Top 20 Swimmers of the 2000s - No.4 - Ian Thorpe

No. 4 - Ian Thorpe

Performance 2000-2009

Olympics - 3 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Worlds - 5 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
WRs - 100 Free (2000-2004), 50 Free (2000-2008), 50 Fly (2000-2002), 100 Fly (2000-2009)
World Swimmer of the Year - Twice - 2000, 2001

Had this been a list of the Top 20 swimmers from 1998-2009 Thorpe would have been beaten only by Michael Phelps. Unfortunately for Thorpedo, Speedendurance's rules won't be stretched for anyone, therefore only his feats from 2000 have been taken into account. Regardless of the years lost, Thorpe still managed to chalk up an impressive roll of honour from the last decade.

Thorpe was undoubtedly swimming's biggest star until Phelps arrived and the few years they raced each other at 200 Free were a joy to behold. A physical phenomenon, Thorpe raised the sport's profile higher than it had been in a long while.

In terms of Olympic success Thorpe only has one blemish on his record, his defeat in Sydney to Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200 Free. Otherwise he was exceptional winning Gold twice in the 400 Free and once in the 200 Free. After winning bronze in the 100 Free in Athens he became the first man in Olympic history to medal in the 100-200-400 Free events. In Sydney expectations were immense on Thorpe, who was still yet to turn 18 at the time. He delivered on the first day winning the 400m Free in 3:40.59 (2.81 seconds clear of Massimiliano Rosolino and 6.41 seconds ahead of Klete Keller in 3rd) and followed it up on the same night by anchoring the 4 x 100 Free relay to Gold, breaking the USA's domination in the event. Until a certain Mr. Lezak showed up in Beijing, Thorpe's final leg was one of the most impressive relay swims in history.

Thorpe won both the 200 Free and 400 Free at Worlds in 2001 and 2003 aswell as the 800 Free in 2001. Had he swum in 2005, he would have been expected to win atleast the 400 Free and probably the 200 Free also.

As impressive as these achievements were, I believe Thorpe's greatest legacy lies not in the medals he collected, but in the phenomenal times he swum. He dominated the 400 Free event in a fashion rarely seen. He broke the WR when he was just 16 years old and continued to lower it to the mind-blowing 3:40.08 set at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Even with the aid of poly-urethane suits, Paul Biedermann was only able to break Thorpe's record by a single hundredth of a second. His time of 1:44.06 in the 200 Free also set new ground for that event, acheiving times that people wouldn't have dreamt possible just 2 years before.

Thorpe's loss of motivation/health is one of the great tragedies for the sport of swimming. His last major competition was the 2004 Olympics at the age of just 21, officially retiring on Nov 21 2006 (aged 24). Had he continued swimming to the Beijing Olympics he would have been aged just 25.

Picking a clip from Thorpe's career is tough. However, my personal favourite is the 2000 4 x 100 Free relay. In an event too short for him at the time, he overcame a legend in Gary Hall Jr. The fact he had won the 400 Free earlier that night made it all the more impressive and completed a magical night for Australian swimming.

Top 20 Swimmers of the 2000s - No.3 - Inge de Bruijn

No. 3 - Inge de Bruijn

Performance 2000-2009

Olympics - 4 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Worlds - 5 Golds
WRs - 100 Free (2000-2004), 50 Free (2000-2008), 50 Fly (2000-2002), 100 Fly (2000-2009)
World Swimmer of the Year - Twice - 2000, 2001


The Number 3 spot goes to Dutch sprint sensation Inge de Bruijn. De Bruijn comes in at this lofty position due to her impressive Olympic performances, flawless World Champs record and the length of time she dominated the world sprinting events.

De Bruijn became the first woman to retain her Olympic 50m Free Gold, an impressive feat despite the relatively short time this has been on the Olympic programme. In the closest event on the Olympic programme, de Bruijn's combined winning times in Sydney and Athens added up to a staggering 0.49 seconds. (0.19 in 2000 and 0.31 in 2004). Her time in the Sydney semi-final, 24.13, remains the fastest time ever swum in a non-tech suit. In fact, whilst the men's 50m Free WR has changed by 3.37% since tech suits were introduced, Britta Steffen has only bettered de Bruijn's effort in the 50 Free by 1.66%. This percentage change is also less than the women's 100 Free and 200 Free, bucking the WR trend of the men's freestyle events.

