Who is the most decorated swimmer in Summer Olympics history?

Michael Phelps is the most decorated swimmer in Summer Olympics history.

The American swimmer won 28 Olympic medals, including 23 gold, three silver and two bronze. His medal total is also the highest achieved by any Olympic athlete in either the Summer or Winter Games. Phelps competed at five Olympics from Sydney 2000 through Rio 2016.

His greatest single-Games haul came at Beijing 2008, where he won eight gold medals. That surpassed Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Phelps also won six gold medals and two bronze medals at Athens 2004 and six golds and two silvers at London 2012.

Phelps competed mainly in butterfly, individual medley and freestyle events. Ryan Lochte, another American swimmer, ranks second among Olympic medal-winning swimmers, but his total is well below Phelps’s record.