Longest time between individual swimming Olympic gold medals
Who
Anthony Ervin
What
15, 325 year(s):day(s)
Where
Brazil ()
When

The longest time between individual swimming Olympic gold medals is 15 years 325 days, achieved by Anthony Ervin (USA) between the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In Sydney in 2000 Ervin won gold in the 50 m freestyle. In 2003 he stopped swimming competitively only to begin training again in 2011. He qualified for London 2012 but did not place in the medals. Almost 16 years after his first gold he won the same event in Rio in 2016, also becoming the oldest individual swimming gold medalist in Olympic history.