De Bruijn also dominated sprint butterfly during the early part of the last decade. Her stunning time of 56.61 set in the Olympic final in Sydney remains the fastest ever non-tech suit time. This monumental time won her the Olympic Gold by a clear 1.36 seconds from silver medallist Martina Moravcova. De Bruijn's heat time would have been enough to win Gold in the final.

Sprint events are arguably the hardest events in swimming to dominate in and de Bruijn did exactly that. She not only won her races, she won them by clear water. I hope you enjoy reliving Inge de Bruijn's destruction of the field in the Sydney 100m Butterfly final. Pay particular attention to the afterburners in the second 50.

Top 20 Swimmers of the 2000s - No.2 - Yana Klochkova

No. 2 - Yana Klochkova

Performance 2000-2009

Olympics - 4 Golds, 1 Silver
Worlds - 4 Golds, 1 Silver
WRs - 400 IM (2000-2007)
World Swimmer of the Year - 1 time - 2004


After Michael Phelps, the task of choosing a no.2 of the last decade gets decidedly trickier. There could be cases for atleast 8 or 9 swimmers for this spot, however, I've decided to go with the Ukrainian I.M. Queen, Yana Klochkova.

Klochkova secures the no.2 spot for her sheer dominance in the I.M events between the years 2000 and 2004, most notably in the Olympics. In Athens 2004, she became the first woman ever in Olympic swimming to win back-to-back pairs of individual gold medals in the same events. She also won silver in the 800 Free in 2000.

Her performances at Worlds were equally impressive. She won gold in the 400 IM (in 2001 and 2003), 200 IM (2003) and 400 Free (2001). In 2001 she suffered her only defeat internationally in Medley events in the period 2000-04 by winning silver at the Worlds in the 200 IM behind Martha Bowen (USA). Klochkova notably won only Golds or Silvers in all of her individual races in major competitions throughout the last decade.

She only held 1 longcourse WR in her career (albeit her 400 IM time of 4:33.59 lasted for 7 years), however the 200 IM record she failed to break was Wu Yanyan's somewhat tainted mark of 2:09.72. Klochkova's best time of 2:10.68 cleared Lin Li's previous WR by almost a second.

Klochkova may not be the most popular choice for the no.2 swimmer of the last decade, but few can argue with her dominance at major competitions.

To relive arguably Klochkova's greatest moment in swimming, click here.

Top 20 Swimmers of the 2000s - No.1 - Michael Phelps

Award season is upon us here at Speed Endurance HQ.

Over the coming weeks I will be running down my Top 20 Swimmers of 2000-2009. Unlike most lists I will do it in ascending order. Part of the excitement of these lists is discovering who is no.1 and since most people on the planet could guess who that will be I've decided to go the other way. I hope I don't upset too many 'list-purists' in the process.

Entry onto this list will depend on a number of factors. Weighted most heavily will be individual performance at the Olympics and World Championships (Relay medals won't count), followed by duration of time as WR holder and number of World Swimmer of the Year awards. The final factor will be the swimmer's impact and dominance in the sport of swimming.

So without further ado...

No. 1 - Michael Phelps

Performance 2000-2009

Olympics - 9 Golds, 1 Bronze
Worlds - 13 Gold, 3 Silver
WRs - 200 Free - 2007-2009, 100 Fly - 2003, 2009-2010, 200 Fly 2001-2010, 200 IM - 2003-2009, 400 IM - 2002-2010
World Swimmer of the Year - 6 times, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

The greatest swimmer to have ever lived. He took up Ian Thorpe's mantle as the most famous swimmer in the world and ran with it. To say he raised the bar of swimming doesn't even begin to go far enough.

Phelps was made to swim - mentally and physically. With his enormous wingspan, short legs and hypermobile ankles he has a swimmers physique unmatched by many aswell as a mental steel and toughness that has allowed him to remain motivated despite his success. Whilst many swimming stars reach the top of the world for a couple of years and then are surpassed by younger talent or lose their motivation to stay at the top, Phelps seems to be just as motivated now as in Sydney as a 15 year old coming 5th in the 200m Fly final.

