Olympic medalists are among the most exceptional human beings on the planet. Unsurprisingly, these outstanding individuals often continue to excel later in life… Check out some of the greatest Olympians and how they’re doing nowadays.
Tara Lipinski
Tara Lipinski made history at just 14 years, nine months, and 10 days old when she became the 1997 World Figure Skating Champion. The following year, the American skating sensation converted this success to Olympic gold in the 1998 Olympics, but when she became professional that same year, it meant she could no longer compete in competitions. The media lambasted her, and one journalist likened it to joining the circus. Lipinski ended her professional career in 2002, but later said she was searching for something, so she launched a sports commentator career.
Simone Biles
Biles is considered one of the greatest gymnasts in the world, with four gold medals and a slew of other gymnastics medals that make her the most decorated American gymnast. Since bringing home those golds in Rio 2016, she took a break but couldn’t stay away from the sport forever. With the Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021, there’s still uncertainty over what exactly will happen, but Biles will likely be the biggest face of those competing.
Brooke Bennett
American swimmer Brooke Bennett had lost her grandfather mere days before winning big at Atlanta 1996. Despite the tragedy, winning gold anyway was a huge success story, although this personal story might have been overshadowed by swimming star Janet Beth Evans’ last appearance at the Games. Bennett won two more gold medals at the 2000 Olympics but was unable to qualify for the 2004 Olympics. She retired from competitive swimming, yet she coaches high school, opened and runs the Brooke Bennett Swim School, and swims marathons.
Carly Patterson
Carly Patterson was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame thanks to her performances in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, which was the first time an American won the all-around competition in a non-boycotted Olympics. After this, she was forced to retire because of an injury she realized she had in her back. “Carly,” she was told by her doctor, “you really need to stop if you want to be able to walk when you get older.” Patterson since then launched her music career as a singer/songwriter.
Natalie Coughlin
Natalie Coughlin was an NCAA swimming champion before she entered the Olympics, and she truly shone at the 2004 Athens Olympics by winning two gold medals for the U.S. She is the first woman to swim the 100-meter backstroke race in under a minute, a feat accomplished at the following Olympics in Beijing. Besides modeling after her swimming career, she became CO2 Coconut Water’s spokeswoman and made TV appearances. Coughlin was a judge on Iron Chef America and competed on Chopped.
Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming was the Olympic figure skating champion in 1968, two years after she became the world champion. Since then, she’s skated professionally, performing shows. Fleming was also a goodwill ambassador for the United States, having skated in both the Soviet Union and China during the Cold War. She remains one of America’s enduringly popular athletes. There always seems to be a spot for her to commentate in the Winter Games whenever they roll around. Besides skating, she owns a winery with her husband.
Scott Hamilton
Most people can’t even do a backflip, but Scott Hamilton can do one on skates! It’s actually against the rules in competitive skating, so that’s not the reason he’s on this list. Not just an acrobat, his footwork wowed judges at international competitions in the early ’80s. He won his gold at the 1984 Olympics after dominating the competition for years. Since then, he’s skated with Stars On Ice and the like, as well as branching out into charity and writing books.
Sarah Hughes
Sarah Hughes started skating when she was just three years old, following her father, a college hockey player, onto the ice rink. She’s one of the youngest skating gold medalists, having won ahead of her 17th birthday. Hughes also has the distinction of being the only American woman to win Olympic gold without first winning a world or U.S. title in the sport. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor, and Hughes has said, “I always said that if I can get one person to get a mammogram, I’ve accomplished something.”
Sasha Cohen
Sasha Cohen is the most recent American woman to get an individual Olympic medal after winning silver at the 2006 Games. Actually starting off in gymnastics, by the age of seven Cohen started figure skating. After 2006, she announced she’d be retiring from competitive skating and went into entertainment, skating with Stars on Ice. Cohen didn’t get selected for the U.S. team when she came out of retirement for the 2010 Olympics. Since then, she has pursued her interest in finance and works as an associate at Morgan Stanley.
Meryl Davis
Although she’s not an individual champion in skating, ice dancer Meryl Davis won a gold medal in Sochi 2014 alongside partner Charlie White, improving from silver the previous Games. This was the first time an American team had won the event and it was a big victory for the U.S., solidifying both of their places in history. The pair have skated together since 1997, making them the longest-lasting American dance team. Since they retired competitively in 2017, Davis still performs with him in ice shows.
Charlie White
Charlie White, Meryl Davis’s partner, made history as part of the first American team that won gold in the ice dance competition at an Olympic Games. He’s a former hockey player and ice dancing came naturally to him. While raking up a resumé like that, they performed on ice shows as well. In 2014, the same year he won the gold with Davis, they competed against each other when they appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
Gracie Gold
Gracie Gold has a name that predicted the gold she’d win in skating competitions, but one gold that eluded her is an Olympic gold medal. Hers must have been a confusing name to announce when she was called to stand at the podium after winning bronze in the 2014 Winter Olympics for the team event. Gold didn’t compete at the 2018 Games and started coaching. However, this didn’t last and she was soon back training to compete, with the goal of making the U.S. team for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Kaetlyn Osmond
Winning three medals for Canada at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, Kaetlyn Osmond has the complete set of Olympic medals. The competitive skater took home the gold, silver, and bronze medals during her career. Following her Olympic success, Osmond had an ice skating rink named after her in 2014. The skater ended her career on a high note after winning first place at the 2018 World Championship. In 2019, at the age of 23, Osmond decided to make the bold move and announced her retirement from competitive skating.
Tessa Virtue
Having skated together for more than twenty years, Tessa Virtue and her partner Scott Moir are the longest-standing ice dance team in Canadian history. Starting her career young, Virtue was only eight years old when she was paired with Moir by her coach and aunt. Their achievements and versatility on ice, as well as their lifelong bond, helped the dynamic duo win Olympic gold in the dance competition in 2010 and 2018. They took the silver medal at the 2014 Games. After 22 years together, the pair stopped skating competitively in 2019.
Scott Moir
Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue have shared their lives’ accomplishments and disappointments since they were both very young. Moir was ten years old when he was paired with Virtue – more than 20 years later, and they considered by many to be the greatest ice dancers of all time. The pair has won three Olympic medals, and they came to the mutual understanding that they wanted to end their careers together. Moir and Virtue only recently stepped away from competing on ice, and their future remains a mystery to their many fans.
Evan Lysacek
Making an amazing impression when he stepped out onto the Olympic rink in 2010, Evan Lysacek was bound for glory. That same year, he took the men’s singles gold and was then named Sportsman of the year by the United States Olympics Committee. The 34-year-old was the last American male solo figure skater to win an Olympic medal and has not returned to the Winter Games since his big win in 2010. It was a big honor for Lysacek when he was inducted into the U.S Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2016.
Kristi Yamaguchi
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kristi Yamaguchi’s destiny was to skate. The skater spent most of her youth on ice, and her hard work paid off when in 1992, she was named the Olympic figure skating champion. Yamaguchi quickly turned into a cultural icon in the United States and used that fame to good use after announcing her retirement. In 2005 she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and in 2008, she became the sixth celebrity champion of Dancing with the Stars.
Edwin Moses
Edwin Moses knows no defeat – he took home two gold medals at two Olympic Games in both 1976 and 1984. The champion hurdler’s discipline was the 400m hurdles, and between 1977 and 1987, Moses won a total of 107 finals in a row! The hurdler has set four world records in his lifetime and retired from the racing track in the early 2000s. A true enjoyer of competition, Moses still enjoys racing – now he let’s gravity do the work seeing as he participates in bobsleigh events.
