At the 1952 Winter Olympics, Button had the lead after figures, with nine first places, over Helmut Seibt. Button's point total was 1,000.2 to Seibt's 957.7. During his free skating, Button successfully landed the triple loop, becoming the first person to complete a triple jump in competition. He became the third male figure skater to win two Olympic gold medals after Gillis Grafström and Karl Schäfer. He was the last man to defend his Olympic title in figure skating until Yuzuru Hanyu won his second Olympic gold in 2018. He repeated as Gold medalist, then went on to defend his titles at the 1952 World Figure Skating Championships and U.S. Championships.