Entertainment
What Do Famous Olympic Gold Medalists Look Like Now?
Aly Raisman
Aly was the captain of the Fierce Five, a female gymnastics team from the United States that competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She won gold for both her team and individually. In 2016, she earned gold for her team and silver for her solo efforts in Rio de Janeiro.
Dara Torres’s
Dara is the first American Olympian to compete in five Games. At the age of 41, she was the oldest swimmer to be selected for an Olympic team, with 12 medals (four gold). She has worked as a reporter and announcer for NBC, ESPN, and Fox, as well as having a successful modeling career.
Louganis, Greg
Greg Louganis won a gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (he was a favorite for the 1980 Olympics but was unable to compete due to the boycott by the United States). He has garnered honors for his excellent achievements as an amateur diver. Since then, he has coached the US diving teams in 2012 and 2016.
Liukin, Nastia
Nastia’s parents were both highly experienced gymnasts, and after spending so much time in the gym, she began gymnastics at the age of three. She won the global balancing beam title in 2005 and 2007, as well as the Olympic individual all-around title in 2008.
Ohno Apolo
Apolo Anton Ohno is a retired short track speed skater competitor from the United States and an eight-time Winter Olympic medallist. Ohno was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019 as the most decorated American Olympian in the Winter Olympics. Ohno was raised by his father and began training full-time in 1996. Apolo has become renowned as the face of short track in the United States after capturing eight medals (two gold, two silver, and four bronze) at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Retton, Mary Lou
Mary Lou Retton is widely considered as a pioneer in women’s gymnastics. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she became the first woman to win an all-around gold medal (a title she held for 20 years after). The classic gymnastics maneuver known as the “Retton Flip” is named for her. She was inducted into the National Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Kwan, Michelle
Figure skater Michelle Kwan was the most popular female athlete in the 2000s and held the record for the most Olympic medals. She is also widely regarded as the best figure skater of all time. She earned two Olympic medals in 1998 and 2002, as well as 14 other major accolades.
Caitlyn Jenner/Bruce Jenner
Jenner won the Olympic decathlon title in 1976 in Montreal, earning him the unofficial title of “world’s greatest athlete,” according to legend. Following his triumph, he achieved a third world record in a row, earning him the moniker of “all-American hero.” Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner, underwent gender transition surgery in 2015.
White, Shaun
Shaun White is largely recognized as the all-time greatest Olympic snowboarder. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, he won gold in the half-pipe, falling just three points short of a perfect score. He had a high enough score to win gold without having to race again in the Olympics in 2010, but he chose to do so anyway. This time, he was only 1.5 points short of a perfect score.
Comăneci, Nadia
Nadia became the first gymnast in Olympic history to obtain a perfect score of 10.0 at the age of 14! At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, she received six additional perfect scores and three gold medals. She has won nine gold medals and four World Championship medals over her career.
Mark Spitz’s
In four years, Mark Spitz won nine Olympic gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. In addition, he won five Pan American gold medals, 31 Amateur Athletic Union championships, and eight National Collegiate Athletic Association championships. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he won seven gold medals, a record he kept until Michael Phelps won eight medals in 2008. Spitz became a stockbroker in 2002 and now travels the world giving roughly 25 motivational talks each year.
Coughlin, Natalie
While at the University of California, Natalie Coughlin became the first woman to swim the 100-meter backstroke in under a minute. In addition, at the 2008 Summer Olympics, she became the first American female athlete to win six medals in a single Olympiad and the first woman to win gold in the 100-meter backstroke in two consecutive Olympics.
Gabrielle Douglas’s
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Gabrielle Douglas was one of five gymnasts that comprised the Fierce Five, and she helped her team earn a gold medal. She was also the first black woman to win the individual all-around title.
Joyner-Kersee, Jacqueline
Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee is a retired American track and field athlete who is considered as a heptathlon and long jump all-time great. In those two events, she won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in four separate Olympic Games.
Hannon Lee Miller
Miller won the All-Around World Championships in 1993 and 1994, as well as the gold medal on the balancing beam at the Summer Olympics in 1996. Simone Biles was the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history until 2016, when she finished with seven medals.
George Foreman
Despite having his own grill named after him, the professional boxer has accomplished much more. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion as well as an Olympic gold medallist. In his boxing career, he won 76 of 81 contests. After quitting from boxing, he went on to become an ordained minister, author, and entrepreneur.
Mia Hamm’s
Mia is a two-time Olympic gold medalist as well as the FIFA Women’s World Cup champion. She was chosen to carry the American flag during the Athens Closing Ceremony in 2004. The Women’s Sports Foundation recognized her Sportswoman of the Year in 1997, and with her 108th goal in 1999, she set the all-time international goal record.
