5 Olympic athletes who quit after winning gold amid the 2026 Olympics

Emma McKeon is an Australian swimmer who comes from a long line of swimmers, who have also competed in the Olympics. After she completed high school, she trained at the Chandler Aquatic Centre. 

Her first Olympics took place in 2016 in Brazil. She has earned six gold medals in total, and she retired in 2024 after earning a gold medal at the Olympics in Paris.

Tennis star Andy Murray began playing the sport at the age of three, being that his mother Judy previously played as well, and served as his coach. 

He went professional in 2005 and three years later he made it into the U.S. Open finals. 

Andy won his first ATP title in 2006, and in 2012 he participated in his first Olympics and he won two gold medals in total. 

He retired in 2024 after the Paris Olympics.

Michael Phelps

American swimmer Michael Phelps first began swimming at the age of seven at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. 

He made history in 2000 by being the youngest male swimmer ever at 15 to join the United States’ Olympic team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. 

He went on to win 23 gold medals in his successful career. 

Michael made history once again as the most-decorated athlete in Olympic history for earning a total of 28 medals overall. 

Michael retired right after the Olympics in 2012, however, he unexpectedly went back into the game, and then he retired again after earning a gold medal four years later at the Olympics.

American track and field athlete Carl Lewis started running as a young boy, because his father Bill Lewis ran track while attending Tuskegee Institute and his mother competed in the Olympics as a hurdler.

His parents launched a track club for girls, which later allowed boys to join and Carl signed up immediately. 

He went on to attend the University of Houston and became a long jumper for the school and then made the Olympics teams in 1980. 

Carl earned a total of nine gold medals and he retired in 1997.

Laris Latynina was a gymnast who got her start in ballet but quickly transitioned to gymnastics. 

After she completed high school, she began training at Burevestnik VSS.

Her first Olympics took place in 1956 while she was 21 at the time, and she earned her first golden medal. 

She has a total of nine Olympic gold medals, and she retired in 1966 after that year’s Olympics.