Four years between each Olympic Games may seem like a long time to you, but imagine how long it is for a silver medalist who has to wait an entire Olympiad for another shot at gold. Only a select few have been successful in that particular brand of alchemy, converting a second-place finish into golden satisfaction at the next Games. Here, we look at the 11 men's track and field athletes who have done just that over the 112 years of modern Olympic history.
Hicham el Guerrouj (Morocco)
1500m: silver in 2000, gold in 2004
In the 1996 1500m finals, the eventual "King of the Mile" collapsed with a lap to go after tripping on the shoe of eventual winner Noureddine Morceli of Algeria. He left the track crying, and used a photograph of his despondent moment as motivation towards the 2000 Games, picking up two world championships and the world record (3:26) in the meantime. At Sydney, he was edged out by Kenyan Noah Ngeny, and once again was inconsolable -- but this time with a silver to drive him forward.
Finally in Athens, El Guerrouj outclassed the field with a 3:34.18 time in muggy conditions, winning the gold by .12 of a second. After the race -- you guessed it -- he sobbed (pictured, right). Happy tears this time, though. The Moroccan legend retired after the Athens Games; he is now a member of the Athlete's Commission of the IOC.
Bronislaw Malinowski (Poland)
3000m Steeplechase: silver in 1976, gold in 1980
Like El Guerrouj would a generation later, Malinowski used a medal near-miss to fuel his fire. He finished fourth in the steeplechase in Munich, and claimed the European championship two years later. But the Montreal 1976 Games were not his time yet -- he was clipped by a full second by Sweden's Anders Gärderud in the final. With Gärderud retired, Malinowski had his golden moment in Moscow, winning in a time just a half-second off his Montreal pace (8:09.7). He was killed in an auto accident 15 months later.
Valeri Brumel (Soviet Union)
High Jump: silver in 1960, gold in 1964
The Ukranian Brumel jumped the same height as fellow Soviet athlete Robert Shavlakadze (seven feet, one inch), but it took him more attempts and Shavlakadze claimed gold. Purely driven, he set the world record six times in the run-up to Tokyo. Brumel became the gold medalist four years later thanks to the same rule, jumping 7-1 3/4 feet in fewer attempts than American John Thomas. Brumel didn't lose for the entirety of 1965, but a motorcycle accident late that year mangled his right leg. After 29 operations, he returned to competition but could not reach his old form.
Milt Campbell (United States)
Decathlon: silver in 1952, gold in 1956
Rafer Johnson (United States)
Decathlon: silver in 1956, gold in 1960
Campbell finished second to two-time Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias in 1952 at Helsinki, finishing behind Mathias in every event except for the 400 meter run. Four years later, he blew away the rest of the field on the way to an Olympic record. Johnson, who competed at Melbourne with an injury but still finished in silver position behind Campbell, used a well-balanced performance in 1964 to win Tokyo gold.
Roman Szebrle (Czech Republic)
Decathlon: silver in 2000, gold in 2004
Szebrle had the look of a gold medalist in Sydney -- especially because Estonian Erki Nool, the leader after six events, was flagged three times during the discus portion for stepping on the line. The competition referee, however, overruled the field judge and Nool went on to win. Szebrle would not be denied in Athens, using an enormous javelin result (70.52 meters, the longest for a decathlete since 1980) to burst past the competition.
Ironically, it was a javelin that came close to ending his career. While training in South Africa in January of 2007, Szebrle was hit by an errant spear thrown from 60 yards away. He recovered in time to go on and win the World Championship later that year.
Bill Nieder (United States)
Shot Put: silver in 1956, gold in 1960
Nieder put his longest shot just a foot short of fellow American Parry O'Brien at Melbourne and had to settle for silver. Even despite a world record heave in March 1960, he didn't initially make the team for the Games later that year. But when American team member Dave Davis came down with a wrist injury, Nieder was added as an Olympic replacement. In Rome, he not only set an Olympic record with a 64 foot, 6 3/4 inch result, he fully avenged Melbourne by relegating O'Brien to second.
Randy Matson (United States)
Shot Put: silver in 1964, gold in 1968
Texas product Matson, born in 1945, was still a kid when O'Brien and Nieder were fighting it out for shot put supremacy. But in his first year of using a 16-pound shot, while still attending Texas A&M, he silvered in Tokyo. He spent the next four years turning down pro basketball and football teams, smashing the world record repeatedly, and becoming the first man to throw the shot over 70 feet. He was crowned as Olympic champion in Mexico City with a 67 foot, 4 3/4 inch throw, a foot beyond the rest of the field.
Jan Zelezny (Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic)
Javelin: silver in 1988, gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000
Competing for Czechoslovakia, Zelezny cracked the world record with a 287-foot toss before his first Olympic appearance in Seoul, but was outthrown there by Finland's Tapio Korjus. Looking for an edge, he tested a new javelin in the run-up to Barcelona and threw it 310 feet, which was 10 feet beyond the world record. The record was disallowed by the IAAF due to design restrictions, but Zelezny took home the Olympic gold as revenge. After the split of the country into two, Zelezny won two more golds, cementing his place as history's best javelin thrower.
Alain Mimoun (France)
10000m: silver in 1948 and 1952; 5000m: silver in 1952; Marathon: gold in 1956
The Frenchman was given the derisive nickname "Zatopek's Shadow" for finishing second to Czechoslovakian legend Emil Zatopek so often. Mimoun was edged out in the 10000m in London, and then in both the Helsinki 5000 and 10000m events by the same man. Turns out all he needed was a different distance... a much longer one. On December 1, the same day that Mimoun became a father, he also became an Olympic champion in a hot, muggy marathon. After winning gold by more than a minute over the field, Mimoun waited for Zatopek, who finished sixth.
As the story goes, Mimoun then said to Zatopek, "Emil, why don't you congratulate me? I am the Olympic champion." Zatopek embraced him, a gesture Mimoun considered "better than the medal."
Mike Conley (United States)
Triple Jump: silver in 1984, gold in 1992
Most of the athletes on this list only had to withstand four years of waiting to turn silver into gold, but Conley was forced to sit tight for eight. He finished second behind Al Joyner at Los Angeles, and was kept off the 1988 team for brushing the sand with his shorts at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In Barcelona, he smashed the world record of 58 feet, 11 1/2 inches with a wind-aided 59 feet, 7 3/4 inch leap. Conley is now the executive director for a company that hopes to bring the 2016 Games to his hometown of Chicago.
(Image © Neil Tingle/Action Plus/Icon SMI)
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