Top 10 Olympians of all time.:D

1. Top 10 Olympians of all time.:D By Shane and Becky…

2. 10.JESSE OWENS (1913-1980) Jesse Owens's Olympic success is one of the great sporting stories of triumph over adversity. Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 - a remarkable achievement in itself, but even more so when you consider that the black athlete achieved his victories in the swastiker-clad heart of Nazi Germany. Hitler had hoped the games would provide tangible proof of the Nazi's racial supremacy. He couldn't have been more wrong. Owens equalled the Olympic record in the 100m, had the three best jumps in the long jump, and the 4x100m relay team - of which Owens was the anchor man - set a world-record which was to last for 20 years. It was Owens 4, Hitler 0. Hitler's humiliation was compounded as the Berlin people took Owens to their hearts. Owens's achievements may not have been enough to turn the German public against the Fuhrer, but to this day there is a street named after him in the city.

3. 9.SIR STEVE REDGRAVE (1962-) SIR STEVE REDGRAVE (1962-)Steve Redgrave is the man that just kept rowing. He is the only Olympian to have won a gold medal at five consecutive games, starting with victory in the coxed fours in Los Angeles in 1984 and culminating with that memorable race in Sydney in 2000. That final victory in the coxless fours in Australia was made all the more remarkable as Redgrave had spent the past couple of years battling with the effects of diabetes. Yet, at the age of 38, he defied the physical limitations placed on his body to set a landmark achievement that will likely never be surpassed. Redgrave's achievements are inseparable from those of his long-term partner Matthew Pinsent - who lives in Regdrave's shadow, despite boasting gold medals from the last three games himself. Redgrave was knighted in 2001's new year's honours list.

4. 8.FANNY BLANKERS-KOEN (1918-2004) The 'flying Dutchwoman' was voted female athlete of the 20th century, in a poll for the International Association of Athletics Federations - and in typically modest fashion, she couldn't believe she had won. Blankers-Koen was 30-years-old and a mother of two when, in 1948, she won four gold medals at the London games. She could undoubtedly have won more: Blankers-Koen was then the world record holder for the high jump and long jump, but was prevented from entering both because of rules limiting the amount of events an athlete could enter. Fanny had to settle for her four track wins, but she wasn't bothered: she wanted to get back to Holland to see her children. On her arrival home she was presented with a bicycle to mark her achievements. Perhaps, they thought she needed the exercise. Blankers-Koen died earlier this year

5. 7.NADIA COMANECI (1961-) In only a few sports can you strive for perfection, and 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to achieve the perfect 10 score in Montreal in 1976. She was awarded her perfect score on the uneven parallel bars but went on to score maximum points seven times during the games. Over the course of the Montreal and Moscow games in 1980, she won five gold medals, three silver and one bronze. Nadia retired in 1981 and later married an American gymnast and defected from Romania. She now runs a gymnastics school in Oklahoma.

6. 6.MUHAMMAD ALI (1942-) Muhammad Ali has become one of the most infamous Olympians ever, as much for what he did outside of the boxing ring as what he did with the gloves on. Before he had changed his name to Ali, a young Cassius Clay eased to the gold medal in the light-heavyweight division at the Rome games in 1960. However, on his return home Clay was appalled that even with a gold medal around his neck, he and his family wouldn't be served in certain restaurants because of his skin colour. Legend has it that Ali tossed his medal into the Ohio river in disgust - though this story is disputed in some quarters. Ali's Olympic rehabilitation was complete in 1996 when he lit the Olympic torch at the Atlanta games, despite suffering from Parkinson's disease. He was also presented with a new gold medal, to replace the one he threw away. It was an emotional tribute to the world's best-loved sportsman.

7. 5.JAYNE TORVILL (1957-) & CHRISTOPHER DEAN (1958- Britain rarely has much to cheer at the Winter Olympics, and figure skating is nothing more than a marginal sport in Britain, yet in 1984 the country was captivated by Torvill and Dean. The pair's dramatic interpretation of Ravel's Bolero, culminating in a move where the couple virtually collapsed on the ice, proved a hit with the judges who awarded them maximum marks for artistic impression and the gold medal. It was the first and only time the ice dance competition has been won by a non-Russian couple. Torvill& Dean made a less successful comeback in Lillehammer a decade later, this time collecting bronze. The couple were also the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, which revealed Dean's domineering role as chief choreographer.

8. 4.RICHARD FOSBURY (1947-) Many athletes can claim to have been greats in their sport, but few can truly be called pioneers. Yet, in 1968 Richard Fosbury re-invented the high jump. Until the Moscow games, high jumpers used to overcome the bar by swinging their legs over and letting the rest of their body follow. Fosburytook the athletics world by surprise when he vaulted over the bar head first, arching his back to make sure his body didn't remove the post. Fosbury's revolutionary technique secured him the gold medal, and a place in high jump history. His method became known as the 'Fosbury flop' and, gradually, every high jumper followed suit. It's claimed other athletes might have used the Fosbury technique before 1968, but he was the first to have the courage to adopt it in international competition, and fully deserves his place in Olympic folk lore.

9. 3.MARK SPITZ (1950-) There were two things swimmer Mark Spitz wasn't short of: confidence (ironic, as he was born in a town called Modesto) and medals. Before the 1968 Olympics he boasted that he would win six gold medals - he took home only two, both from team relays. Having failed so spectacularly to live up to his own billing, Spitz might have been expected to slip quietly away. Instead, he returned four years later to record the biggest haul ever in a single Olympic games: seven gold medals. Furthermore, he set a new world record in all seven events. It's widely disputed who is the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time: Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller and the flipper-footed Australian, Ian Thorpe, have both been acclaimed as such. But until the latter surpasses Spitz's medal tally, he can rightly boast of his supremacy.

10. 2.MICHAEL JOHNSON (1967-) 'The only person who could beat Michael in his day was Michael Johnson.' So says Britain's Roger Black, who should know, having spent most of his career looking at the back of the American runner. Johnson was virtually unbeatable over 400m and 200m for most of the 1990s. Going into the 1996 Olympic games Johnson had won 54 straight finals at 400m, and had remained unbeaten for seven years. The only thing that stopped him winning gold in 1992 was food poisoning. However, he won a total of five gold medals during his career, going out at the top with a blistering display in Sydney 2000, becoming the first man ever to retain the 400m gold. He still holds the world record in the event; and he still keeps Black in check on BBC sports commentaries.

11. 1.ERIC 'THE EEL' MOUSSAMBANI (1978-) If anyone ever proved the old adage 'it's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts', it was Eric Moussambani at Sydney 2000. Arriving from Equatorial Guinea, where he practised in a 20m pool for one hour per week, Moussambani was to race against Australian swimming sensation Ian Thorpe in the 100m freestyle. Eric was clearly out of his depth. He flailed through the water as if it were treacle; as he reached the half way point most of the others were nearing the finish. He almost came to a complete halt with only 10m to go, but lifted by a standing ovation from the crowd, Moussambani somehow made it to the line. He finished in 1min 53 seconds - more than twice the time it took Thorpe. The press immediately nicknamed him Eric The Eel, and he became an overnight, if somewhat reluctant, celebrity. He didn't have a cat in hell's chance of winning a medal, but he still left Sydney a hero as the living embodiment of the Olympic spirit.