List of athletes with most Olympics appearances

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will begin on July 23 behind closed doors. The global athletic event may lack the hype that it would otherwise have, but one can expect the competitors to go all out in their pursuit of glory. The majority of major sports events are held during the Summer Olympics. It's a chance for top athletes to demonstrate what they're made of while still representing their country. Every event's top three finishers receive a medal and widespread acclaim for their country. To win a medal at the Olympics is an incredible accomplishment, but to hold a world record at one of the highest levels is something else entirely.

Here we take a look at the athletes who have the most Olympic games appearances. Several athletes might have competed in more Olympics if not for circumstances beyond their control, such as World Wars (no Olympics were held in 1916, 1940, or 1944), politically driven boycotts, financial issues, or injuries that occurred at inopportune times.

Ian Millar, a Canadian equestrian competitor, has competed in 10 Olympic Games. He is a two-time Show Jumping World Cup winner as well as an Olympic silver medalist. In his sport, he is known as "Captain Canada" because of his longevity and successes. He beat the record when he competed in his tenth Olympic Games in London 2012, as a member of Canada's Olympic team. Hubert Raudaschl is a former Olympic athlete from Austria. Between 1964 and 1996, he competed in nine Olympic games. Raudaschl holds two Olympic silver medals, one in Finn sailing in Mexico City in 1968 and the other in Star sailing in Moscow in 1980. He has won two World Championships (in Finn sailing in 1964 and Microcupper sailing in 1978) and five European Championships. Afanasijs Kuzmins is a Latvian shooter who has won two Olympic medals in the 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol event, gold for the Soviet Union in 1988 and silver for Latvia in 1992. In addition, he won the World Championship in 25 m Standard Pistol in 1986. At the age of 65, he competed in his ninth Olympic Games, finishing 17th in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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Piero D'Inzeo was an Italian show jumping rider who competed in eight Olympics and won six medals. He and his younger brother Raimondo D'Inzeo have been dubbed the "invincible brothers" of Italian equestrianism in the international arena. Raimondo earned the gold medal in the Grand Prix jump obstacles at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, while Piero took silver. From 1948 to 1976, they were the first athletes to compete in all eight Olympic games. Piero won two silver and four bronze medals at the Olympics. Raimondo competed in the Olympics and earned one gold, two silvers, and three bronze medals.

Sir Durward Knowles was a Bahamas sailor and Olympic champion. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he won the gold medal in the Star class. At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, he won bronze in the same class. He had previously competed in the 1948 Olympics for the United Kingdom, finishing fourth in the Star class. Paul Bert Elvstrom was a yachtsman from Denmark. In divisions such as Snipe, Soling, Star, Flying Dutchman, Finn, 505, and 5.5 Metre, he won four Olympic gold medals and twenty world crowns. Elvstrm was named "Danish Sportsman of the Century" for his performances.

Rajmond Debevec is a shooter from Slovenia. In shooting, he has won three Olympic medals and eleven World Championship medals. In 1980, he competed in the Junior European Championships and earned his first medal. In 1984 and 1988, he competed for Yugoslavia, while in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, he competed for Slovenia. He was a gold medalist in the 50-metre rifle three positions event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

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Josefa Idem is an Italian sprint canoer who married Guerrini. She earned five medals after competing in eight Summer Olympics. Idem was the first Italian woman to win World Championships (22 total, five gold) and Olympic medals in canoe sprint, winning 35 medals in total. She became the oldest medalist in the history of the world championships at the 2009 edition. Lesley Thompson is an Olympic rowing coxswain from Canada. She competed in eight Olympic Games between 1984 and 2016, a record for a rower, and won medals in five of them, including gold in the coxed eight in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Francisco Boza is a Peruvian Olympic medallist in sports shooting. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he earned a silver medal in trap shooting and finished fourth four years later. From 1980 until 2004, he competed in eight Olympic Games. Nino Salukvadze is a female sports shooter from Georgia. She has competed in eight Olympics and has three medals to her credit. In the forthcoming games, she will be the first female athlete to compete in all nine Olympic Games. She won a gold medal in the women's 25-meter sporting pistol competition and a silver medal in the women's 10-meter air pistol competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics when she was 19 years old and participating in the Soviet Union. She added a bronze medal to her tally at the 2008 Summer Olympics, competing for Georgia in the 10-meter air pistol event.

Noriaki Kasai is a ski jumper from Japan. He won a gold medal at the 1992 World Ski Flying Championships, the 1999 Nordic Tournament, an individual silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and two individual bronze medals at the 2003 World Ski Jumping Championships. In 2016, he was awarded two Guinness World Records certificates for having the most individual World Cup starts in all World Cup disciplines run by the International Ski Federation, not just in ski jumping.

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