The Olympic Games are inseparable from their records which mark the history of sport.
From the 100 meters run in 9.63 by Usain Bolt in London to the 28 medals won by Michael Phelps, these numbers are turning heads for athletes, and some could be beaten this summer in Tokyo.
Simple numbers that are the result of a lifetime.
At each edition of the Olympic Games, athletes manage to make an impression by beating the records of their discipline.
This summer in Tokyo, some could also be overtaken and thus enter the legend of Olympism.
Others, like the performances of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt or American swimmer Michael Phelps, seem unbeatable this year.
Usain Bolt, untouchable sprint records
Among the most famous records of the Games, the exceptional ones of Usain Bolt seem beyond the reach of the athletes this summer.
In addition to a world record in the 100 meters in 9.58 in 2009, the superstar has the best Olympic performance on this main track in athletics, covered in 9.63 in London in 2012. Four years earlier in Beijing , Bolt had run the 200 meters in 19 "30, a time never reached so far in the Olympics. To complete his collection, the Jamaican sprinter is also part of the winning relay in London on the 4x100 meters in 36" 84, there too. the greatest Olympic and world performance in history.
Michael Phelps' 28 medals
In total, Usain Bolt has eight gold medals in his purse.
An impressive total but far behind American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most medalist athlete in history with 28 medals including 23 gold.
Butterfly, freestyle, individual and team, the legend on the other side of the Atlantic has made his name on the prize list at four Olympics, in 2004 and 2016. To date, Phelps is Olympic record holder in the 100 meters butterfly (50 "58 to Beijing in 2008), the 200-meter butterfly (1'52 "03 in Beijing) and the 4x100-meter medley relay with the United States (3'27" 95 in Rio in 2016). A giant in world sport.
The perfect score of 10 in gymnastics, another era
When we talk about a record in gymnastics, we first think of the perfect score of 10/10 that the Romanian Nadia Comaneci received at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. If other sportswomen and sportsmen have also reached this score shortly thereafter, the International Gymnastics Federation changed its way of awarding points in 2006, and judges can no longer award the maximum.
A maximum score which should therefore never be equaled again.
Kevin Mayer, the decathlon record in the sights
Records can nevertheless still be equaled or even exceeded in several events this summer in Tokyo.
This is the case of the decathlon with the French Kevin Mayer.
The Montpelliérain holds the world record of the discipline since the meeting of Talence (Gironde) in 2018, accomplished with a total of 9,126 points.
A higher score than that of the American legend Ashton Eaton, gold medalist in Rio ahead of the Frenchman and Olympic record holder with 8,893 points.
Kevin Mayer is the favorite this year to go to the title in Tokyo.
He will therefore give himself all the means to achieve this for his second Olympic Games.
The French Kévin Mayer seized the world record in the decathlon with 9,126 points, thus dethroning the American Ashton Eaton, at the end of the Décastar de Talence in France # AFPpic.twitter.com / FCw9Nr08CC
- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) September 16, 2018
6.03 meters, an easy bar for Armand Duplantis?
Another athlete, another athletic discipline.
For his first Olympics, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, world record holder (6.18 meters), could also cross 6.03 meters, the best Olympic performance that the Brazilian Thiago Braz da Silva had achieved at home in Rio , in 2016, against Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie.
In September 2020, the 21-year-old Swede broke the 6.15-meter outdoor mark, the highest bar in outdoor history.
Under the same conditions in Tokyo, Duplantis can mark its name even more in the history of pole vault by approaching this height in Tokyo.
Simone Biles, no fault required
For the talented gymnast Simone Biles, four times gold medalist in Rio, a record equaled in the same edition, these Tokyo Games are the opportunity to touch the total number of nine victories of the Soviet Larissa Latynina in the 1960s. The 24-year-old American will have to perform without fail and win the six gold medals at stake, especially on uneven bars which are not her forte, to become the most sacred gymnast in the history of the Olympics.
Caeleb Dressel, the succession of Phelps
While American Michael Phelps' 28-medal tally doesn't look like it can be beaten this summer, some of his record times at the Olympics may be this summer.
His compatriot Caeleb Dressel broke the world record in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2019 Worlds in South Korea in Gwangju, in 49.50. A little more than a second better on the performance of the American legend in Beijing in 2008. At 25, Dressel seems capable of repeating his feat and overtaking Phelps' time at the Olympics.
Caeleb Dressel before the semi-final of the 2019 Worlds in the 50-meter butterfly.
Credit: OLI SCARFF / AFP
Kristof Milak, the Hungarian nugget of the 200-meter butterfly
Another Olympic record for Michael Phelps possibly broken in Tokyo: that of the 200-meter butterfly.
In 2019, the Hungarian sensation Kristof Milak pulverized the best time in history at the Worlds in 1'50'73. The 21-year-old nugget has the shoulders to also put his name on the Olympic record board if he swims in less than 1'52 "03, the best time of the Games held by Phelps, at the Tokyo Olympics.
Within reach therefore.
The pass of two for the Norwegian Karsten Warholm?
One of the last hopes for a new record at the Olympics lies in the Norwegian Karsten Warholm. The two-time world champion in the 400-meter hurdles achieved the best world performance in the history of this race in early July at home in Oslo (46 "70). At 25 years old and in full confidence, he could do it again at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo.