# Individual Olympic gold medal record **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-olympic-gold-medal-record/460629 "2008-08-20T01:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-olympic-gold-medal-record/460629/1 "2008-08-20T01:54:12Z")
IIRC, when Eric Heiden won 5 individual gold medals at the 1980 Winter Games, it was a record for individual (not team/relay/etc.) golds at a single Olympics. Is that true (nb Spitz had 4 individual and three relay golds at Munich) and has it been broken? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-olympic-gold-medal-record/460629/2 "2008-08-20T02:05:28Z")
Wikipedia’s article on Phelps states that five of the eight medals he won in Beijing were in individual events and that ties with Eric Heiden (1980 Winter) and Vitaly Scherbo (1992 Summer). > **[Michael Phelps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Phelps)** > > Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (23), Olympic gold medals in individual events (13), and Olympic medals in individual events (16). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps tied the record of eight medals of any color at a single Games, held by gymnast Alexander Dity Phelps is a f... And isn’t it nice to see the boards full of questions about a Phelps who **isn’t** a mad raving loonie? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individual-olympic-gold-medal-record/460629/3 "2008-08-20T02:12:11Z")
Missed edit window - those are specifically individual gold medal wins for all three men and that record evidently still stands.