The 8 Athletes Who Have Competed In The Most Winter Olympics

Getting to represent your country at the Olympics is a huge honor for the athletes who are able to earn a spot. The vast majority of people will never be able to do that a single time, but there are some others who have managed to have a pretty impressive run, including the competitors with the most Winter Olympics appearances of all time.

No athletes have competed in the Winter Olympics more times than these veterans

The Summer Olympics were simply known as the Olympics (officially referred to as “the Games of the Olympiad”) when the modern version was resurrected in Athens in 1896. However, a seasonal modifier was needed when France hosted the first-ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

No one has competed in the Olympics on more occasions than Ian Millar, the Canadian equestrian who took part ten times between 1972 and 2012 (earning a single silver medal in the team jumping event in Beijing in 2008). No one has matched that total in the Winter Olympics, but here’s a look at the people who have also had an impressive tenure.

I should note there are a couple of active Olympians who are slated to compete in Italy in 2026, and I’ve included them even though they haven’t officially participated as of this writing.

Janne Ahonen: 7

As things currently stand, there are six athletes who’ve competed in the Winter Olympics seven times, and I’m going to list them in alphabetical order.

We’ll kick things off with Janne Ahonen, a ski jumper from Finland who competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in Lillehammer in 1994.

The infamously stoic man known as “King Eagle” won two silver medals in team competition in 2002 and 2006 before retiring. He staged multiple comebacks in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to earn a spot on the podium as an individual before finally accepting it wasn’t in the cards after disappointing showings in Sochi and PyeongChang.

He continues to jump as a hobby, and he has supplemented that pastime with a successful foray into drag racing.

Simon Ammann: 7

As you will soon see, ski jumping is a sport that’s fairly conducive to a lengthy career at the Olympic level, as it is disproportionately represented on this list.

Switzerland’s Simon Ammann made his Olympic debut at Nagano in 1998, and he had a bit more success than Ahonen did on the individual front: he won the gold medal in the normal and large hill in 2002 and 2010, which was enough to make him the most decorated Olympian from his country.

Ammann was hoping to compete for the seventh time at the age of 44 in 2026, but he was left on the outside looking in after Felix Trunz got the nod over him.

Albert Demchenko: 7

1992 marked the last time the Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year, and it marked the first time Albert Demchenko competed in the Olympics as a member of the “Unified Team” of athletes from former Soviet states that headed to Albertville, France.

It was the first of seven appearances for the man who represented Russia in his final six, and he earned a silver in the singles competition in Turin in 2016 before getting two more in Sochi in the singles and team competition.

Sergei Dolidovich: 7

We’ve got another skier in the form of Sergei Dolidovich, although he is of the cross-country variety.

Dolidovich competed for Belarus for the first time in Lillehammer, but he was never able to get a medal before his Olympic career came to an end after competing at PyeongChang in 2018; his best finish was a fifth-place showing in the 50-kilometer race in Sochi.

Roland Fischnaller: 7

We have our first active Olympian courtesy of Roland Fischnaller, the Italian who will be representing his country on his home turf when he competes for the seventh time at Milan Cortina in 2026.

The 45-year-old will be the oldest member of Italy’s Winter Olympic team when it hosts, and he’ll be looking to secure his first medal after narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place showing in the parallel giant slalom in 2022, which marked the best finish of his career.

Sarah Schleper: 7

Sarah Schelper is our second (and final) active Winter Olympian and the only one who has represented multiple countries.

The alpine skier initially debuted with the United States in 1998, which marked the first of six times she was a member of Team USA. In 2007, the Colorado native married Federico Gaxiola, who was born in Mexico and resettled in Vail Valley, and she obtained Mexican citizenship before coming out of retirement to compete as a member of the country’s team in 2018.

She will be doing that for the third time in 2026, and she’ll become the oldest female alpine skier in Olympic history at the age of 47. She has never medaled, and her best finish was 10th place in the slalom while skiing for America in 2006.

Noriaki Kasai: 8

Thought we were done with ski jumping? Think again!

Noriaki Kasai is tied for first when it comes to the most appearances in Winter Olympics history, as he represented Japan eight times between 1992 and 2018. He has three medals to show for it, as he won a silver in the team competition in Lillehammer before getting an individual silver in the large hill at Sochi in addition to a team bronze.

The 53-year-old will not be skiing at the 2026 Olympics, but he is still participating in World Cup events; he recently competed in the 579th of his career, and he’s aiming to make it to at least 600.

Claudia Pechstein: 8

Last, and certainly not least, we have Claudia Pechstein, who is one of the most accomplished speed skaters in Olympic history.

The German debuted in 1992 and ended up competing for her country eight times before hanging up her skates following her swan song in PyeongChang.

She won nine medals, including five golds (one team, three in the 5000 m, and another in the 3000 m) along with two silver and two bronze. That puts her in a tie for second with Sven Kramer of the Netherlands, as Dutch legend Ireen Wüst leads the way with 13.

Pechstein, whose career was marred by a two-year ban for blood doping, also held a couple of speed records that were ultimately broken by Dutch phenom Irene Schouten, who won five medals of her own in the two Olympics she competed in before retiring.