With a narrow 1-0 victory over Spain, Germany secured the men’s Olympic (field) hockey title on Saturday. Hockey fans will have noted a familiar surname in the team line-up, that of attacker Florian Keller. His Olympic hockey legacy dates back to 1936, when his grandfather Erwin was a member of the German team that won a silver medal at the Berlin Games, behind the then unbeatable Indian hockey wizards.  

At the next Olympics in Germany, Erwin’s son Carsten played for the West German hockeyers, who won heavily contested final against Pakistan. Germany picked up its first ever hockey gold, while Pakistani players misbehaved throughout the victory ceremony. Twenty years later, another Keller won an Olympic hockey final. Having lost to Pakistan in 1984 and Britain in 1988, Andreas Keller - the son of Carsten - finally won the gold in Barcelona. Andreas’s sister Natascha also played hockey, and shot the German team to a surprise victory over the Netherlands in 2004, winning the family’s sixth Olympic hockey medal. Their sibling Florian made it seven in Beijing, while Natascha narrowly missed the rostrum in fourth. Perhaps more success will come in the future: Andreas Keller married fellow Olympic hockey medallist Anke Wild, while Florian has hooked up with 2004 bronze medallist in football, Navina Omilade.

While unique in hockey, the Keller dynasty is not the only family performing well at the Olympics. The famous Lunde family from Norway is perhaps the best example. It started with Eugen Lund, who won a sailing gold in 1924. His son Peter senior and his wife Vibeke won sailing silver in 1952. They were surpassed by their son Peter junior, winning a sailing gold in 1960. Peter junior married skiing Olympian Aud Hvammen (whose sister Margit also skied), and their daughter Jeannette Lunde skied and sailed at the Olympics.

In fencing, the Italian Montano family has been present at many Olympics. Aldo Montano first won a silver medal in 1936. His son Mario Aldo did even better, winning a gold (and two silvers) between 1972 and 1980. Three of his cousins (all brothers), also competed in the Italian fencing teams all winning at least a silver medal: Mario Tullio, Tommaso and Carlo. In 2004, Aldo Montano II, grandson of the first extended his family’s success with a gold in the sabre, the same event his father and grandfather excelled in.

In the same sport, Hungary also has produced a longlasting dynasty. The great Aladár Gerevich (who won 10 Olympic medals, including 7 golds), married Erna Bogen-Bogáti, herself a bronze medallist in 1932 and the daughter of silver medallist Albert Bogen. The two raised their son Pál Gerevich as a two-time Olympic bronze medal winner. Pál also married an Olympian, volleyball player Gyöngyi Bardi (twice fourth).

Dayron Robles won the medal that China had reserved for Liu Xiang, and they’ve won 24 medals as I write this, but Cubans have had less reason to celebrate than usual. Traditionally, Cuba rockets up the medal rankings in the final weekend of the Olympics, when the boxing finals are held. But not in Beijing. 

For the first time since 1968, Cuba has not won an Olympic boxing title (although they boycotted the 1984 and 1988 Games). Between 1972 and 2004, it has won 32 boxing golds, more than half of their total gold medals in that period. Cubans have won each of the heavyweight boxing contests they entered, with Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón winning three medals each. But not in Beijing.

Eight Cubans did reach the boxing semi-finals in China, giving them a certain bronze medal, but only four of them made the final. That same number made the last round in Sydney eight year back, and then all four won their bout. But not in Beijing.

The other sport in which Cuba is traditionally strong also underdelivered. In what may well be the last Olympics for baseball — the sport was removed from the 2012 program — they lost the Olympic gold to South Korea. The Cubans already lost to the Asians in the round robin play (their fourth Olympic loss ever), but they had won three Olympic baseball golds in the past. But not in Beijing.

On Tuesday, Chris Hoy became the first British cyclist to win the individual sprint title and in the process win his third gold medal of the Games. This was the first time a Briton had achieved this feat since a swimmer called Henry Taylor in the long ago days of 1936. 

This has been a remarkable Games for Britain’s track cyclists. Out of a possible thirty medals Britain have won twelve including seven gold. This comes for a nation who failed to produce a single Olympic champion between 1920 and 1992. The catalyst for change was the partnership between a former cyclist called Peter Keen and an up and coming pursuit cyclist called Chris Boardman. Boardman arrived in Barcelona in 1992 as an outside bet for a medal but, armed with a revolutionary new bicycle, produced the most dominating performance in his event’s history.

