Who, What, Why: Who was Leonidas of Rhodes?

Michael Phelps has broken a 2,000-year-old Olympic record by surpassing the 12 singular titles won by Leonidas of Rhodes. Who was this competitor whose record has taken two centuries to beat, asks Jon Kelly? 

Phelps has a sum of 22 Olympic gold decorations, yet nine of these have come in transfers - as far as individual titles he has just barely passed the best competitor of the antiquated world.

Leonidas of Rhodes contended in four progressive Olympiads in 164BC, 160BC, 156BC and 152BC and in each of these he won three distinctive foot races.

A competitor who won three occasions at a solitary Olympics was known as a triastes, or tripler. There were just seven triastes and Leonidas is the stand out known not accomplished the honor more than once. Amazingly, he was 36 when he did it on the fourth event - five years more established than Phelps is today.

The three occasions at which he triumphed were the stadion, a sprint of approximately 200m; the diaulos, which was double the separation of the stadion; and the more drawn out hoplitodromos, or race in defensive layer.