Category: Spotlight

A natural on skis, Kikkan Randall accomplished what no American had done before

She teamed with Jessie Diggins to win a dramatic gold medal in the sprint relay, the first U.S. cross-country skiers to win Olympic gold.

Cindy Castellano was Team USA’s first female Paralympic Winter Games champion

The U.S. sent just one man to the inaugural Paralympic Winter Games in 1976; four years later, Castellano won two skiing gold medals.

Fencer Jan York-Romary became the first woman to compete in six Olympic Games

The daughter of a Hollywood manager, she learned the sport from an Austrian director who taught it to actors and actresses.

Swimmer Trischa Zorn won an amazing 55 Paralympic medals

Blind since birth, she competed in seven Paralympic Games and won an astounding 41 gold medals.

Pat Summitt played in the first Olympic women’s basketball tournament and later coached Team USA to gold

One of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, she guided the U.S. women's basketball team to its first Olympic gold medal.

Rebecca Lobo more than met the standard in a basketball family

She led the University of Connecticut to the 1995 national championship, won Olympic gold at Atlanta 1996, played in the WNBA and became a television analyst.

Sports rejuvenated Amanda McGrory, who became one of the world’s top wheelchair racers

She competed in three Paralympic Games and won seven medals in a variety of distances.

Mirai Nagasu established herself as a star at a young age

She won the U.S. senior ladies championship at age 14 and competed in her first Olympics two years later.

Carmelita Jeter took an unusual path to become the Fastest Woman Alive

She took up track as an offseason complement to basketball and attended a college that had never sent a runner to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Shooter Kim Rhode was the first woman to win medals in six consecutive Olympics

With three gold medals, one silver and two bronze, she is the only athlete to win Olympic medals in all three shooting disciplines.