A great piece on Michael Phelps here by GB 200 fly swimmer Steve Parry.

What to do with the non-textile suit WRs

Great discussion (video below) on the fate of the non-textile WRs set in 2008-2009. This is without doubt the best discussion so far on this issue. Craig Lord and Garrett McCaffrey presented their points superbly. Both made valid arguments for an issue that has no easy answer. One thing is for sure, we need more of this sort of discussion in the swimming world.

Here's my take.... I believe we should have one set of official World Records and they should be as they stand now. These are the records to have on the top of timesheets, the WR line on TV, prize money at World Cups/Mare Nostrum etc.

The Polyurethane suits have already taken too much attention away from the swimmers, we cannot continue to keep having to mention in every race report about textile and non-textile suits. The sport needs to move on. We have the refreshing prospect of having race reports in 2010 that list just the times and places. The sport has seen a resurgence in the public domain, having the Duel in the Pool televised live on BBC here in the UK was a great sign of how the sport is thriving, and I do not believe that the casual viewer will put up with 2 sets of records with the difference between them having to be continually explained.

We should also not forget that these WRs were set legally under FINA rules. It would be unjust to have these swimmers achievements wiped from the record books, or tainted by listing a second set of times next to them. By doing this we would be in danger of insinuating the suits as a form of cheating which they were not.

Without trying to go back on myself, I still do believe there is a place for the pre-Non Textile suit WRs. They are useful to have for those who follow swimming closely as a gauge of how fast swimmers are in relation to semi-comparable times. I do not see a problem in declaring if a swim has broken the fastest non-textile time, or if a swimmer has just swum the 3rd fastest non-Tech suit time ever etc., in fact I would encourage it. As Craig Lord points out in the interview, we do not want to crush the aspirations of younger swimmers who may believe they will never break a WR. If they can gain a certain level of recognition for breaking a textile fastest time, hopefully they can use this and aim for the Tech suit time. If the goal is so far fetched, the example was Kukors' 2:06 in the Women's 200IM, then some swimmers may lose hope. If they have Yanyan Wu's 2:09.72 as the first hurdle, hopefully the journey to breaking the 2:06 mark may seem less daunting.

Whatever your view on the current state of the WRs. Its a discussion that needs to continue.

Percentage Changes By Event Pre/Post Polyurethane suits

One area of the swimming world which I believe has been overlooked is a statistical analysis of the effect Polyurethane suits had on the sport. We hear about how many WRs we've seen since they were introduced but that is where the figures stop. I've chosen to look closer at the impact of the suits on WRs. By publishing these figures I hope to show which events moved on faster than others since the introduction of Polyurethane suits. This should give us some insight into which events we may see new WRs in the next few years. If you take a slight leap of faith - the lower the percentage change, the less impact the suit had on the pre-Polyurethane WR and the more likely they could be broken in 2010 suits.

. Pre-Poly WR Post-Poly WR %age Change . 50m Freestyle 21.64 Alexander Popov 20.91 Cesar Cielo 3.373% . 100m Freestyle 47.84 P. v.d Hoogenband 46.91 Cesar Cielo 1.944% . 200m Freestyle 1:43.86 Michael Phelps 1:42.00 Paul Biedermann 1.791% . 400m Freestyle 3:40.08 Ian Thorpe 3:40.07 Paul Biedermann 0.005% . 800m Freestyle 7:38.65 Grant Hackett 7:32.12 Zhang Lin 1.424% . 1500m Freestyle 14:34.56 Grant Hackett 14:34.56 Grant Hackett 0% . 50m Backstroke 24.8 Thomas Rupprath 24.04 Liam Tancock 3.065% . 100m Backstroke 52.98 Aaron Peirsol 51.94 Aaron Peirsol 1.963% . 200m Backstroke 1:54.30 Ryan Lochte 1:51.92 Aaron Peirsol 2.082% . 50m Breaststroke 27.18 Oleg Lisogor 26.67 van der Burgh 1.876% . 100m Breaststroke 59.13 Brendan Hansen 58.58 Brenton Rickard 0.93% . 200m Breaststroke 2:08.50 Brendan Hansen 2:07.31 Christian Sprenger 0.926% . 50m Butterfly 22.96 Roland Schoeman 22.43 Rafael Munoz 2.308% . 100m Butterfly 50.4 Ian Crocker 49.82 Michael Phelps 1.151% . 200m Butterfly 1:52.09 Michael Phelps 1:51.51 Michael Phelps 0.517% . 200m Individual Medley 1:54.98 Michael Phelps 1:54.10 Ryan Lochte 0.765% . 400m Individual Medley 4:06.22 Michael Phelps 4:03.84 Michael Phelps 0.967% . 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:12.46 USA 3:08.24 USA 2.193% . 4 x 100m Medley 3:30.68 USA 3:27.28 USA 1.614%

