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Picture: Getty, edited by indy100
Only 39 countries have won more Olympic gold medals than Michael Phelps in the entire history of the Games.
Having won his 21st gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas, and Ryan Lochte on Tuesday, Phelps now equals Ethiopia's total, having already surpassed Argentina and Austria (countries with populations of 41.4m and 8.5m respectively) during this Games.
Ahead of him are some countries which no longer exist, such as Yugoslavia, Unified Team of Germany, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, East Germany and the Soviet Union.
Behind him are 189 present or historical countries.
Here's a breakdown, if you needed to feel any more inferior.
Here are all the countries with fewer golds than Phelps:
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- American Samoa
- Andorra
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Aruba
- Australasia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belize
- Benin
- Bermuda
- Bhutan
- Bohemia
- Bolivia
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- British Virgin Islands
- British West Indies
- Brunei
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Cayman Islands
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Congo
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Grenada
- Guam
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Iceland
- Independent Olympic Participants
- India
- Individual Olympic Athletes
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kiribati
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaya
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Mixed team
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Netherlands Antilles
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Borneo
- North Korea
- North Yemen
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestine
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Republic of China
- Russian Empire
- Rwanda
- Saar
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Serbia and Montenegro
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- Somaliland
- South Sudan
- South Yemen
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Swaziland
- Syria
- Taipei
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- United Arab Emirates
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Virgin Islands
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, having won six golds in Athens, eight in Beijing, four in London and three so far in Rio.
He accounts for roughly 2.13 per cent of all the United States' Olympic gold medals for all time.
Only 31 countries that are still recognised are ahead of him in the all-time medal table - if he wins two more golds this Games he will equal South Africa and the hosts, Brazil.
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