Michael Phelps won 23 gold medals during his Olympic career. The American swimmer earned those titles across four Games from 2004 through 2016, making him the most decorated Olympic champion by gold medals.
Phelps won six golds and two bronzes at Athens 2004, then produced the defining performance of his career at Beijing 2008 by winning all eight events he entered. That broke Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at a single Games, set in 1972.
At London 2012, Phelps added four golds and two silvers. He finished his Olympic career at Rio 2016 with five more golds and one silver. His final Olympic tally was 28 medals: 23 gold, three silver and two bronze.
The numbers can cause confusion because 28 is Phelps’s total Olympic medal count, not his gold-medal total. He also holds records for Olympic golds in individual events and for total individual Olympic medals.