I was thinking about this myself while watching some of the team events. All had to play several games or matches for the change to win one gold.
But as the US 4 X 100 relay teams would say "That is the way the baton bounces"
Normally the winner of the Olympic Decathlon is crowned the "World's greatest athlete" But what is one medal compared to eight? What it comes down to is how many medals can you possible win in your sport? In track, swimming and a few other sports multiple medals are possible and in other sports they aren't.
The best way to look at it is to keep it in the context of each sport. It's been 36 years since Mark Sptiz won 7 gold medals. There have been 8 Olympic games since then and nobody has come close to 7 gold's until now. I'd say it's pretty amazing.