The disappointing all around performance of Great Britain at the Atlanta Games brought about a change in the way that Olympic sports were financed in the country and it was armed with funding from the newly established National Lottery that Keen, by now performance director of British Cycling, set about to build a program to challenge the world.

Successes began to mount, firstly at world championship level, and then in 2000 Jason Queally became Olympic champion in the 1km time trial. Two more golds were won at Athens but the greatest performances were yet to come. At the 2007 world championships in Spain the British took seven gold medals and then, on home soil, improved the gold tally to nine in 2008.

The British Olympians to have won three golds at a single games are:

• John Jarvis, 1900, Swimming
• Henry Taylor, 1908, Swimming
• Chris Hoy, 2008, Cycling

The cyclists who have won three or more golds at a single games are:

• Marcus Hurley, USA, 1904 (4)
• Paul Masson, FRA, 1896 (3)
• Francisco Verri, ITA, 1906 (3)
• Leontien Zijlaard, NED, 2000 (3)
• Chris Hoy, GBR, 2008 (3)

You may have missed it, but Bruno Julie wrote a small piece of Olympic history earlier this week in Beijing. A boxer in the bantamweight class, he won his third fight against Manzanilla of Venezuela and thereby reached the semi-finals. With bronze medals awarded to losing semi-finalists, Julie has ensured his nation’s first medal. Bruno Julie is from the island nation of Mauritius, located in the Indian Ocean. Discovered in the 16th century, it is perhaps best known as the habitat of the now-extinct dodo. Only 1.2 million people live in Mauritius, much less than in the Olympic city of Beijing, which has roughly 15 million inhabitants.

While Mauritius is the smallest nation to earn a medal in Beijing so far, it is not the smallest country (counting by population) ever to win medal. That honour goes to Monaco, which won a bronze medal in the 1924 art competitions. For the small principality (population: 33,000) on the Mediterrenean coast, Julien Médecin won a bronze for his stadium design in the architecture competition. When counting only the sports events, the smallest nation to win an Olympic medal is another European principality, Liechtenstein. The country won no less than nine medals, all in alpine skiing. Five of those nine medals were won by members of the Wenzel family, of German origin. Hanni Wenzel won two gold medals at the Lake Placid Olympics, winning the slalom and giant slalom.

The smallest nation to win medal in the Summer Olympics (not counting the art events) is Bermuda. Like Mauritius, Bermuda is an island nation, but has only 65,000 inhabitants. Also like Mauritius, their medal was won by a boxer. Clarence Hill won his bronze in the heavyweight division at the 1976 Olympics. He would later be jailed several times, for drug possession and armed robbery, but went clean and became a carpenter. The smallest country to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics is a neighbour of Bermuda: the Bahamas. They have won a total of 4 gold medals, the first dating from 1964, won by sailor Durward Knowles.

Ian Millar and his Canadian team in the equestrian show jumping won a silver medal, trailing the United States after a jump-off. This was the first Olympic medal won by Millar. However, it was an Olympic record for him, as he won this medal in his 9th Olympic appearance. Millar first competed in the Olympics in 1972 at München, and since then has missed only the 1980 Moskva Olympics. His previous best finishes were 4th in the team event in 1984 and 1988 and 5th in 1976.

Millar tied the Olympic best with his ninth Olympic appearance, set by Austria’s Hubert Raudausch, a sailor/yachtsman who competed continuously from 1964 thru 1996. Four athletes have competed at eight Olympic Games, as follows: Piero D’Inzeo (ITA-EQU; 1948-1976); Raimondo D’Inzeo (ITA-EQU; 1948-1976); Durward Knowles (BAH/GBR-SAI; 1948-1972, 1988); and Paul Elvstrøm (DEN-SAI; 1948-1960, 1968-1972, 1984-1988).

