Michael Phelps Makes MSN List of Unbreakable Sports Records for 23 Olympic Gold Medals
A recent article from MSN identified 14 sports records that are deemed unbreakable, and Michael Phelps‘ total of 23 Olympic gold medals made the list. The Hall of Famer, who won 28 overall medals during his career, won six gold medals at the 2004 Olympics, eight at the 2008 Games, four in 2012 and five at the 2016 Olympics.
There is good reason why Phelps was included on MSN’s list, as his gold-medal tally is more than double the next-highest total, the 11 gold medals in Winter Olympics action by Norway’s Johannes Klaebo (cross country skiing). There is a six-way tie with nine medals, a mark reached by Katie Ledecky, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Larisa Latynina, Paavo Nurmi and Caeleb Dressel.
In addition to Phelps’ Olympic-gold count, other records that MSN deemed unbreakable are:
- Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in the NBA, which has stood since 1962.
- The 88-game winning streak by the UCLA men’s basketball team from 1971-74.
- The Boston Celtics’ eight consecutive NBA championships from 1959-66.
- Cal Ripken’s 2,632 consecutive games played in Major League Baseball.
- Cy Young’s 511 career pitching victories in MLB.
- Joe DiMaggio’s 56 consecutive game MLB hitting streak, on the books since 1941.
- Jesse Owens’ four track and field world records in an hour at the 1935 Big Ten Conference Championships.
- Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 in the 100-meter dash.
- Bob Beamon’s Olympic record of 8.90 meters (29 feet, 2.5 inches) in the long jump.
- The 2,857 points scored by Wayne Gretzky during his NHL career.
- Matching the upset hockey victory of Team USA over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics semifinals.
- The landmark achievement of Roger Bannister running a sub-4:00 mile.
- Nadia Comaneci becoming the first gymnast to score a perfect 10.