Janet Evans
Janet Beth Evans is a retired American competitive swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle events. Evans won four gold medals in total and broke a world record while competing in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics.
Carl Lewis’s
Carl Lewis was a track and field athlete who won nine gold medals from 1979 to 1996. He is one of just three Olympic athletes to have won four gold medals in a single event. He attempted to run for the New Jersey Senate in 2011, but was declared unqualified.
Larisa Latynina Larisa
With nine gold medals, Larisa now holds the record for the most gold medals won by a gymnast. She was the most decorated Olympic athlete for 48 years, until Michael Phelps surpassed her. Her accomplishments aided the Soviet Union’s dominance in gymnastics.
Ole Einar Brndalen’s
“The King of Biathlon,” Ole Einar Bjrndalen, is the most decorated Olympian in Winter Games history. He is also the most successful biathlete, having won 44 World Biathlon Championship medals.
Dorothy Hamill’s
Dorothy Hamill finished second in figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics before winning gold in both the short and long programs. Since then, she has been the only figure skater to win a gold medal without using a triple jump. She even created a new skating move, the “Hamill camel,” a camel spin that transforms into a sit spin.
Gardner Rulon
Rulon won gold at the Summer Olympics in 2000 by defeating Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin, who had been undefeated for 13 years. It was also the first time an American won a gold medal in full international competition in wrestling.
Eruzione, Mike
Mike Eruzione was the captain of the United States Olympic hockey team that overturned the Soviet Union’s perfect record in 1980. The game has since been dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.” Eruzione led his team to a historic triumph (and even scored the game-winning goal), earning them gold.
Muhammad Ali
In 1960, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the Summer Olympics in Rome. Ali, who is now 70 years old, has Parkinson’s disease. On his official website, it is reported that he has turned into a philanthropist who “has worked to ensure that more than 232 million people throughout the world no longer go hungry. He has traveled to many different nations on various continents, delivering food and medicine to children in need.
Smith, Tommie
Tommie Smith, who won the Olympic gold medal in the 200-meter sprint that year, and colleague John Carlos made headlines by raising their fists in a “human rights salute” in 1968. With a time of 19.83 seconds, he set a new world record. Smith received widespread acclaim and numerous prizes for the salute he delivered during the 1968 Olympics. He now works as a public speaker, giving presentations all around the world on a variety of issues such as racial peace and human rights.
Nancy Kerrigan’s
After surviving an attack on her knee orchestrated by Tonya Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, Nancy Kerrigan won silver in 1994 and bronze in 1992 at the Winter Olympics. Kerrigan has done a variety of things since she retired from professional figure skating, including serving as a commentator, publishing two books, and competing in the 2017 season of Dancing With the Stars.
Joan Benoit Benoit
In 1984, Joan Benoit Benoit became the first female Olympic marathon champion (the year the event was introduced). Her triumph was even more impressive given that she had knee surgery just before the Olympic trials. Benoit and her husband, Scott, currently live in Freeport, Maine. She has worked as a keynote speaker, sports commentator, and coach for female runners of all distances.
Jordan, Michael
You’ve most likely heard of this man, who is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. He was a member of the 1984 and 1992 Olympic gold-medal winning teams. Is there anything Jordan has yet to try? Jordan left the NBA in 1993 to pursue a career in baseball. He returned to the court two years later to play for the Chicago Bulls. Jordan announced his retirement from the Washington Wizards in 2003. Since then, he has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, and Forbes magazine declared him the highest-paid athlete in history in 2017.
Leslie lisa
Basketball participant Lisa Leslie made her Olympic debut in 1996 at the Atlanta Summer Games. Leslie won four gold medals between 1996 and 2008, becoming only the second basketball player in history to do it. She has also set new marks for the US in terms of points scored, blocks made, and boards taken. Leslie has appeared in a number of films and television shows, including Sister, Sister and Think Like a Man, and has provided commentary for ESPN, NBC, ABC, and Fox Sports. She is now a co-owner of her previous team, the Los Angeles Sparks.
Kerri Strug
Kerri Strug’s most remarkable achievement was competing in the vault event in the 1996 Olympics despite suffering a significant ankle injury. Her coach, Béla Károlyi, had to physically hoist her onto the podium after her effort helped the US team win the gold medal. Strug has worked with the US Treasury, the US Justice Department, and the White House’s Office of Presidential Student Correspondence since her Olympic days ended. She is a marathon runner and the mother of Tyler and Alayna.
