Athletes with the most medals in Winter Olympic history

The Winter Olympics has traditionally been dominated by Norway and three of the top five most successful Winter Olympians hail from the Scandinavian country.

A total of 25 athletes have won eight or more medals since the inaugural staging of the Winter Olympics in 1924 and we've compiled a list of the athletes to have accumulated the most podium finishes across all sports.

5. Arianna Fontana (Italy)

Short Track Speed Skating

11 medals - Two gold, four silver, five bronze

Arianna Fontana surpassed Stefania Belmondo as Italy's most decorated Winter Olympian when she achieved one gold and two silver medals at the Beijing Games in 2022.

Fontana achieved both of her gold medals in the 500m, the shortest discipline in short-track speed skating, which followed on from bronze in Vancouver 2010 and silver in Sochi 2014.

The second-most successful athlete in Olympic history behind fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti, Fontana achieved her first Olympic medal in Turin 2006 in the 3000m relay.

She also boasts medals in the 1000m, 1500m and the 2000m mixed relay.

4. Bjørn Dæhlie (Norway)

Cross Country Skiing

12 medals - Eight gold, four silver

Bjørn Dæhlie participated in three Winter Olympics from Albertville 1992 to Nagano 1998 and dominated cross-country skiing across several distances.

He won four medals at each Games he competed, taking gold in the pursuit, 50km and 4x10km relay in 1992 along with silver in the 30km.

In Lillehammer in 1994, Dæhlie was triumphant in the 10km for the first time whilst retaining his pursuit crown. He added silver again in the 30km, but Norway were pipped to gold in the 4x10km relay by Italy.

Nagano 1998 brought another flurry of gold medals for Dæhlie as he triumphed in the 10km, 50km and 4x10km relay, but he was denied a third successive pursuit title by compatriot Thomas Alsgaard.

Dæhlie had planned to complete at Salt Lake City in 2002, only for his career to end prematurely in 1999 after a roller skiing accident.

3. Ireen Wüst (Netherlands)

Speed Skating

13 medals - Six gold, five silver, two bronze

The list of records in Ireen Wüst's career are endless.

The most successful speed skating Olympian, Wüst is the only athlete across both the Winter and Summer Games to win a gold medal at five different Olympics in an individual event.

She is the youngest Dutch Olympic gold medallist and also the oldest speed skating gold medallist, which is testament to her longevity.

Sochi 2014 was Wüst's most successful Games as she achieved a medal in every event she contested; gold in the 3000m and team pursuit, silver in the 1000m, 1500m and 5000m.

2. Ole Einar Bjørndalen (Norway)

Biathlon

14 medals - Eight gold, four silver, two bronze

Regarded as the "King of Biathlon", Ole Einar Bjørndalen competed in six different Games and won medals in all but one, his debut in Lillehammer 1994.

Winning gold in the sprint and silver in the relay alongside his brother in 1998, Bjørndalen dominated the sport in the 2002 Winter Olympics as he became the first and only biathlete ever to win all biathlon events - sprint, pursuit, individual, and relay - in a single Games.

His remarkable Salt Lake City haul etched his name into the record books as only the third Winter Olympian to win four golds at one Games.

He had to wait another eight years for his next Olympic gold after claiming two silvers and a bronze in Turin 2006, but Bjørndalen was triumphant again in the relay at Vancouver.

Sochi marked Bjørndalen's final Winter Games and the biathlete departed in emphatic fashion, winning gold in the sprint and the inaugural mixed relay.

1. Marit Bjørgen (Norway)

Cross Country Skiing

15 medals - Eight gold, four silver, three bronze

Cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen is the most successful Winter Olympian of all time with an astonishing 15 medals.

Bjørgen debuted at the Olympics at the age of 21 in the 2002 Games where she won silver in the 4x5km relay, and she achieved her first individual medal with silver in the 10km at Turin 2006, although illness jeopardised her chances in other events.

It wasn't until 2010 where we witnessed Bjørgen finally achieve Olympic gold. Success in the pursuit was followed by wins in the sprint and 4x5km relay as she departed Vancouver with a five-medal haul.

In Sochi 2014, Bjørgen added three more gold medals to her collection in the 15km skiathlon, team sprint and 30km freestyle race.

Her fifth and final Winter Olympics appearance in PyeongChang returned five more medals, of which two were gold, one was silver and two were bronze; the last taking her medal tally to unprecedented heights.