. 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:03.24 USA 6:58.55 USA 1.108% . . . Pre-Poly WR Post-Poly WR %age Change . 50m Freestyle 24.13 Inge de Bruijn 23.73 Britta Steffen 1.658% . 100m Freestyle 53.3 Britta Steffen 52.07 Britta Steffen 2.308% . 200m Freestyle 1:55.52 Laure Manaudou 1:52.98 Federica Pellegrini 2.199% . 400m Freestyle 4:02.13 Laure Manaudou 3:59.15 Federica Pellegrini 1.231% . 800m Freestyle 8:16.22 Janet Evans 8:14.10 Rebecca Adlington 0.427% . 1500m Freestyle 15:42.54 Kate Ziegler 15:42.54 Kate Ziegler 0% . 50m Backstroke 28.09 Li Yang 27.06 Zhao Jing 3.667% . 100m Backstroke 59.44 Natalie Coughlin 58.12 Gemma Spofforth 2.221% . 200m Backstroke 2:06.62 Krisztina Egerszegi 2:05.24 Kirsty Coventry 1.09% . 50m Breaststroke 30.31 Jade Edmistone 29.8 Jessica Hardy 1.683% . 100m Breaststroke 1:05.09 Leisel Jones 1:04.45 Jessica Hardy 0.983% . 200m Breaststroke 02:20.5 Leisel Jones 2:20.12 Annamay Pierse 0.299% . 50m Butterfly 25.33 A Kammerling 25.07 Therese Alshammar 1.026% . 100m Butterfly 56.61 Inge de Bruijn 56.06 Sarah Sjöström 0.972% . 200m Butterfly 2:05.40 Jessicah Schipper 2:01.81 Liu Zige 2.863% . 200m Individual Medley 2:09.72 Yanyan Wu 2:06.15 Ariana Kukors 2.752%

. 400m Individual Medley 4:32.89 Katie Hoff 4:29.45 Stephanie Rice 1.261% . 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:35.22 GER 3:31.72 NET 1.626% . 4 x 100m Medley 3:55.74 AUS 3:52.19 CHI 1.506% . 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:50.09 USA 7:44.31 AUS 1.23%

If we break this down by stroke, we find some interesting results. I've taken the percentage changes from the WRs of 50s, 100s and 200s of all 4 strokes and compared the total effect.

Mens

Freestyle - 7.108% (50 - 3.373%, 100 - 1.944%, 200 - 1.791%)
Backstroke - 7.110% (50 - 3.065%, 100 - 1.963%, 200 - 2.082%)
Breaststroke - 3.733% (50 - 1.876, 100 - 0.930%, 200 - 0.926%)
Butterfly - 3.977% - (50 - 2.308%, 100 - 1.151%, 200 - 0.517%)

Womens

Freestyle - 6.164% (50 - 1.658%, 100 - 2.308%,200 - 2.199%
Backstroke - 6.977% (50 - 3.677%, 100 - 2.221%, 200 - 1.090%)
Breaststroke - 2.965% (50 - 1.683%, 100 - 0.983%, 200 - 0.299%)
Butterfly - 4.861% (50 - 1.026%, 100 - 0.972%, 200 - 2.863%)

From these figures it appears that, in terms of WRs being broken, the suits benefited male and female Backstrokers and Freestylers significantly more than they did male and female Breaststroke and Fly swimmers. I predict that the WRs in the Women's Breaststroke events especially could be at risk in 2010 suits sooner than many would expect.

