Winners of Most Silver Olympic Medals

Nobody really talks about them. In the Olympics or international sports, gold medals always mean much more than silver medals. Imagine Michael Phelps winning 8 silver medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics instead of 8 golds. Would so many people be so "outraged" by the bong incident? Probably not. While being second best is not so fun, here, we celebrate the athletes who have won the most silver medals in the Olympics.

Mikhail Jakovlievitch Voronin is the first athlete who won 6 silver medals at the Olympics, the most at this time, by any athlete. Born on March 26, 1945, he is one of the most accomplished gymnasts of all time. Voronin won 4 silver medals in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City for the Men's Individual All-Around, Men's Team All-Around, Men's Parallel Bars, and Men's Rings. In the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Voronin won 2 silver medals for the Men's Team All-Around and Men's Rings. The Mikhail Voronin Cup is named after him.

The second is Alexander Nikolaievich Dityatin who also won 6 Olympic silver medals. Born on August 7, 1957 Dityatin is a Russian gymnast who went on to better Voronin's Olympic achievements. In the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Dityatin won 2 silver medals for the Men's Team All-Around and the Men's Rings. In the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he won 4 silver medals for the Men's Horse Vault, Men's Parallel Bars, Men's Horizontal Bars, and Men's Pommelled Horse. In Moscow, he also won 3 gold medals and a bronze, making him the athlete with the most medals won in a single Olympics until Phelps equaled his record in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Tragically, Dityatin's career was cut short by an injury after the Moscow Olympics.

The final athlete who won 6 silver Olympic medals is Shirley Babashoff. Born on January 31, 1957, she is a swimmer from the USA. In the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Babashoff won 2 silvers for the Women's 100 m Freestyle and the Women's 200 m Freestyle. Four years later, she won 4 silvers in the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics for the Women's 200 m Freestyle, Women's 400 m Freestyle, Women's 800 m Freestyle, and Women's 4 x 100 m Medley Relay. Though she cracked 6 world records, Babashoff never won an individual Olympic gold medal. Since she vehemently accused the East German swimmers of using performance-enhancing drugs, the media called her "Surly Shirley." However, Babashoff was lauded for speaking out on the subject when it was found that many East German athletes used drugs to cheat, some years later.  

While silver does not shine as brightly as gold, it's still precious. To find out what your silver is worth, make sure you contact a good silver buyer. This way, you will receive the top dollar for silver when you sell your silver.