--- title: Michael Phelps Has More Gold Medals Than 66 Countries description: Sixty-six countries have taken home fewer gold medals in all than Phelps has won in his past four Summer Olympics. canonical: https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/ author: David Johnson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-12T14:20:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-15T17:43:53.000Z article:section: Sports og:title: Michael Phelps Has Won More Gold Medals Than These 66 Countries og:description: Phelps alone brings home more gold than most Olympic teams ever do og:url: https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Phelps Has Won More Gold Medals Than These 66 Countries twitter:description: Phelps alone brings home more gold than most Olympic teams ever do twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Michael Phelps Has Won More Gold Medals Than These 66 Countries by [David Johnson](https://time.com/author/dave-johnson/) ## David Johnson Updated: Jan 15, 2026 5:43 PM UTCPublished: Aug 12, 2016 2:20 PM UTC by [David Johnson](https://time.com/author/dave-johnson/) ## David Johnson Updated: Jan 15, 2026 5:43 PM UTCPublished: Aug 12, 2016 2:20 PM UTC [Michael Phelps](http://time.com/4446040/michael-phelps-swimming-olympics-rio/?iid=sr-link6) has won more than twice as many [gold medals](http://time.com/4444818/gold-medal-team-usa-rio-2016-olympics/) as any other [Olympian](http://time.com/topic/2016-rio-olympics/)—and more than many entire nations. Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, 66 countries have taken home fewer gold medals in all than the [23 golds accrued by Phelps](http://time.com/4445981/rio-2016-swimming-ledecky-phelps-hosszu-gold/) in his past four appearances at the [Summer Olympics](http://time.com/topic/2016-rio-olympics/). And that doesn’t include the 42 countries that have participated without winning any gold medals. Phelps won six gold medals in Athens in 2004, eight in Beijing in 2008, four in London in 2012, and [five in Rio](http://time.com/4446040/michael-phelps-swimming-olympics-rio/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/"},"headline":"Michael Phelps Has Won More Gold Medals Than These 66 Countries","datePublished":"2016-08-12T14:20:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-15T17:43:53.000Z","description":"Phelps alone brings home more gold than most Olympic teams ever do","url":"https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/","keywords":["olympics","brazil","Rio","Michael Phelps","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","interactive studio"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Johnson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dave-johnson/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/olympics/","name":"olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4446971/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medals/","name":"Michael Phelps Has Won More Gold Medals Than These 66 Countries"}}]}] ```