I predict the first 5 Individual WRs to be broken in the near(ish) future

Women's 1500m Freestyle - 15:42.54 - Kate Ziegler set her mark in a non Polyurethane suit and so this has to be the favourite for the first WR to go with 2010 suits.
Women's 200m Breaststroke - 2:20.12 - Annamay Pierse was only 0.299% (0.38 secs) under Leisel Jones non-Poly mark. With Jones, Soni and Pierse driving each other on, this WR is a definite possibility.
Women's 800m Freestyle - 8:14.10 - Rebecca Adlington was just 0.427% (2.12 secs) under Janet Evans' 1989 mark. Judging by Adlington's sub 4:00 SC time at Duel in the Pool in a 2010 suit I think her current WR in this event under threat.
Men's 200m Butterfly - 1:51.51 - Michael Phelps only bettered his non-Poly WR by 0.517% (0.58 secs). Who would put it past Phelps to be the first swimmer to break a Polyurethane WR in a 2010 suit? Not me.
Men's 1500m Freestyle - 14:34.56 - One of the truly historic WRs in world swimming. Grant Hackett's ridiculous mark from 2001 was one of only 2 WRs to survive the Polyurethane onslaught. Some have predicted that this mark will remain well into this decade, but with the chasing pack including Mellouli, Cochrane, Park, Zhang and Prilukov this will be a record they will be desperate to beat.

LC World Records pre-Polyurethane Suits

By publishing this I do not intend to diminish the acheivements of any of the World Record breakers since February 2008. Too often we lose sight of the fact that these guys are truly gifted athletes who work incredibly hard to acheive what they have. However, as the rules have changed re: swimsuits, so will the results. I have compiled what I consider the new targets for swimmers to shoot for. These are the records that stood before Polyurethane suits were used (February 2008).

. Discipline Time Name NAT Date Event . 50m Freestyle 21.64 Alexander Popov RUS 6/1/2000 Russian Olympic Trials . 100m Freestyle 47.84 P. v.d Hoogenband NET 9/19/2000 Olympic Games . 200m Freestyle 1:43.86 Michael Phelps USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 400m Freestyle 3:40.08 Ian Thorpe AUS 7/30/2002 Commonwealth Games . 800m Freestyle 7:38.65 Grant Hackett AUS 7/27/2005 World Championships . 1500m Freestyle 14:34.56 Grant Hackett AUS 7/29/2001 World Championships . 50m Backstroke 24.8 Thomas Rupprath GER 7/27/2003 World Championships . 100m Backstroke 52.98 Aaron Peirsol USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 200m Backstroke 1:54.30 Ryan Lochte USA 3/30/2007 World Championships . 50m Breaststroke 27.18 Oleg Lisogor UKR 8/2/2002 European Championships . 100m Breaststroke 59.13 Brendan Hansen USA 8/1/2006 US Nationals . 200m Breaststroke 2:08.50 Brendan Hansen USA 8/21/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 50m Butterfly 22.96 Roland Schoeman SA 7/25/2005 World Championships . 100m Butterfly 50.4 Ian Crocker USA 7/30/2005 World Championships . 200m Butterfly 1:52.09 Michael Phelps USA 3/28/2007 World Championships . 200m Individual Medley 1:54.98 Michael Phelps USA 3/29/2007 World Championships . 400m Individual Medley 4:06.22 Michael Phelps USA 4/1/2007 World Championships . 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:12.46 United States USA 8/19/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 4 x 100m Medley 3:30.68 United States USA 8/21/2004 Olympic Games

