Brooke Bennett
Brooke Bennett, an American swimmer, was only sixteen years old when she qualified for the 1996 Olympics. Bennett had lost her grandfather a few days before winning big at Atlanta 1996. Despite what happened, she won the gold, but her success overshadowed by swimming star Janet Beth Evans’ last appearance at the Games in 1998. During the 2000 Olympics, she won two more gold medals but was unable to qualify for the 2004 Olympics. She had two shoulder surgeries in 2001 that put an end in her swimming career. She retired from competitive swimming and decided to coach high school, opened and runs the Brooke Bennett Swim School, and swims marathons. Bennett is now a mother of two and was busy running the said swim academy.
Brooke Bennett
Greg Louganis
Gregory Louganis started to win an Olympic silver medal in 1976. He was then 16 years old. Louganis was the first diver in history to receive a perfect score from Olympic judges for one of his dives, so it’s no surprise that Louganis has won four gold medals. He won the first two in 1984 and the rest that he got in 1988 as he swept the men’s events. An LGBT activist whose endorsements initially dropped when Louganis came out of the closet announcing that he was gay and disclosed that he had AIDS in a 1995 appearance on “Oprah.” Since then, he found acceptance and become a mentor for the U.S. diving team. Now, Louganis is an LGBT rights advocate.
Greg Louganis