The Greatest Winter Olympians Ever

SI Staff | Feb 10, 2014

The Greatest Winter Olympians Ever /

The Greatest Winter Olympians Ever

No. 16: The 1980 USA Men's Hockey Team

usahockey1980(heinz).jpg — Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

The Active Times recently took on one of the largest feats in the industry: ranking Winter Olympians across multiple sporting events to determine who among them are the best of the best. Here's a sample of their findings, beginning with the Miracle on Ice hockey team. (See the complete list of 50 athletes and the selection panel at http://www.theactivetimes.com/50-greatest-winter-olympians-1. "Surely the greatest team in Winter Olympics history and from an American perspective, the greatest moment in Winter Olympics history. However, we are talking about individuals, and not teams, so any of these players technically deserve a top spot: Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Mark Johnson, the list goes on. What a team, what a moment, and of course, what a Miracle!" -- Brian Pinelli (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 1: Bjørn Dæhlie (Norway)

Perhaps not a household name to most American sports fans, but before Sochi he was the most decorated Winter Olympic champion ever with eight gold and 12 total medals. -- Brian Pinelli (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 2: Sonja Henie (Norway)

Few Olympic athletes are capable of garnering A-list-level celebrity, but three-time gold medal figure skater Sonja Henie was known for drawing hordes of fans so large and rowdy that police were often called in for crowd control. And it wasn’t just because she was a sweet, smiling blonde either. A fierce competitor, Henie won her first Olympic gold medal at the age of 16. From there she went on to defend that title in the next two Winter Olympic Games, and just one week after winning her third Olympic gold she placed first at the World Figure Skating Championships for the 10th straight year, setting a record that has yet to be broken. A true trailblazer for the sport, Henie was known for her untraditional short-skirted costumes, white skates (black was the norm at the time), and innovative choreography. “To this day [she is] the undisputed ‘Queen’ of figure skating,” says panelist Brian Pinelli. -- Katie Rosenbrock (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 7: Eric Heiden (U.S.)

Humble and low-key, Heiden provided the single most outstanding Olympic performance at one Games in history. Five speed skating events, five gold medals, four Olympic records and one world record over a nine-day span in 1980, winning everything at a home Olympics at just 21 years old. And he even slipped in the 1,500 before winning in an Olympic record time. -- Brian Pinelli (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 10: Apollo Anton Ohno (U.S.)

The most decorated American Winter Olympic Athlete of all time only competed in three Olympic Games. Over the course of those Games he took a total of eight medals and coped with intense attention from the crowd. Panelist Brian Pinelli calls him “a master technician with explosiveness on the ice like no short tracker in history.” -- Diana Gerstacker (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 13: Bonnie Blair (U.S.)

Perhaps the greatest female speed skating sprinter ever, Bonnie Blair took three consecutive gold medals in the 500-meter between 1988 and 1993; an extremely tough “triple” to pull off. She was the only American Winter Olympian with six medals until Apolo Ohno came along. The longtime Milwaukee resident thrived on the Olympic stage, probably due to the fact that she began competing at just four years old! -- Brian Pinelli (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 19: Jean-Claude Killy (France)

This French ski legend won the “Triple Crown” of alpine skiing sweeping all three races in Grenoble at the age of 24. He’s only the second skier after Toni Sailer to win all three events at one Winter Olympics. -- Brian Pinelli. (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 25: Dick Button (U.S.)

In addition to winning two back-to-back Olympic titles, Dick Button has the distinction of being the first skater to land a double axel and a triple jump in competition. He also invented the flying camel spin. Button’s list of skating titles goes on and on and includes seven national, three North American, a European and five world titles. -- Pj Kwong (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 26: Katarina Witt (E. Germany/Germany)

The first female figure skater to earn back-to-back Olympic gold medals since Sonja Henie, Katarina Witt’s incredible talent was undeniable from the very first time she took to the ice at the age of 5. In 1984 at Sarajevo the United States’ Rosalynn Summers was the uncontested favorite, but after landing three triple jumps and pulling ahead by just one-tenth of a point, Witt swooped in to win the gold. She went on to defend her title at the 1988 Winter Games and has also won six consecutive European Championship titles, another accomplishment that she shares solely with Henie. -- Katie Rosenbrock (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 28: Johan Olav Koss—Norway

Where was Olympic speed skater Johan Koss the day of the 1992 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony? In a hospital bed, of course. He was admitted to the hospital with an inflamed pancreas, but after passing a gallstone he took off and headed for the Games. After a rocky start, finishing seventh at the 5000-meter, and a week after his departure from the hospital, he made his way to the podium. He took one gold medal and one silver, at the 1,500-meter and 10,000-meter, respectively. In 1994 at his home games in Lillehammer, he dominated. He took three gold medals in the 1,500m, the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter. He broke world records in each of those three races and became a Norwegian legend. -- Diana Gerstacker (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 30: Alberto Tomba (Italy)

To merely point out that this Italian slalom skier, nicknamed “La Bomba, or, “The Bomb,” won three golds and two silvers over four Olympics doesn’t really do him justice. "Tomba had a flair for the dramatic and no one has ever made ski racing more exciting and popular to the masses,” says panelist Brian Pinelli. -- Mark Lebetkin (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 34: Shaun White (U.S.)

shaun-white jb.jpg — Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The two-time Olympic half pipe champion is an innovator, an entertainer and an entrepreneur, helping to grow the popularity of the sport exponentially. -- Brian Pinelli (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 43: Tara Lipinski (U.S.)

Tara Lipinski is most famous for her gold medal coup in 1998, which made her the youngest individual event winner in the history of the Olympics. She took that record from Sonja Henie, who held that distinction for more than 70 years. Lipinski was 15 at the time and she is still the youngest winner to date. She is also the youngest world champion in figure skating history, a feat she conquered at 14. -- Diana Gerstacker (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 44: Peggy Fleming (U.S.)

An American beauty, Peggy Fleming is synonymous with figure skating, earning five American, three world and an Olympic title. Fleming helped to define the look of modern women’s figure skating: athletic, graceful, musical and strong. She was also the first of a wave of American skaters who helped to restart the American figure skating program after the entire figure skating team was killed in a plane crash en route to Worlds in Prague in 1961. -- Pj Kwong (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 46: Brian Boitano (U.S.)

Figure skating star of the 1988 Winter Olympics, Brian Boitano won four national championships, two world titles and earned his only Olympic gold in dramatic fashion, edging out his friend and rival Brian Orser, by a single judge's vote. -- Diana Gerstacker (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

No. 48: Scott Hamilton (U.S.)

scott-hamilton(2).jpg — Heinz Kluetmeier/SI

He placed a respectable fifth in the male figure skating competition, and if his story ended there he wouldn’t be on this list. It was the next four years that vaulted him into the Olympic pantheon. Beginning in 1981, the slight solo skater won every amateur competition he was in, up to and including the 1984 Sarajevo Games where he took home gold. -- Mark Lebetkin (SEE THE COMPLETE LIST OF 50 AT THEACTIVETIMES.COM)

Published Feb 10, 2014

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