Matt Biondi
Matt Biondi’s first Olympics was in 1984, where he won gold. He was overshadowed in his generation by Mark Spitz. Biondi has eleven Olympic medals, and eight of those are gold, one less than Spitz. Aside from competitive swimming, he also played water polo. Biondi swam at the Olympic games from 1984 to 1992, yet another athlete who decided to stay in his craft. His wife persuaded him to finish his studies. Biondi now lives a quiet life with her and their kids in California, where he is also a math teacher. Biondi did not only focus on the academic aspect of his students’ lives, after classes, he also coaches the swim team, passing on his skills beyond the water, which are teamwork, discipline, hard work, dedication, and determination.
Matt Biondi
Dominique Dawes
Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, Dominique Dawes, introduced to the world of gymnastics at age 6. She isn’t just one of the “Magnificent Seven,” she was the one who took home the all-around medal, and therefore the first American gymnast to win for 3 consecutive Summer Olympics after she came out of retirement to compete in the 2000 Sydney Games. There’s no one of African descent before her had won a gold medal at the Olympics for gymnastics. Since then, Dawes has only become more of a national asset as she appointed as a sports advisor to the U.S. government. Outside of gymnast competition, Dawes’s career has varied from motivational speaking to Broadway’s one-time stint, appearing as Patty Simcox in Grease. Serving as president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and as part of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Active Schools” campaign, Dawes worked to encourage young people to be active. She also became co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in 2010. Dawes served as an inspiration to the untold number of girls with her success when she entered the USA Gymnastics’ Hall of Fame in 2005. Dawes fully realized the power of the example she had set when she watched Halle Berry win an Academy Award (Berry win a Best Actress Oscar, for 2001’s Monster’s Ball and was the first African American too ) Dawes remained involved in gymnastics during the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games by providing coverage. It was 2012 when she was able to see Gabby Douglas became the first African American to win an individual gold medal in the all-around competition.
Dominique Dawes