The record for women is seven Olympic appearances, previously held by Sweden’s Kerstin Palm, a fencer who competed from 1964-1988, and by Merlene Ottey (1980-2004). Ottey was an excellent sprinter for Jamaica, but made her last Olympic appearance in 2004 representing Slovenia. She attempted to compete in 2008, but did not make the qualifying time. This record was equaled in Beijing by French cyclist Jeannie Longo who has competed at every Olympics in which cycling was a sport available to women – 1984-2008. The record at the Winter Olympics is six appearances, held by 11 men and three women.

Millar won his first medal after 36 years as an Olympic competitor. That is a rather arcane record of sorts. Raudaschl won two silver medals in 1968 and 1980. The D’Inzeo brothers were both renowned horsemen who both won six Olympic medals. Elvstrøm was one of the greatest sailors ever, winning gold medals in Finn Monotype class at four consecutive Olympics – 1948-1960. He did not compete at the 1964 Olympics, and also skipped 1976 and 1980, but returned in 1984, skippering his daughter, Trine, in the Olympics in 1984-88. Durward Knowles’ first Olympic appearance in 1948 was for Great Britain as the Bahamas did not yet have a National Olympic Committee, but he later competed for his native Bahamas from 1952-1988. He won two medals in his career, a bronze in 1956 and a gold medal in 1964. Longo has won four Olympic medals, led by a gold in the 1996 road race. Ottey is one of the great female sprinters ever, winning nine Olympic medals, but has never managed a gold – winning three silver and six bronze. Kerstin Palm never won an Olympic medal, her best finish being fifth in the 1968 women’s individual foil.

So how many Olympic Records did Michael Phelps set in Beijing? Not talking here about swim times and the fastest times for a race, but rather records for most medals, most gold medals, etc.

Everyone knows by now that his 8 gold medals are the most ever at a single Olympic games, surpassing the record set by Mark Spitz in 1972. And that his 14 gold medals are the most ever won by any Olympian, surpassing Ray Ewry’s 10, if we include 1906, which we do, or the nine gold medals won by Paavo Nurmi (FIN-ATH), Carl Lewis (USA-ATH), Larisa Latynina (URS-GYM), and Spitz. But are there other bests he has surpassed?

Phelps has now won 16 Olympic medals, as he also won two bronze medals in Athens. That is a record for men at the Olympics, surpassing the 15 of Nikolay Andrianov, the Soviet gymnast, who won his in 1972-80. He still trails Latynina, who won 18 Olympic medals. Phelps says he wants to compete in 2012 in London, and if so, that record is toast.

What about the records for a single Olympics. The most gold medals at a single Olympics previously was, as mentioned, 7 by Spitz. Three athletes won six gold medals at one Olympics, and Phelps’s 2004 performance was one of those. The others were Kristin Otto (GDR-SWI) in 1988, and Vitaly Shcherbo (EUN-GYM) in 1992. Phelps has now won eight medals in both 2004 and 2008, and ties the mark for most medals at one Olympics – Aleksandr Dityatin, Soviet gymnast, won eight medals in eight events in 1980.

Of Phelps eight gold medals, three were in relay events, meaning he won five individual gold medals in Beijing. That is not a record. In terms of medals, Dityatin won seven individual gymnastics medals in 1980. Five athletes have won six individual medals at one Olympics, as follows: Burton Downing (USA-CYC-1904); George Eyser (USA-GYM-1904); Boris Shakhlin (URS-GYM-1960); Mikhail Voronin (URS-GYM-1968); and Andrianov (URS-GYM01976). Once again, you can see that gymnasts and swimmers dominant the most medals records, in virtually every category.

But Phelps has won five individual gold medals in Beijing. Is that a record for a single Olympic Games? This ties the mark, set by Shcherbo in gymnastics in 1992, and at the Winter Olympics, by Eric Heiden in speed skating in 1980. Ten athletes have won four individual gold medals at a single Olympic Games, and Phelps was one of those in 2004. The others were Alvin Kraenzlein (USA-ATH-1900), Anton Heida (USA-GYM-1904), Marcus Hurley (USA-CYC-1904), Lidiya Skoblikova (URS-SSK-1964), Věra Čáslavská (TCH-GYM-1968), and Shakhlin in 1960, Spitz in 1972, Andrianov in 1976, and Otto in 1988.

And yet, you may ask, where does Phelps stand in terms of Olympic Swim Records, in terms of times. Thru 2008, he has broken the Olympic record 17 times, and that is an Olympic best, bettering Johnny Weissmuller, who had 10. Spitz broke an Olympic record nine times in 1968-1972, eight times in München, with eight of those world records. Those who have set Olympic Swim Records eight or more times, are as follows:

• Michael Phelps (17)
• Johnny Weissmuller (10)
• Dawn Fraser (9)
• Jenny Thompson (9)
• Mark Spitz (9)
• Kornelia Ender (8)
• Matt Biondi (8)

Dmitry Sautin and his partner, Yury Kunakov, won the silver medal in men’s synchro diving on Wednesday. That enabled Sautin to extend his record for Olympic diving medals with eight – far surpassing the next best, which is five medals by four divers – Greg Louganis (USA), Klaus Dibiasi (ITA), Fu Mingxia (CHN), and Xiong Ni (CHN). Sautin has now won two gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

Sautin also won a medal for the fifth consecutive Olympics. He first competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, in which he won a bronze on the springboard. In 1996 at Atlanta he was the gold medalist on the platform. In 2000 he won a medal in all four diving events, topped by a gold in synchronized platform. Athens saw him win a bronze on the springboard. No other diver has won medals at five Olympics. Dibiasi and Xiong won at four consecutive Olympics.

Where does that stand overall? Three Olympians have won medals at six Olympic Games. Aladár Gerevich (HUN) won medals in sabre fencing from 1936-1960, missing two Olympics because of World War II. German Hans Günter Winkler won his medals in show jumping consecutively from 1956-1968. Canoeist Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (GDR/GER) won medals from 1980-2004, missing the 1984 Olympics because of the Soviet-led boycott. We think she’s retired – she’s not entered in Beijing, but she has come out of retirement several times in the past. Both Gerevich and Fischer-Schmidt won gold medals at six Olympic Games.

Winning medals at five Olympic Games? Sautin was the 25th Olympian to pull off that feat, matching Japan’s Ryoko Tamura-Tani, who won a medal in judo a few days ago in Beijing, for her fifth consecutive Olympics with a medal.

There were 204 nations that marched at the Opening Ceremony, which included all the Member NOCs in the IOC, with the exception of Brunei Darusallam, which strangely did not enter its athletes by the deadline. Three nations competed for the first time – the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, and Tuvalu. Wait a minute, what about Serbia, you may ask? Weren’t they competing for the first time? After the break-up of Yugoslavia, the remnants of the former Yugoslavia became the nation of Serbia & Montenegro and competed under that name in both 2000 and 2004. On 3 June 2006, Montenegro became independent of Serbia and the two provinces split up into independent nations. In July 2007, the IOC recognized new NOCs from both Montenegro and Serbia.

But a little known fact is that Serbia had competed before as an independent nation. In 1912, prior to the formation of Yugoslavia in 1918 (originally called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes), Serbia competed at the Stockholm Olympics with two runners in track & field – Dušan Milošević in the 100 metres, and Dragutin Tomašević in the marathon.

Thru the first six days of the Beijing Olympics, two nations have won their first ever Olympic medals. In men’s Kayak Slalom canoeing, Benjamin Boukpeti of Togo won a bronze medal, the first ever medal for Togoan athlete. In men’s 73 kg. class judo, Rasul Boqiev of Tajikistan won the first Olympic medal for that nation.

Mongolia has won two medals so far in Beijing (thru 14 August). The first was a silver medal, which gave Mongolia six silver medals and 10 bronze medals, extending their lead as the nation with the most Olympic medals, but never to have won a gold. But yesterday, Mongolia lost that title, when Tuvshinbayar Naidan won a gold medal in men’s 100 kg. class judo. The record now reverts to the Philippines which has nine Olympic medals – two silver and seven bronze – but still no gold medals in full medal sports. (In 1988, Arienne Cerdena won the women’s bowling demonstration conducted at the Seoul Olympics.) The next on that list are Puerto Rico and Bohemia with six medals – both with one silver and five bronze. Bohemia will likely remain on the list forever, but did compete at the Olympics in 1900, 1906, 1908, and 1912, prior to combining with Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia to form Czechoslovakia.

