The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Spain

This page contains a list of the greatest Spanish Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 56 of which were born in Spain. This makes Spain the birth place of the 21st most number of Athletes behind Netherlands, and Czechia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Spanish Athletes of all time. This list of famous Spanish Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Spanish Athletes.

1. Juan Amat (1946 - 2022)

With an HPI of 47.24, Juan Amat is the most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages on wikipedia.

Juan Amat Fontanals (10 July 1946 – 12 May 2022) was a Spanish field hockey player. He won the silver medal with the Men's National Team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. There he was topscorer of the tournament with sixteen goals, including fourteen penalty corners. Amat competed in four Olympics for Spain, starting in 1968. A player of Egara he was the brother of Francisco Amat, Jaime Amat, and Pedro Amat.

2. Francisco Villota (1873 - 1950)

With an HPI of 46.88, Francisco Villota is the 2nd most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Francisco Villota y Baquiola (18 November 1873 – 7 January 1950) was a Spanish pelotari (player of Basque pelota) who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Villota competed in the only official pelota contest in Olympic history, the Basque pelota at the 1900 Summer Olympics two-man teams event. He and his partner José de Amézola y Aspizúa were given the silver medal (equivalent nowadays to the gold medal) after achieving the first place without having to play, since the only other contestants, the French team, Maurice Durquetty and Etchegaray, withdrew due to a disagreement about the rules. This was Spain's first ever Olympic Medal.

3. Manuel Estiarte (b. 1961)

With an HPI of 46.61, Manuel Estiarte is the 3rd most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Manel Estiarte Duocastella (born October 26, 1961, in Manresa) is a Spanish former water polo player born in Manresa, a municipality in Barcelona, Spain. He is currently a member of Pep Guardiola's technical staff at Manchester City. He is usually considered one of the two greatest water poloists of all time.

4. Jorge Llopart (1952 - 2020)

With an HPI of 43.76, Jorge Llopart is the 4th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Jorge "Jordi" Llopart Ribas (5 May 1952 – 11 November 2020) was a Spanish race walker. He competed in the 50 km event at the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1980. The silver medal was Spain's first ever medal in athletics. Llopart was a European champion in this event in 1978.

5. Kílian Jornet Burgada (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 42.78, Kílian Jornet Burgada is the 5th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Kílian Jornet (Catalan pronunciation: [̍ˈkiljən ʒuɾˈnɛt buɾˈɣaðə]; born 27 October 1987) is a Spanish professional long-distance trail runner and ski mountaineer. Jornet has won some of the most prestigious ultramarathons, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc multiple times, Grand Raid, Western States and Hardrock. Jornet holds the fastest known time speed record for the ascent and descent of major mountains including the Matterhorn (Lion ridge) and Mont Blanc. In addition, he holds the 24-hour uphill skiing record: 23,864-meters (78,274 ft).

6. José Marín (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 41.79, José Marín is the 6th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

José Marín Sospedra (Catalan: Josep Marín i Sospedra; born 21 January 1950) is a retired Spanish racewalker.

7. Fermín Cacho (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 40.85, Fermín Cacho is the 7th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Fermín Cacho Ruiz (born 16 February 1969) is a Spanish track and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 1500m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal in the 1500m at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Born in Ágreda, Spain, Cacho had an enviable competitive record in the 1500 m, but it was not until late in his career that he produced a time of corresponding quality. Cacho's first notable result came in 1990, when he finished second in the 1500 m at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. At the 1991 World Indoor Championships in Seville, Cacho finished again second in the 1500 m, behind Noureddine Morceli. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Cacho was not considered a serious gold medal prospect. But the Olympic 1500 m final was run at a very pedestrian pace, and Cacho positioned himself perfectly in the final lap, and outsprinted his rivals, with a last lap of 50.6 seconds, to win the gold medal in 3:40.12. In 1993 at Stuttgart in World Championships, Cacho finished second, but took the 1500 m title at the European Championships in Helsinki in the next year. In World Championships at Gothenburg, Cacho only finished in eighth place. After a relatively lean year in 1995, Cacho was back to his best in the early part of the 1996 season, leading up to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although Cacho was the defending Olympic 1500 m champion, the final in Atlanta was considered to be a match race between Morceli and Hicham El Guerrouj, who had filled the first two places at the previous year's World Championships. Approaching the completion of the third lap, Morceli was leading from El Guerrouj, when suddenly the Moroccan tripped and fell. In taking evasive action, Cacho was forced to leap over the fallen El Guerrouj, in a manoeuvre which he later estimated had lost him 5 metres of ground to Morceli, who had commenced his final lap sprint for the finish. Cacho chased Morceli around the last lap, but was unable to catch him. In the end Morceli won by 5 metres from the second-placed Cacho. At the World Championships in Athens in 1997, Cacho won a silver medal again, and at the end of the same season he finally managed to run his world class time, when he finished second at the 1500 m behind El Guerrouj with a time of 3:28.95, which moved him to third on the all-time world list behind Morceli and El Guerrouj. He won the bronze medal at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest, and finished fourth in the World Championships at Seville in 1999. Cacho suffered an Achilles' tendon injury in 2000, causing him to miss the opportunity to add to his Olympic gold and silver medals at 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He held the European record at 1500 m with a time of 3:28.95 for 16 years (1997–2013), until Mo Farah broke it with a time of 3:28.81.

8. Ruth Beitia (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 40.45, Ruth Beitia is the 8th most famous Spanish Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Ruth Beitia Vila (Spanish pronunciation: [rut ˈβejtja]; born 1 April 1979) is a retired high jumper who was the 2016 Olympic champion in the women's high jump. She was also a politician in the Partido Popular and a member of the Parliament of Cantabria.

9. Jesús Ángel García Bragado (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 39.67, Jesús Ángel García Bragado is the 9th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Jesús Ángel García Bragado (born 17 October 1969 in Madrid) is a Spanish race walker. He has competed at eight Olympic Games, the most Olympic appearances ever in athletics. He was married to gymnast Carmen Acedo. He retired in 2021 after the Tokyo Olympics.

10. Martín Fiz (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 39.67, Martín Fiz is the 10th most famous Spanish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Martín Fiz Martín (born 3 March 1963 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava) is a long-distance runner from Spain.

People

Pantheon has 243 people classified as Spanish athletes born between 1419 and 2004. Of these 243, 236 (97.12%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Spanish athletes include Manuel Estiarte, Kílian Jornet Burgada, and José Marín. The most famous deceased Spanish athletes include Juan Amat, Francisco Villota, and Jorge Llopart. As of April 2024, 186 new Spanish athletes have been added to Pantheon including Juan Amat, Jordi Sans, and Pedro García Aguado.