Although Frankie Fredericks spent most of his career finishing second, he is still considered one of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time for his four silver medals. The only Namibian to win an Olympic medal, he was beaten by a different athlete every time – Linford Christie (100 metres, 1992), Donovan Bailey (100 metres, 1996), Mike Marsh (200 metres, 1992) and Michael Johnson (200 metres, 1996).

Despite those second places, his pedigree is clear in the fact that he has broken 20 seconds for the 200 metres on 24 occasions - more times than any other man, and also holds the second-fastest non-winning time for the 200 metres - 19.68 seconds in the Olympic final in Atlanta.