Lipinski, Tara
Lipinski made history by becoming the youngest woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal, defeating Michelle Kwan, who was widely considered the favorite to win the medal. She supposedly astonished the judges by completing a triple loop combo to music from the animated film Anastasia. Lipinski retired from competitive skating at a young age because of hip issues, but she remains involved in the sport as a commentator. She made her Olympic commentary debut in Sochi, and according to rumors, she will be joined by Johnny Weir for future Winter Games.
Agassi, Andre
Despite a shaky start, Andre Agassi, one of the world’s best players, went on to win the men’s singles gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He did it in tennis, making him the first American to do it since 1924. Even though he officially retired in 2006, Agassi remains involved in the world of professional tennis. He routinely competes and participates in charitable events. He was Novak Djokovic’s trainer at the 2017 French Open.
Vonn, Lindsey
Vonn, who made her Olympic debut at the age of 17, won the first gold medal for the United States in the women’s downhill in 2010. Tiger Woods, a golf pro, and the skier announced their relationship in 2013. They split up in May 2015 after dating for over three years. P.K. Subban and Lindsey Vonn finally crossed paths. They will divorce in December 2020, exactly one year after they announced their engagement. Despite missing the 2014 Winter Olympics due to a knee injury, Vonn competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. She finished sixth in the women’s super-g, earning a bronze medal. After finishing third at the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Sweden, the racer announced her retirement from professional skiing in February.
Gabby Douglas’s
Douglas and her Fierce Five teammates Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber claimed the Women’s All-Around Gymnastics title in 2012. It was an incredible thrill. The gymnast has dominated her sector since winning gold at the 2012 Olympics. In 2015, she won multiple medals in various contests, and in 2016, she earned two more gold medals. She competed again at the 2018 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she helped the US team win gold in the team event for the second year in a row. Douglas competed in Masked Dancer’s first season and was crowned champion in 2020.
Ryan Lochte’s
“Ryan,” a New Yorker, made his Olympic debut in 2004 and won his first individual gold medal in the men’s 400-meter individual medley at the 2012 London Olympics. Despite problems in his professional career, Lochte has had personal success. In June 2017, he and model Kayla Reid welcomed a son named Caiden. Seven months later, the pair married civilly. They revealed in November 2018 that their second child would be a girl. Liv Rae, their daughter, was born in June 2019.
Hope Solo
Hope Solo, a soccer goalkeeper, made multiple saves to help Team USA defeat Brazil and win gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She tested positive for a prescription drug that was forbidden in the country after finishing fourth on Dancing With the Stars in 2011. The Anti-Doping Agency cautioned her ahead of the 2012 Summer Games. She helped the US team win the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015, for which she got the Golden Glove award as the year’s best goalkeeper. She considered skipping the 2016 Summer Games owing to her concerns about the Zika virus, but she ultimately opted to compete in order to win her third gold medal.
Biles, Simone
Biles made a name for herself in gymnastics when she won five medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics, including gold in the team competition, individual all-around competition, vault, and floor exercise. She also won a bronze medal on the balancing beam. The contestant broke the record for the most gold medals won by an American in a single competition. Biles announced her retirement from gymnastics after winning the Olympic gold medal in Rio. She competed in Dancing With the Stars season 24 with Sasha Farber. Her autobiography, Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, was also published. Biles began competing in 2018, the same year she revealed she had also been a victim of Nassar.
Jennings, Kerri Walsh
Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won gold medals in beach volleyball at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Walsh Jennings stated after the London Olympics that she was pregnant with her third child while competing. Scout, her daughter, was born in 2013. The athlete returned to the sand for the Rio 2016 Olympics with a new partner, April Ross, and earned a bronze medal with her.
Wagner, Ashley
The skater won the U.S. Championships in 2012. Sochi, Russia, hosted contests and championships. She finished ninth in the women’s individual competition and criticized the Olympic judges. The athlete was disappointed to finish fourth overall, behind three rivals who did not complete their routines. Wagner is the only American woman to have reached three consecutive Grand Prix Finals since Michelle Kwan. At the World Championships, she became the country’s first female medalist in more than a decade. She was a PyeongChang 2018 alternate. Wagner will be retiring in 2019.
Gold, Gracie
The skater won bronze in Sochi after winning the US Olympic short program in 2014. She finished fourth in the singles. In 2016, gold won the US Championships and Team Challenge Cup, but had to miss a few competitions due to personal issues and coaching changes. After withdrawing from the 2019 U.S. competition, the skater said that she was practicing for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Nationals.
