# The 15 Greatest Single-Games Performances in Olympic History

> Two weeks of work, judged forever. Several of these hauls have never been matched, and one belonged to a first-timer.

*By YPB Team · Published August 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-15-greatest-single-games-performances-in-olympic-history*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Simone Biles, Rio 2016**
   Four golds and a bronze in her first Olympics, at 19 years old.
2. **Michael Phelps, Beijing 2008**
   Eight golds in eight events, seven of them in world-record time.
3. **Jesse Owens, Berlin 1936**
   Golds in the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay in nine days.
4. **Mark Spitz, Munich 1972**
   Seven swimming golds, all in world-record time, a record that stood 36 years.
5. **Vitaly Scherbo, Barcelona 1992**
   Six gymnastics golds in a single Games, four of them on one day.
6. **Carl Lewis, Los Angeles 1984**
   Four golds that matched Owens' 1936 programme event for event.
7. **Usain Bolt, Beijing 2008**
   World records in the 100m, 200m and relay, the 100m set while easing up.
8. **Nadia Comaneci, Montreal 1976**
   Seven perfect 10s and three golds at 14 years old.
9. **Eric Heiden, Lake Placid 1980**
   Five individual speed skating golds, from 500m to 10,000m, in one Games.
10. **Jim Thorpe, Stockholm 1912**
   Won both the pentathlon and the decathlon, reportedly in mismatched shoes.
11. **Fanny Blankers-Koen, London 1948**
   Four track golds at 30, while a mother of two, in the first post-war Games.
12. **Katie Ledecky, Rio 2016**
   Four golds and a silver, with the 800m won by more than eleven seconds.
13. **Kristin Otto, Seoul 1988**
   Six swimming golds, the most by a woman at a single Games.
14. **Aleksandr Dityatin, Moscow 1980**
   Eight medals in eight gymnastics events, still the record for one Games.
15. **Emil Zatopek, Helsinki 1952**
   Won the 5,000m, the 10,000m and a marathon he had never run before.

Tags: sports, olympics, performances, all-time