/table]
Note that this has been twice in the same year several times – by men in 1956 by Thane Baker and Bobby Joe Morrow, in 2012 by Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, and among the women, in 1976 by Renate Stecher and Annegret Richter, and in 2012 by Carmelita Jeter and Shelly-Ann Fraser (-Pryce).
I think you’re missing Andre DeGrasse 2016 (silver, silver, bronze) in the last list.
I was upset to see that Wilma Rudolph was not included among the American athletes to carry the Olympic flag in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Do you have any idea why this beautiful talented lady wasn’t included?