The American Swimswam Magazine published an interesting compilation on its website, ranking the top 10 swimmers who had not won an Olympic gold medal. The article aims to show the accomplishments of prominent swimmers worldwide, and the 34-year-old Hungarian swimmer and two-time world champion (400m medley in 2005, 200m butterfly in 2015) László Cseh was in first place.
“Cseh might have a claim to ‘greatest swimmer in history’ if it weren’t for the fact that his career ran headlong into the career of the ‘greatest swimmer in history’ Michael Phelps,”
wrote Braden Keith about the Hungarian athlete.
Index also pointed out that the American Michael Phelps is undoubtedly the main opponent of the six-time Olympic medallist. Cseh first competed with Phelps at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona. On five occasions, Cseh finished second behind Phelps, and in 2016, he tied with Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos in 100m butterfly.
Further achievements of László Cseh include winning 17 gold medals at European Championships and claiming medals at 10 World Championships.
See the top 5 list below:
- László Cseh (Hungary) − since 2004, he has won medals at each Olympics
- Paul Biedermann (Germany) − the current World Record holder in 200m and 400m freestyle
- Jesse Vassalo (US) – he won a gold medal in 200m backstroke and 400m medley
- Cujosi Yamanaka (Japan) – he broke the 200m freestyle World Record 3 times and has 4 silver medals
- Joe Bottom (US) − at the1973 World Championships, Bottom won a silver in 100m butterfly