Women have been a big part of the Olympics since they first began competing in the games in 1900. At the time, women totaled only 22 of the 997 athletes. They competed in only five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf.
In the Tokyo Games, it's almost a 50/50 split of male and female athletes, according to the International Olympic Committee. "Almost 49 per cent of the athletes participating will be women, according to the IOC quota allocation," the committee shared on International Women's Day.
Many great female athletes have competed in the past 121 years. Here are some of the most decorated female Olympic athletes of all time, as determined by a Rave Reviews recent study.
Larisa Latynina
Larisa Semyonovna Latynina is a former Soviet artistic gymnast from the Ukraine. Between 1956 and 1964, she won 14 individual Olympic medals and four team medals. Of her 18 total medals, nine were gold, five were silver, and four were bronze.
She holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals by a female athlete and held the title overall until swimmer Michael Phelps surpassed her, 48 years later.
Birgit Fischer
Birgit Fischer dominated the sport of kayaking for Germany. She became the youngest champion in kayaking when she scored her first gold medal at Moscow in 1980 at just 20 years old. Fast-forward to Sydney 2000, where she became the oldest woman to get a gold medal in kayaking. In total, she has eight gold medals and four silver medals.
Jenny Thompson
Jenny Thompson was the star of the USA women's swimming team. Jenny competed in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. She has eight gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal altogether.
Věra Čáslavská
Věra Čáslavská was a Czechoslovakian artistic gymnast who competed in Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964, and Mexico City 1968. At the 1968 Games, she protested Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by turning her head from the Soviet Union's flag. She won seven gold medals and four silver medals altogether.
Valentina Vezzali
Valentina Vezzali is a spirited Italian fencer who later got into politics. Valentina competed in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, earning six gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals. She's the first fencer in Olympic history to win individual foil gold medals at three consecutive Olympics (2000, 2004, and 2008).
Ágnes Keleti
Ágnes Keleti is the oldest living Olympic gymnast, celebrating her 100th birthday in January 2021. Agnes has five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Nadia Comăneci
Nadia Comăneci is a highly decorated Romanian gymnast. Nadia earned five gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal. She won all her gold medals in individual events. She'd later go on to marry another Olympian, American gold medal gymnast Bart Conner.
Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer who won four gold medals and four silver medals. She competed in Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964. She later became a coach after her retirement from competition.
Minxia Wu
Minxia Wu was a dominant force in Chinese women's diving. Minxia won five gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. She competed in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016, after which she retired.
Anky van Grunsven
Anky van Grunsven is a Dutch equestrian star. She is the only rider to record three successive Olympic wins in the same event. She competed in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. She has three gold medals, five silver medals, and one bronze medal.
Veronica Campbell Brown
Veronica Campbell Brown brought Jamaica to the forefront of global sprinting. She won three gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals. In June 2021, she announced her retirement from the sport.
Kim Soo-Nyung
Kim Soo-Nyung was a standout talent in archery competing for South Korea. She competed in Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, and Sydney 2000. She earned four gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal.
Yana Klochkova
Yana Klochkova is Ukraine's most decorated Olympian, with four gold medals and a silver medal in swimming. At the 2000 Games in Sydney, she set a world record in 400-meter medley swimming and a European record in 200-meter medley swimming.
Irena Szewińska
Irena Szewińska spent two decades as one of the best athletes in the entire world. A sprinter, Irena is the only athlete in history, male or female, to have held the world records in the 100-meter, the 200-meter, and the 400-meter races. She won three gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals.
Agneta Andersson
Agneta Andersson is a Swedish sprint canoer who proved dominant in the sport. Agneta took home three gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals after competing in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996.
