Between the 2000 Olympics and 2016 Olympic Games, American swimmer Anthony Ervin won three golds and one silver Olympic medals, and four World Championship gold medals.

At the Sidney Games in 2000, Ervin won gold in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and silver as leadoff split for the U.S. 4x100m freestyle relay team. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, 16 years later, at age 35, he again captured the 50-meter gold medal (21.40), as well as another gold in the 4x100m relay.

At the 2001 World Championships, the Southern Californian captured gold medals in the 50m and 100m Freestyles.

Ervin sat out competition for nearly nine years, until 2012, twelve years after his original Olympic success. He qualified for the London Olympics and finished 5th in the 50m Freestyle finals. That same year, at the 2012 World Championships, he captured gold medals as lead leg of both the U.S. 4x100m Freestyle and Medley Relays, and earned a silver medal in the 50m Freestyle.

At the 2013 World Championships, Ervin won a silver medal in the U.S. 4x100m Freestyle.