The Olympic Games have always been a platform for the show of athletic prowess and competitive spirit, with athletes from around the world vying for glory and gold medals.
Over the last ten tournaments, we have witnessed some truly exceptional performances from Olympic top scorers, who have captivated audiences and etched their names into the history books.
Join us as we take a closer look at the top scorers at the Olympics from the last decade, and celebrate their incredible achievements.
Top ten goal scorers in the Olympic Games
1. Richarlison
Richarlison is a talented footballer who plays as a forward for both the Brazilian national team and Tottenham in the English Premier League.
In the 2020 Olympic Games held in Tokyo, Richarlison made a significant impact by scoring a total of five goals for the Brazilian team.
His goals were crucial in helping Brazil to progress through the tournament and ultimately beating Spain to win the gold medal in men’s football.
2. Petersen
He appeared in the 2016 Rio’s Olympics and remains the first and only German footballer who has scored five goals in a single game with the national team.
On 10 August 2016, Petersen started and scored five goals in a 10–0 win against Fiji.
On 17 August 2016, in the semi-final against Nigeria, Petersen came on for Max Meyer in the 84th minute and scored his sixth goal of the tournament five minutes later.
3. Leandro Damiao
Damiao represented Brazil at the 2012 Olympic football tournament in London, being the tournament’s top scorer with six goals in five appearances as Brazil finished runners-up to Mexico.
4. Daniele De Rossi
De Rossi represented Italy at the 2008 Olympics scoring 4 goals and winning a bronze medal.
The 41-year-old earned 117 caps, and he is Italy’s joint fourth-highest capped player of all time, and most capped midfielder of all time.
With 21 goals, he is the highest scoring midfielder for Italy post-World War II, and Italy’s all-time second most prolific midfielder behind Adolfo Baloncieri.
5. Tevez
Tevez won Argentina’s first Olympic gold at Athens 2004 and was the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals.
The former Manchester United star scored in all the qualifiers; three goals against Costa Rica in the quarter-finals, one against Italy in the semi-finals and another against Paraguay in the final.
Other top scorers in the list
6. Ivan Zamorano
Zamorano represented Chile at the Olympics in 2000 with the U-23 team, where he won a bronze medal and was the top scorer of the tournament with six goals.
With Chile, Zamorano was capped 69 times, scoring 34 goals.
7. Crespo
Crespo helped take Argentina to the final of the 1996 Olympics with braces against Spain in the quarter-final and Portugal in the semi-final.
However, Argentina lost the final to Nigeria, despite Crespo scoring his sixth goal of the tournament from the penalty spot.
Crespo scored over 300 goals in a career spanning 19 years. At international level, he scored 35 goals and he is Argentina’s fourth highest goalscorer behind only Sergio Agüero, Gabriel Batistuta and Lionel Messi.
8. Juskowiak
Known as Jusko, he was the Olympic top scorer at the 1992 Summer edition, where Poland won the silver medal.
The 53 year-old debuted for the Poland national team in May 1992 against Sweden, playing a total of 39 matches and scoring 13 goals.
He is considered one of the greatest players of all time. The retired prolific striker renowned for his clinical finishing scored over 700 career goals.
9. Romario
Brazilian star Romario won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in 1988, finishing as the top-goalscorer with seven goals in six matches.
10.Borislav Cvetkovic
The last on the list of ten Olympic top scorers in the last decades is Serbian football manager and retired player Borislav Cvetkovic. Cvetkovic was the highest goal scorer in the 1984 Olympics with five goals.