One in a billion, that’s the only way to describe Indian shooting gold medallist Abhinav Bindra. On Monday, he broke the 108 year jinx and became his country’s first ever Olympic champion in an individual event. India have previously won eight gold medals but every one has come from the men’s field hockey team who won every title from 1928 to 1956 and added further titles in 1964 and 1980. But if the Olympic record of India, with a population of 1.1 billion, is not exactly awe-inspiring they have at least attained a measure of success. Other countries are still waiting for the great leap onto the podium.

These are the most populous countries who have never won an Olympic medal (with population in millions):

1. Bangladesh (158)
2. Congo (Kinshasa) (62)
3. Myanmar  (48)
4. Sudan (38)
5. Nepal (28)
6. Afghanistan (27)
7. Yemen (22)
8. Madagascar (19)
9. Angola (17)
10. Burkina Faso (14)

Source: United Nations estimates 2006-07

Of course some of the countries listed above have provided very few Olympians. To approach things from a different angle, this is a list of the countries that have produced the most Summer Olympic competitors without ever seeing their flag at a victory ceremony.

1. Guatemala (200)
2. Angola (107)
3. El Salvador (103)
4. Afghanistan (95)
5. Cyprus (83)
6. Monaco (82)
7. Fiji (70)
8. Malta (69)
9. Myanmar (69)
10. San Marino (67)

Correct to start of 2008 Olympic Games.

Note: Cyprus and Monaco have had some medal successes but not in this strict definition. Monaco has seen success in the Olympic art competitions whilst Cypriots have won as members of the Greek team.

Michael Phelps victory in the men’s 400 metre individual medley was his first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, although he is trying to win eight gold medals, in an attempt to surpass Mark Spitz from 1972. In 2004, Phelps tried the same feat, and won 8 medals, but “only” six gold. If he wins all 8 gold medals, where would that put him among Olympic greats?

The answer is at the top. That would be 14 gold medals, easily surpassing all previous records. We feel the record is 10 held by American Ray Ewry, who won all of them in the now defunct standing jumps (high jump, long jump, and triple jumps) at the 1900-1908 Olympics. But he won two of those in 1906, and the IOC does not count those, giving him “only” eight per the IOC count. The record then reverts to four athletes with nine gold medals – Carl Lewis (USA-ATH), Paavo Nurmi (FIN-ATH), Mark Spitz (USA-SWI), and Larisa Latynina (URS-GYM). Spitz won two gold medals in 1968. Among women, Birgit Fischer-Schmidt (GER-CAN) and Jenny Thompson (USA-SWI) also won eight gold medals.

Where would Phelps 16 medals stand, assuming he wins a medal in all eight events, which seems likely? This would place him second to Latynina, who won 18 Olympic medals, all in gymnastics. In three Olympics she competed in 19 events, and only failed to medal once – the 1956 balance beam, in which she finished fourth. Phelps would break the male record of 15 held by Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov, set in 1976-80. The Winter Olympic record is 13 medals and 8 gold by Norwegian cross-country skier Bjørn Dæhlie.

Because they have multiple opportunities to win medals, swimmers and gymnasts dominate all such lists of most medals or most gold medals. Other than those listed above, prominent medal totals in other sports include Italian fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti, who won 13 medals and 6 gold medals; Carl Osburn (USA), who won 11 shooting medals, and Hungarian Aladár Gerevich, who won seven fencing gold medals.

What about Phelps winning eight medals at one Olympic Games – is that an Olympic record? It would tie the record, and with his eight medals in 2004, Phelps already co-holds that mark, with Soviet gymnast Aleksandr Dityatin, who won eight of eight in 1980. Eight athletes have won seven medals at a single Olympics, including Spitz, and among them one woman, Mariya Gorokhovskaya (URS) in 1952 gymnastics.

Is competing in eight events at one Olympics a record – or at least tying one? Not even close. In 1920, US shooter Willis Lee competed in 15 events, the absolute Olympic record for most events in one Games. Another American shooter, Lloyd Spooner, competed in 13 events that year as well, the next highest total. There are a number of athletes who have competed in 10 or more events at one Olympics – the last one being Mohamed Bin Abid, a swimmer from the United Arab Emirates in 1988 with 10. Bin Abid returned in 1992 to compete in seven more events.