Which athletes have participated in the most Olympic Games ever?

Ever since the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, 861 athletes have participated in at five or more editions, with 211 going at least one further. As you can imagine, participation in the Games differs drastically depending on the athlete’s sport. Some disciplines allow the athlete greater longevity at the elite level. The likes of shooting, sailing and fencing have allowed this, as has equestrian, and this is where the current record holder by the number of participations is involved.

Most Olympic appearances for men

Ian Millar (Canada) - 10 Olympic Games

The Canadian Ian Millar started his Olympic journey at Munich in 1972 and ended at London in 2012, being absent only from the 1980 Summer Olympics due to Canada’s boycott with staggering 40 years competing and 10 Olympic Games participation on his belt. His only medal, silver in the team jumping tournament, came at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics but brought him a level of national fame not customarily seen for Canadians in the sport. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1986, named Ontario’s Male Athlete of the Year in 1989, and inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 alongside his most famous horse Big Ben. He now operates and trains at Millar Brooke Farm in Ontario and has written a book, Riding High, based on his show-jumping experiences in the 1970s and 80s.

Besides the Olympics competitions, his greatest successes have come at the Pan American Games at the international level, where he has won one gold, four silver, and one bronze medal in team jumping events and two gold and one bronze medal in individual competitions. He had won at the 1988 and 1989 World Cup Finals with Big Ben, becoming the first-ever rider to finish first in back-to-back World Cup standings with the same horse.

Hubert Raudaschl and Afanasijs Kuzmins - 9 Olympic Games

Hubert Raudaschl, the Austrian sailor, and Afanasijs Kuzmins, a shooter who represented Soviet Union (3) and Latvia (6), appeared in nine different Olympic Games.

Most Olympic appearances for women

Nino Salukvadze (Soviet Union/Georgia) - 9 Olympic Games

Nino Salukvadze is a Georgian shooter who competed in nine Olympic Games. She was born on February 1, 1969, in Tbilisi, Georgia (then part of the Soviet Union). Salukvadze has represented both the Soviet Union (in her earlier career) and Georgia in various international shooting competitions.

Her Olympic career spans an impressive range, having participated in every Summer Olympics from 1988 to 2020, except for the 2012 Games. She competed in pistol shooting events, including the 10m air pistol and the 25m pistol disciplines, winning multiple medals along the way, including a gold medal in the 10m air pistol event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics (representing the Soviet Union) and a silver medal in the 10m air pistol event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (representing Georgia).

Curiously, Salukvadze is also known for her unique achievement at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she competed alongside her son, Tsotne Machavariani, making them the first mother-son duo to compete at the same Olympic Games. And she’s not finished yet: Paris 2024 awaits where she will make her 10th appearance.

Josefa Idem-Guerrini (Italy/Germany) - 8 Olympic Games

Among the female competitors, the Italian/German kayaker Josefa Idem-Guerrini at the London 2012 Games set an Olympic record by becoming the first woman to compete at eight Olympic Games. Born in West Germany, she first competed at the Games in 1984, immediately winning a bronze medal with Barbara Schüttpelz in the K-2. Shortly after the Seoul Games, she moved to Italy. There, she met her new coach and future husband, Guglielmo Guerrini. The new partnership proved successful, winning her first World Championship medals in 1989. Starting in 1990, Josefa Idem competed for Italy, and she promptly won her first world title in the K-1 500m, adding a second one in the K-1 5000m in 1991. The results at the Olympic Games were somewhat disappointing, finishing fourth in Barcelona and third in Atlanta.

But Idem-Guerrini rose to the top again, winning another world title in 1998 (K-1 1000m), her first Olympic gold in Sydney, and the double (K-1 500m and 1000m) at the 2001 World Championships in Poznań. After giving birth to her second child, she made a comeback at the Athens Olympics. While failing to defend her title, she still managed a silver medal. She repeated this at the Beijing Games, where she finished only 4/1000ths of a second short from the gold medal. She won five Olympic medals during her career and 22 World Championship medals, including five World golds. Later she became involved in politics, and in 2013, she became Minister for Gender Equality and Sports in the Italian government.

Lesley Thompson (Canada) - 8 Olympic Games

Lesley Thompson from Canada also appeared in eight Olympics. Between 1984 to 2016 (but not including 2004) she rowed for her country collecting one gold, three silver and one bronze medals.

Oksana Chusovitina, Claudia Pechstein and Jaqueline Mourão also appeared eight times for their countries.