. 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:03.24 United States USA 3/30/2007 World Championships . . Discipline Time Name NAT Date Event . 50m Freestyle 24.13 Inge de Bruijn NET 9/22/2000 Olympic Games . 100m Freestyle 53.3 Britta Steffen GER 8/2/2006 European Championships . 200m Freestyle 1:55.52 Laure Manaudou FRA 3/28/2007 World Championships . 400m Freestyle 4:02.13 Laure Manaudou FRA 8/6/2006 European Championships . 800m Freestyle 8:16.22 Janet Evans USA 8/20/1989 Pan Pacific Championships . 1500m Freestyle 15:42.54 Kate Ziegler USA 6/17/2007 TYR Meet of Champions . 50m Backstroke 28.09 Li Yang CHI 10/19/2007 World Military Games . 100m Backstroke 59.44 Natalie Coughlin USA 3/27/2007 World Championships . 200m Backstroke 2:06.62 Krisztina Egerszegi HUN 8/25/1991 European Championships . 50m Breaststroke 30.31 Jade Edmistone AUS 1/30/2006 AUS Nationals . 100m Breaststroke 1:05.09 Leisel Jones AUS 3/20/2006 Commonwealth Games . 200m Breaststroke 02:20.5 Leisel Jones AUS 2/1/2006 AUS Commonwealth Trials . 50m Butterfly 25.33 A. Kammerling SWE 3/12/2005 Swedish SC Championships . 100m Butterfly 56.61 Inge de Bruijn NET 9/17/2000 Olympic Games . 200m Butterfly 2:05.40 Jessicah Schipper AUS 8/17/2006 Pan Pacific Championships . 200m Individual Medley 2:09.72 Yanyan Wu CHI 10/17/1997 China's National Games . 400m Individual Medley 4:32.89 Katie Hoff USA 4/1/2007 World Championships

. 4 x 100m Freestyle 3:35.22 Germany GER 7/31/2006 European Championships . 4 x 100m Medley 3:55.74 Australia AUS 3/31/2007 World Championships . 4 x 200m Freestyle 7:50.09 United States USA 3/29/2007 World Championships .

* - February 2008 is the date when poly suits were first introduced. Listing the records at this date is open to interpretation. There were a number of world records in Melbourne 2007 after some relatively quiet years 2000-20006, this could also be explained by faster suits. Its hard to forget all the claims made by Speedo of how much the various Fastskins were supposed to drop drag and reduce effort. Most people that have ever worn full legs or full body suits would agree that they benefit you, regardless of the textile/non-textile argument. Fastskin II was supposed to drop the drag by 4% to all other suits, clearly an advantage. The reason I haven't set it back to 1998, when bodysuits first came on the scene, is that swimmers have unquestionably become faster since 98 in most events. They train harder, for longer and have better support nowadays than before bodysuits. It is fair to assume that the 1998 records would have been broken, in most cases, by the same swimmers with or without the bodysuits.

Franziska van Almsick Profile

Posted today on Swimnews.

"Franziska van Almsick, 31 and former world 200m freestyle champion in 1994 and record holder between 1994 and 2007, today flies the flag for all elite athletes in Germany. At the launch of a new series in Bild entitled "Heroes Without Money" ["Held Ohne Geld"], the former multiple European champion - and spokesperson for the Deutschen Sporthilfe support unit - notes that most world-class athletes in Germany put in a 60-hour week in return for monthly support of around 600 euros. Asked why athletes "sacrifice" so much for so little, Van Almsick replies: "The question is false: athletes don't sacrifice, it is a question of pure passion."

Van Almsick in my opinion is one the greatest European swimmers to have ever lived. Her 200m Free WR set in 1994 (aged 16) of 1:56.78 was something very special.(No swimsuit controversy in those times, although she did qualify 9th for the record breaking final only for her teammate Dagmar Hase to pull out sick - Video of the race below, tell me if you think she has a chance with 50 to go!). The record stood until 2002 when 'Franzi' lowered it herself to 1:56.64 at the Europeans in 2002. The new world record as well as 5 gold medals capped an incredible comeback to form. Her new WR lasted until Federica Pellegrini broke it at the Worlds in Melbourne in 2007.

She never managed to win an Olympic Gold medal. The closest she came was in 1992 at the age of 14 when she won silver, just 0.10 behind Nicole Haislett (USA) - 1:57.90 to 1:58.00. She followed this up with another silver in 1996 behind Claudia Poll, 1:58.16 to 1:58.57. (Poll later failed a drug test in 2002). Unfortunately the lack of Olympic Gold may adversely affect her legacy in swimming. I hope it doesn't. She set one of the all-time great WRs in swimming and should be remembered alongside the other European greats.

Due to her early success and photogenic looks she was lauded over by the German media her entire career and remains a prominent figure in Germany. She appears at major swimming competitions as a pundit on German TV (impressive contributions so far) and is now helping German athletes.

Here's to hoping that she is remembered, outside of Germany, as a true great.

Roll call - Olympics - 4 Silver, 6 Bronze
Worlds - 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze
Europeans - 18 Gold, 3 Silver