Kenworthy, Gus
The skier won a silver medal in the slopestyle competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, but that wasn’t the only cause for his international fame. The athlete spent an extra month helping to find homes for four puppies and their mother when they arrived in the United States. She also helped to raise awareness about the plight of stray dogs in Sochi. Kenworthy took in two of the creatures himself. In 2019, he appeared in an episode of American Horror Story. Former Bachelor contestant Colton Underwood came out as gay in April 2021, and it was confirmed that Kenworthy would be working alongside him on a Netflix series. In February 2020, Kenworthy won his first gold medal.
Charlie White & Meryl Davis
The ice dance team, which has been together since 1997, won silver in the 2010 Olympics. They won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi after winning gold at the 2011 World Championships in Russia the year before. Davis and White embarked on the Stars on Ice tour following their major victory at the Sochi Games. They also competed in the 18th season of Dancing With the Stars. Davis’ Mirrorball Trophy-winning team also included professional Maksim Chmerkovskiy. White, on the other hand, finished sixth with professional Sharna Burgess. In 2017, the Olympic champions stated that they would not compete in ice dance again.
Michael Johnson’s
American sprinter Michael Johnson was one of the most successful athletes of the 1990s, winning four Olympic gold medals between 1992 and 2000. When Johnson retired, he established a world-class sports training facility in Texas. He has also worked as a BBC Olympics commentator.
Van Dyken, Amy
Amy Van Dyken, a swimmer, won four gold medals in Atlanta in 1996. After years of working as morning radio DJs in Arizona, she and her ex-NFL punter husband Tom Rouen migrated to Colorado to be closer to family.
Marion Jones’s
Marion Jones’ five-medal performance in track and field at the Sydney Games in 2000 was revoked when she admitted to using steroids. Jones created a curriculum to help people avoid making the same mistakes that she did while doing time in prison for perjury while playing in the WNBA.
Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton’s backflips and footwork were his signature feats as a four-time US and World champion. He was the flag bearer for the United States at the 1980 Olympics, when he finished fifth. Hamilton’s gold medal in the 1984 Olympics ended a 24-year skid for men’s Olympic figure skating. Hamilton was inducted into the American Olympic Hall of Fame in 1990. Scott’s ambition shifted from gold medals to assisting others at the age of 63. After suffering through such sad conditions due to his infirmities, the Olympic Hall of Famer has recently undertaken a substantial amount of philanthropic work. He founded the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation, which helps cancer sufferers.
Miller, Samuel Bode
This Olympic and World Championship gold medalist in alpine skiing was a World Cup competitor in the past. He is widely recognized as the most successful male alpinist of all time, having won the World Cup twice in 2005 and 2008. He is one of only five men who have won all five alpine skiing disciplines in a World Cup tournament. Miller is now 44 and focuses on being a husband and father. Despite his retirement from skiing, he still participates in it, currently serving as a spokesperson for Montana’s Big Sky Resort.
Eric Heiden’s
Eric Heiden became the first skater to win gold medals in every speed skating competition at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. Heiden earned five Olympic gold medals in addition to other honors. He was also an exceptional cyclist. In 1991, Heiden was inducted into the American Bicycling Hall of Fame. In addition, the former Olympian received his medical degree in 1991 and worked as the team doctor for the United States. The Olympic speed skating team took part in competitions in 2002, 2004, 2010, and 2014. Heiden, 63, and his wife Karen own and operate Heiden Orthopedics, a medical business in Utah’s Beehive State.
Moceanu, Dominique
Dominique Moceanu, just 14, was the youngest American gymnast to win the Olympics in 1996. Moceanu was a member of the “Magnificent Seven,” the first US gymnastics team to win a team gold medal.
Dawes, Dominique
Dominique Dawes was a member of three medal-winning Olympic gymnastics teams. Dawes earned a medal in Barcelona in 1992 at the age of 16, made Olympic history by becoming the first Black gymnast to win a medal in that event in 1996, and then won three more gold in 2000.
Jaycie Phelps
Jaycie Phelps was 17 years old when she won gold as a member of the “Magnificent Seven” and had a vault named for her that is no longer in the Code of Points.
Laurie Hernandez
Laurie Hernandez, 16, was the youngest member of the “Final Five” in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to the team gold, Hernandez won silver in the individual balance beam finals.
Maroney, McKayla Rose
McKayla Rose Maroney is an American singer and former artistic gymnast. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was a member of the Fierce Five, an American women’s gymnastics team that won a gold medal in the team event and a silver medal in the vault event. Most of you are certainly familiar with her from her iconic photograph.
Kristi Yamaguchi’s
Kristi won the World Figure Skating Championships for the second year in a row in 1991 and 1992, and she went on to win gold at the 1992 Winter Olympics. She was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 2005.
