Summer Olympics 2012: Usain Bolt and Athletes Who Enhanced Their Legacies Most

Legends are made at the Olympics.

In 2012, that fact hasn’t changed. While a handful of athletes entered the Games as all-time greats, many of them managed to bolster their legacies even further.

With them, newcomers will also leave London as some of the greatest Olympians to ever live.

Out of the countless athletes that will go down in history from this year’s competition, here are the three that enhanced their legacies the most.

3. Gabby Douglas

Douglas definitely didn’t enter the Olympics as an all-time great. She wasn’t even on the radar as a gymnastics all-time great. After her performance in London, though, she’ll never be forgotten.

Not only did she lead Team USA to their first all-around gold medal since 1996 and their second ever, but she also won individual all-around gold. In the past two decades, only one other women’s gymnast besides Douglas has taken home both team and individual all-around gold.

2. Michael Phelps

Phelps began his London 2012 campaign with 16 Olympic medals—14 of which were gold. He already had the most gold medals in the history of the Games by far, but he was still three total medals behind Russia’s Larisa Latynina.

Thanks to his 14 gold medals in comparison to Latynina’s nine, Phelps was already arguably the greatest Olympian ever. However, there were still Russians out there who argued otherwise. After he won six more medals this year to shatter Latynina’s record, though, no one in their right mind will argue that Phelps isn’t the G.O.A.T. now.

1. Usain Bolt

Bolt held the world record in the 100-meter dash prior to the 2012 Olympics. The only way his title of the “fastest man ever” would be taken is if a competitor—such as fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake—crushed Bolt and his record on Sunday.

Neither happened.

Bolt blew away the field, breaking his own Olympic record that he had set in Beijing with a time of 9.63 seconds. He didn’t just solidify his status as the fastest man ever, but as one of the greatest Olympians ever as well.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels