Mark Spitz

Seven gold medals at Munich 1972 Mark Spitz set out to win seven events in Munich and won all seven: the 100 and 200 meters freestyle, the 100 and 200 meters butterfly and three relays, every one of them in world-record time. No one won more golds at a single Games until Michael Phelps in Beijing in 2008, which makes this the natural pair for that later entry. The official Olympics channel has footage of the seven swims, and watching them back to back shows how a single athlete could own a whole program for a week.