Doha Stadium Plus Qatar Photograph: Vinod Divakaran (www.dohastadiumplusqatar.com) · CC BY 2.0

At the 1972 Munich Olympics he won seven gold medals, each in world-record time, a single-Games haul that stood as the record for 36 years until Michael Phelps surpassed it in 2008. Across three Olympics he collected nine golds, a silver and a bronze, and was named World Swimmer of the Year three times by Swimming World Magazine.